Here is a picture of a small greenhouse that we completed last summer. I took the photograph myself and not being able to get back far enough or get up high enough, had to settle for poking the camera through the bushes as best I could. We’ll get some really nice shots of this in the spring and will then get it up on our main Gallery page.

It is a very small room, only 7’ wide by 16’ long, but it’s just the right size for a small greenhouse at home on a tight residential lot. Because it is attached to the house, the homeowner and the architect wanted to make sure that its design and quality were a suitable complement to the home.

We used a cooper clad roof to match the metal work on the house, painted the room to match the colors of the home and continued the stone of the house out around the basewall of the conservatory as well. The conservatory’s hip roof complements the roof lines of the house.

What we tried to accomplish with this small commission, was to make the design both a really special little piece of the whole architectural composition (the house), yet have it fit in well with the overall scheme. This is not always as easy to accomplish as it might seem.

When working on any creative endeavor, architectural design included, there is always the potential to let one’s ego get in the way. If the artist starts to feel self conscious about the work or allows themselves think their work is something very special, the sensitivity required to strike just the right balance will be clouded.

This small conservatory does not seem to overpower the composition or draw too much attention to itself. This was accomplished by keeping the overall geometry simple (just a small rectangular hip roof design) but increasing the intricacy of the details just a bit.