The early design process

While neither Chris nor I are very artistic (hello, an accountant married to an engineer!) we did want to be able to converse intelligently with the professionals we were trying to hire about our likes, dislikes and must-haves. So we took long walks with our camera and took photos of houses we liked – even if it was just one aspect so our professional could eventually put those various ideas into a final home for us.
Some elements we photographed will never be part of this house - either due to size/budget constraints (my poor bay windows!) or due to spousal veto (I am still not sure if Chris is kidding about wanting a turret in the “next” house). But we did find a number of elements that would hopefully make it into the plan.

• Stained glass windows

• Large inviting porch

• A material or colour change so the house doesn’t look “blocky”

• Symmetrical window layout

After we hired Allison we started taking walks with our camera to look for specific design areas such as full-width versus half-width front porch, styles of porch columns, and house colours/combinations.

City Hall

In the midst of interviewing the architects and designers, Chris and I got to thinking that since several of them recommended that we talk to the city about our plan, we should probably get right on that.

Not that we expected much – this is City Hall we are talking about. “You can’t fight city hall!” and all that. I had a bit of trouble believing that there were warm and fuzzy people running around there just waiting to answer our questions and help us with our renovation plan. But actually, there were.

We went onto the City of Vancouver website (http://www.vancouver.ca/) and were impressed but quickly overwhelmed by all the information available: bylaw details and definitions, neighbourhood design requirements, renovation checklists, and application requirements to name only a few. We then found a bit of calmness in the storm when we came across the Home Renovation Centre (HRC) (www.vancouver.ca/commsvcs/developmentservices/general/homerenovation/hrc.htm).

We were able to call up the helpful people at the enquiry desk and ask questions about our house and get general information about what we are allowed to do in the neighbourhood. In hindsight, we should have called them up before we bought the house, but that will have to be filed under life lesson learned.

When we began asking more specific design questions about our house, we were given the contact information for the current “Development Planner”, Mr. Tim Potter, and advised to make an appointment. It appears that the City of Vancouver decided several years ago to hire an architect to work with the HRC to be available to answer questions from home owners and their design professionals about the feasibility of building or renovating in the city. Considering there are 10 zones for single-family dwellings, 17 for duplexes and 13 more for multiplexes - each with their own requirements - and that this guy had to know them all, that is amazing! (www.vancouver.ca/commsvcs/BYLAWS/zoning/zon&dev.htm)

By this point we knew that our renovation was not going to be a simple affair. We didn’t know that we’d end up taking several extra months of planning and review and have to go to the Board of Variance for approval, but we did confirm at that meeting that the house we wanted to build would not fit the zoning requirements perfectly.

We took several photos of our house and of our neighbours’ houses for the meeting, and here is the one that we think got the city firmly on board with our plan. Chris calls it the “money shot” (please note: his words not mine) as Mr. Potter kept picking it up to look at our itsy-bitsy house next to its tall, stately neighbours. He was so taken aback by the contrast in size that he called our house the ugly tooth in a potentially beautiful smile! Thanks, I think…