Tanglewood Conservatories Blog – Alan Stein's Writings about Custom Conservatory Design and More

We often see the term “custom conservatory design” or “bespoke conservatories” used in the literature or advertisements of various companies. Often when we look at the products being offered, it’s hard to reconcile these terms with the products we see.

There seems to be a very wide range of meanings for this phrase and it is very important to understand exactly what a company means when they use it.

At one end of the spectrum there are companies that manufacture a highly standardized selection of products but will make modifications to them such as a change to a window size or a roof slope etc. All of the parts, pieces and details of the conservatory are standardized however.

They may claim to “never build the same room twice” which might be true however the level at which the customization occurs is very superficial. Their products look like variations of the same model, just the sizes and the shapes change. This is definitely NOT what we mean when we use the term “custom conservatory”.

Farther towards the other end of the spectrum, are companies that have standardized their basic building construction details but can offer a wider variety of “looks” by varying the styles of window muntions and the applied trim. By using variations in the geometry of the roof, a further level of “customization” is achieved.

Products from these suppliers will usually look like different siblings from the same family. A good example, though from another industry, is the suburban tract home which is ubiquitous these days. The homes have different facades, some with brick, some with siding, some with dormers here or there, some with a bay window or the garage on the other side. But somehow they all look the same – and underneath, they are all built exactly the same.

A truly custom home, designed by a good architect will be far more “custom” than this. His choice of size, shape, style, materials and details will be tailored to the needs and desires of his client. This is much closer to the concept of a “custom” or “bespoke” conservatory as we think of it. Even in this example however, the architect will usually be working with standard building techniques and systems and will be subject to their limitations.

Finally, there are the really revolutionary thinkers who are able to create entirely new building systems in response to their understanding and interpretation of a client’s needs. Often the client is not fully aware of the range and depth of solutions that the architect can visualize. An example of this level of creativity is Frank Gehry’s Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao Spain.

It is the same with conservatories and conservatory design – which I will discuss next time…

This is a picture of the conservatory that I talked about in my last posting. It was built several years ago in the upper northeast part of the country and as you can see, it is regularly subjected to extreme weather conditions including getting lots of snow and ice dumped on it.

Because of the way the conservatory roof is designed, it is a perfect candidate for the condition known as “ice damming” (discussed in my last blog post). However, because of our expertise with the design and construction of conservatories in northern climates, the room has stayed perfectly dry and completely free of any problems.

Here’s a note that accompanied the picture from the VERY satisfied homeowners:

“Alan, Thought you’d like to see this. We are very pleased. Please feel free to use us as a reference any time.” Dick and Max

As many of you know, I’ve mentioned the conservatory that was donated to the Caroline County Historical Society by one of our clients some time ago. The client had to move before the conservatory could be installed and the new owners could not use it.

It is a beautiful room that the Society is now selling at a steep discount in order to raise money for their restorations of several old buildings dating to the pre-revolutionary war period.

These are some drawings of the conservatory. The room is in storage awaiting its new owners. Please contact Nancy at Tanglewood if you are interested in a terrific deal on this great conservatory.

You will not likely find an opportunity like this again – and all in support of a very worthy cause!

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.

Nancy and I recently attended a party at the newly completed home of the client who’s greenhouse conservatory is pictured on our website page: Dome Palmhouse

It is an amazing home with each room being finished differently in various exotic woods. Even the windows in the different rooms are completely different. One room has steel casements, another mahogany triple-hungs etc. You might think that this effect would be one of disharmony – and it could have been, but this holds together very well due to the skill of the architects, Custom Design Concepts Architecture, in McLean, Virginia.

There was a beautiful two-story, round, walnut-paneled library with an old-world looking steel balcony that is lined with bookshelves and has a domed ceiling painted with images reminiscent of the great classical frescos.

John Kiernan of Blue Line Studios in Warrenton Virginia is the artist responsible for the work. A former police officer turned painter he has studied many years to become a master of faux finishes and “reality” murals and in 2005 he was inducted into “Salon”, the International Society of Decorative Painters.

Check out John’s website at www.bluelinestudios1.com.

I’m going to post some more pictures of this amazing conservatory soon. It was the first project that Tanglewood undertook which has an exposed decorative steel superstructure inside. In the meantime you can get a preview by looking at “Our Portfolio”, page #10 on our website.

Anyone interested in a deeply discounted Tanglewood conservatory?

Not long ago, a client who had commissioned us for a project in San Francisco decided to sell their house overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge before the conservatory that they had ordered could be installed.

There had been difficulty obtaining a building permit because of the owners had not completed items and got a final occupancy permit for a previous renovation, so the project had been delayed for some time and now business took the owners elsewhere.

Not knowing what to do with the conservatory, a beautiful hip roof design with large Palladian windows set on a raised panel base wall, the client asked for our help in “disposing” of the conservatory.

We suggested and subsequently arranged to have the conservatory donated to the local Caroline County Historical Society, who now has the conservatory up for sale in an effort to raise money for their ongoing restoration projects.

Denton, Maryland, hometown of Tanglewood Conservatories, is a historic hamlet on Maryland’s Eastern shore. It is in this area that the first settlements in this country began in the early 1600’s.

Check out the May 2007 issue of National Geographic. The cover story on the “Real Jamestown Story” took place right here, in and around the beautiful Chesapeake Bay region. Our locale is full of early American and Native American Indian historic sites, from Kent Island to Cambridge, Maryland.

Caroline County was also a major center of activity for the Underground Railroad.

The Historical Society has numerous ongoing projects ranging from site excavations to the moving and complete restoration of significant buildings dating from that period.

Director of the Caroline County Historical Society, Mr. Jok Walsh, says that the society will accept all offers and indicates that the conservatory might be purchased for a fraction of the cost paid by the original buyer. Anyone interested should contact him at 410 479 4188.

