2010 March » Nicaragua Vacation Guide

The Lot Grows!

Mar 302010

I just got some great news from Roy. He and Alan, the local engineer of the Development, went to see the lot to figure out where exactly to make the “cut” that will provide the best area to built on. As you can see in a previous post, they too realized that lot is about 7 meters from the road most of the horizontal build-able area sits between the lot and the road. So now Roy informed me that they agreed to move the lot markers 3.5 meters (11 feet) to towards the road, thus increasing the lot size, and, more importantly, increase the area I can build on!

I check with Roy about the process of updating the lot in the Nicaraguan land Registry and he says that it’s a straight forward procedure that costs 300$.

Draft Floorplan 2

Mar 292010

I’m playing around some more with the design to get a better feel for the size and possibilities.

In the following sketch the floor plan is not so different from the first draft. The southern part of the house (to the left) has three rooms and space for two bathrooms and two walk-in closets. The northern part has two large spaces, with the entry door located between them. One can be used for the kitchen while the other is large enough to host a master bedroom and a master walk-in closet.

The entry way opens into a public area under a Palapa roof. this section faces the ocean to the west (top of the image) and slightly to the south.

Floorplan sketch C – March 28 – 27-Aug-2010

The total area is about 170 square meters. Almost 70 meters are the external walk way and public area. It’s a bit smaller than I budgeted so I feel good about being able to use more size. Unfortunately the lot shape seem to be the restricting element right now, as only part of it can be comfortably built upon. Maybe I can come up with a different layout that will use the space better.

Here is how it can look in 3D when viewed from the cliff and the sea towards the East and how it can possibly look from further south. Each of the southern rooms has a door leading towards the western walk way. Each room should also have large windows towards the west, but I’m still not sure what size to make them.

I have to admit that I’m enjoying this process to much. When a “real” architect will come on board I’m sure he will have his own ideas. On the other hand playing around with my own designs gives me a better feeling about the different possibilities, sizes and layouts that can be used.

A good example for this is the western windows of the southern rooms, missing in the above sketches. If I make them too small, the view towards the ocean will be lost, but if I make them too large than it would spoil any sense of privacy in the rooms, since anyone walking on the walk way will be able to look into the rooms. It’s a good example of a design conflict that would have to be resolved somehow.

Lot cut rendering – we’re in a tight spot…

Mar 282010

I’ve took the contour data that Roy sent me and used a 3D modeling application to make a horizontal “cut” at different heights.

Here is rendering of the lot’s shape, with a cut I’ve made showing leveled ground. The view is from the south west towards north east, and the sun is setting down on the west. The orange “polls” are markers of the lot corners, and the four square “stones” placed on the cut are there to get a feeling of the actual space that can be used for the hose.

Lot cut March 27

It’s obvious that there is not a lot of wiggle room, and at least some of the house would have to build towards the south where the ground slowly slops down. It’s a pity that a large area of the leveled ground is outside of the lot, in the area between the lot and the road.

Soil Sample Results Are In!

Mar 272010

Two days ago Roy sent me the results of the Soil Test. These are critical to ensure that no special footings are need – which can significantly increase the cost of the construction. The soil results are compiled in cryptic Spanish engineer lingo. I used the fateful google translator and was able to translate most of the document but couldn’t really figure out the bottom line.

Today Roy met with the engineer that compiled the test and he said that the soil is of”excellent strength and that independent footings would suffice”. All this is dependent on the design being a bit skinny and made of a single level, which was my original intent anyway. I’m very relieved to hear this.

Draft Floorplan 1

Mar 262010

I’m starting to play around with different designs for the house. The lot sits on a cliff that faces the Pacific Ocean to the west, and I wan to ensure that most of the house faces that direction. Creating a north-south formation has an additional benefit of exposing a smaller footprint to the south, which should keep the house from warming too much.

I create a sketch with 4 bedrooms, 3 bathroom, a kitchen and a wide lounge. The ocean lies at the upper part of sketch (west). The slope of the cliff is turned a bit towards the south on it’s northern part, so I create a main area on the north (right) that faces slightly to the south. On the right is the main bedroom (a queen size bed is, in white, is added for scale) and space for bathroom, walk in closet and a possible additional small room. To the left is the kitchen area with an added utility room. Between them is the entry door the house that opens in to the wide rounded lounge. I assume it’s mostly floored, while the farther area (in brown) may be decked with wood. The lounge would have a Palapa roof above it for shade.

Floorplan 1 sketch A – March 26

Floorplan 1 sketch A – March 26 – 27-Aug-2010

The other part of the house is the simple north-south section that has three rooms a bathroom (on the leftmost part) and a shared bathroom (in light blue).All rooms open towards the west and share a connecting passage that leads to the lounge area. It’s not really a corridor as it’s completely open – just a wooden deck and

I have no idea how these two sections are connected, and whether it’s even possible, but I don’t want to get in to these details. The space in between might be used as a car park, or closed with walls.

A major reason for me to sketch this is to get a better feeling of the total size I can build, and how many rooms and at what size I can fit in. In this sketch the total area is about 170 meters, including the about 40 meters of wooden deck. It shows me that I can fit a reasonable amount of decant size rooms, and a comfortable lounge in my 200 meters limit.

It’s a very rough sketch, and I’m sure there are tons of things I don’t think about, but I’m more confident now that that it makes sense.

Here is a rough sketch of how it can look in 3D:

Plan 1 3D sketch

The triangular thing above the lounge should be a Palapa – the local type of thatched roof made of dried palm leaves. Here is a photo of a palapa roof I took on one of the islands in Lake Nicaragua:

Lake Nicaragua – 17-Feb-2010

Topographer’s contour map arrvied

Mar 082010

I just received the topography contour map from Roy. Now I have an autocad representation of the lot 3D shape. In the image you can see the general shape of the lot, the contour lines, some trees on the loot (in green). The north is to the right, so the upper part is the west, where the Pacific Ocean rests. The numbers are height points in meters.

Topo map, M25, March 8

It’s hard to see through all of the numbers, but you can see the the lot slopes down towards the west, while the eastern part is relatively flat (the contour lines are farther apart from each other). Each line is exactly half a meter lower or higher than the lines next to it.

I’m a bit surprised when I see the height points are around 100 meters (~ 330 feet) above see level, and ask Roy whether the scaling is wrong, and maybe it’s 100 feet and not meters.

Another thing visible in the contour is the road that travels from north to south few meters east of the lot.