Residential new

Real Estate Development
Row Houses for La Jolla California

The Project
Row House designed for Marengo Morton Architects. .

Design intent
Project Goal: To maximize property value for a real estate investor/developer, the owner of two adjacent lots, less than a mile from downtown La Jolla and one block from the ocean. One small 50's era house to be cleared, and an adjacent empty lot used to build four-row houses for resale. The front yard has a small ocean view when looking down Westbourne street, with no houses between the site and the ocean over one floor in height. The views to the ocean would expand on a proposed second floor and could never be blocked on a proposed rooftop deck.

The Site
The site contains two adjacent lots purchased together with the intent to subdivided each lot into two parcels, creating a total of four equal size lots each 27'-6 1/2" wide by 120' deep. Required to meet both city and California coastal zone requirements, 3-foot side yard setbacks, 20-foot front setbacks with exceptions allowing appendixes out to 15 feet, and a 15 foot rear setback. 30-foot height limit with angled setbacks at 20 feet.

Key Features
All houses have the same floor plan, but two have mirror images plans. Each has 2684 square feet and an attached two-car garage of 434 sq ft bring the total area to 3127 square feet. Garages are reached from the rear with a new curb cut on la Jolla Boulevard. Entry is on Westbourne and features a sitting pool for summer and a reflection pool with a 12" waterfall year-round. Bi-fold doors provided a 10-foot clear unimpeded opening bringing the outdoors in to enjoy La Jolla's ocean breeze from both the first floor and second-floor balcony. The second-floor balcony will have a view down Westbourne to the ocean. Living/dining rooms have a fireplace divider. The chimney of stack stone extends up to provide a fireplace on the second-floor family room and another opening onto the rooftop deck. An alcove off the first-floor dining opens the space between buildings and allows light into the middle of the house, and a small outdoor dining/ barbeque area is accessible again by a 10 bifold glass door.

Square footage (all houses)
First Floor 1096 Sq. Ft.
Second floor 1588 Sq. Ft.
Total 2684 Sq. Ft.

Garage 443 Sq. Ft.
Total Building area 3127 Sq. Ft.

Rooftop deck 510 Sq. Ft.

Interior Renderings

Drawn in AutoCAD a completed site plan, floor and roof plans and building sections were prepared for schematic design presentation.

During the Pandemic I have redrawn the project in Revit 2021, Created a series of interior and exterior renderings and completed a 50% CD set

The Vineyards of Saint Nicholas, Northern Macedonia

The Region
This project is located outside the town of Sveti Nikole in Northern Macedonia, the town name translates to Saint Nicholas. The town was named after the church of Saint Nicholas, the largest in the region at the time it was built in the beginning of the 14th century. North Macedonia is a country in Southeastern Europe, a landlocked and bordering Greece to the south. The region was conquered by the Romans in the second century BC and has a succession of conquering armies throughout history including both world wars in the 20th century. In 1945 it was established as a constituent state of communist Yugoslavia in which it remained until its succession in 1991 (Fallout from the Serbian war) and rename North Macedonia in February 2019.

Rendering above: front of proposed farm house, rendering completed by myself using Revit 2021

Traditional homes here are stack stone and white stucco with red tile roofs. The layout of a typical home is reflection of the constant strife that has occurred thought the regions history, the homes are small fortresses The ground floor is storage with few openings and one door that is heavily fortified. Upper floors overhang making it difficult to scale the walls.
(photo left a traditional Macedonia home)

The Project
This project is a redesign of a family farmhouse. The land has been in the family for eight generations and continues to be a working farm with livestock, a family vegetable garden, and most of the land reserved for vineyards of both wine and table grapes. The land was handed down from a family patriarch to be shared by his grandchildren with the stipulation that the land be kept in the family. The farm was taken from the family twice in the last 60 years , once during a world war and once lost to collectivism of the communist government. During this time the vineyards were neglected. Upon the fall of the berlin wall and the collapse of communism the family reclaimed the land and has worked to restore the vines.

Rendering above: front of proposed farm house, rendering completed by myself using Revit 2021

One of the granddaughters (a college friend) came to the US, graduated from design school and stayed to run a business. She retained me to provide drawings to upgrade the farmhouse that was built by hand by her grandfather. She intended to finance the project, while her cousins restored the vineyards. Someday they planned to import wine from the vineyard marketed as a Christmas wine from Saint Nicholas, currently they make Grappa sold locally.

Design Parameters and Expected Outcomes
The new structure is to be built as an addition onto and above an existing farmhouse, to have the appearance of a traditional Macedonian home with modern conveniences inside. The existing house consisted of a two-story building with three rooms on each floor. Exterior walls are half a meter thick stacked stone on a 1-meter concrete foundation. The first floor was storage only and as the builder was a very short man was built without standing headroom for the current generation. While the design was being completed a local contractor was hired to remove the upper walls and raise the second floor.

• A working farm and vineyard to be a full-time home to one couple who run the farm.
• A center and gathering place during the grape harvest.
• A gathering place for a large extended family throughout the year.
• A self-sufficient safe harbor for the family in the times of strife.
• A second home for the Granddaughter who financed the project.

A legacy to the grandfather and a gift to future generations

• The second and third story will be all new construction with a half meter cantilever over the existing stack stone walls.
• New addition added to the east side of the existing structure for modern plumbing and stairs.
• Building shall have modern heating but shall also be equipped to be heated in the winter by wood stoves, second floor layout to allow the large open living space to be separated off when not used.