Additional information and drawings of the actual conservatory itself is also available from us. Please call Alan Stein or Nancy Virts.

This is a great opportunity for someone. Wouldn’t it make a great holiday gift?
Here are some basics:

Size: Approximately 13′ 6″ x 21′ 3″ rectangular plan with hip roof.
Product type: PRIMED WOOD walls (interior and exterior), color: OFF WHITE.
PRIMED WOOD roof structure, color: OFF WHITE.
EXTRUDED-ALUMINUM roof glazing system, color: WHITE.
PRIMED WOOD DIVIDED LIGHT windows and doors.
Materials: HONDURAS MAHOGANY window frames, window sash, exterior trim.
HONDURAS MAHOGANY roof structure.
POPLAR interior applied trim.
Roof glass: Commercial-grade, insulated, dual sealed units.
TINTED, TEMPERED outboard, LOW E, LAMINATED inboard
Wall glass: CLEAR ANNEALED outboard, LOW E ANNEALED inboard
ALL DOORS AND SIDELIGHTS TO BE TEMPERED GLASS PER CODE.
Doors: ONE (1) CUSTOM 3′ 0″ wide x 8′ 6″ high OUTSWING single door.
hardware: MULTI-POINT GU locksets with brass lever handles, standard GU finishes.
hinges: 4″ x 4″ EXTRUDED SOLID BRASS.
POLISHED BRASS finish.
threshold: SOLID BRASS with OAK interior saddle.
screen doors: NONE
Operable windows: EIGHT (8) AWNING windows with removable insect screens.
hardware: SOLID BRASS push bars and sash lock handle.
finish: SATIN brass
insect screens: WHITE color aluminum frame with charcoal color fiberglass screen cloth.
Skylight vents: ELECTRONICALLY operable with auto rain sensors.
color: MOTOR COVERS to be WHITE.
Low voltage wiring to motors and electrical hookups are by others.
110V wiring to switches by others.
An Non-Interruptible Power Supply unit to be supplied by others is recommended.
insect screens: WHITE aluminum frame with charcoal color fiberglass screen cloth.
Ridge cresting: Cast Aluminum, ACORN style.
Tie rods: TWO (2)- 1/2″ steel rod with decorative center rosette.
Finials: Exterior finials.

Continuation of last entry:

You mentioned the differences between designing a conservatory that will be freestanding versus one that will be attached a house.

From a design standpoint, a freestanding building needs to be much more of a “sculpture in a garden”. It will usually be a focal point of some sort and needs to be able to hold its own against its backdrop. Positioning of the room is important. How it relates to its surroundings, natural and man made and what the negative space that is created looks like, are questions that need to be carefully considered.

In this case, the side of the conservatory serves as one boundary of an adjacent hedge maze and is the terminus of a stone path that begins at an iron gate at the far end of a manicured lawn and winds through a small wood to the conservatory front door. The conservatory is set quite away from the house though it is clearly visible from both the front and the back yards.

A freestanding conservatory also can be more ornamental, or sparse (the opposite design direction), so that it has the strength to hold its own in the overall design composition and doesn’t fade away. It can be much less related to the existing home and can actually be designed to be very different so that it stands out even more.

From a construction standpoint, a freestanding conservatory can have extra challenges. It can sometimes be more difficult to accommodate the HVAC system which usually might be tucked into the basement of the adjacent house.

The solution for this is to either build a fairly substantial basement or crawlspace under the conservatory itself or to attach a small “addition” building to the room to house the mechanical elements. Sometimes we design this small “addition” to house a bathroom as well as the mechanical stuff although we once put in a wine cellar.

Hope this is helpful.

Recently, someone asked me about the different design approaches that Tanglewood might use when approaching a new project and why they can be so different. I’d like to share my reply below:

Lynn,

I am happy you asked about the variety of the stylistic approaches we take. This is something we take very seriously as we want to be sure we don’t allow ourselves to get comfortable using any one idiom, overwriting our clients (sometimes subtle) directions or sacrificing design integrity for production/manufacturing efficiencies.

Our team, designers, builders and managers, many of whom have been with us since our inception, is composed of individuals who feed on challenging the “box”.

We’ve been known to “invent” whole new construction systems just to achieve a customer’s concept – without allowing ourselves to compromise.
Our goal, and hopefully we achieve some success in this, is to be a reflector for our clients vision, needs and dreams.

We try to listen to them very carefully then use our architectural, manufacturing and construction skills and our creativity to produce a synthesis which is really theirs, not ours.

I know that a lot of companies espouse the same concepts, but it can sometimes be no more than marketing gibberish.

Anyway, enough philosophizing. Hopefully our results speak for themselves.
About #11 project which you’ve asked about:

Project Scope and Objectives
The scope of the project included the design, pre-fabrication and on site erection of a free-standing conservatory spa room at an estate home.

Primary objectives of the clients were:
1. The room was conceived to enclose an in ground spa as well as a formal seating area.
2. The room had to accommodate the clients desire to provide a space for viewing TV.
3. Be a whimsical, private getaway from the clients busy lives.
4. The new room had to be a distinctive feature within the garden landscape, and relate to the main house a stones throw away.

Project Challenges
1. To design a small, whimsical building that would accommodate various very different functions within a detached “conservatory” structure.
2. Design the building to harmonize with the existing residence.

Project Solutions
Sq. Footage 295 S.F. freestanding garden room spa.
1. The building uses brick matched to the existing home and echoes some of it’s design features such as the gable roof over the entry way and the curvilinear entry steps.
2. We did not try to make separate spaces for the formal seating and/or the informal spa but chose instead to let them share one large room and embrace this unique juxtaposition.

To be continued… please see next blog entry.