Designing a Luxury Home

We introduce the luxury home project - a replacement dwelling site in Liverpool. Adam shares his approach to high-end residential commissions, drawing on experience with million-pound homes. You'll see how context analysis shapes early design decisions.

Setting up base drawings from OS maps and topographic surveys, then scaling and importing into SketchUp. We cover reading contour information, positioning the existing building footprint, and establishing reference points for design development.

Creating the proposed site plan with demolition layers for the existing dwelling. We position a 3-bay garage, establish the entrance gates and driveway, and set boundary distances to avoid party wall agreements with neighbours.

Balancing a couple's different preferences - one wants modern minimalism, the other traditional comfort. We work through room sizes, adjacencies, and circulation to create layouts that satisfy both without compromise.

Using Strom Architects' residential work as the primary precedent - analysing their approach to glazing proportions, material palettes, and the relationship between solid and void that we'll apply to this project.

Developing floor plans using 225mm brick module dimensions to ensure buildable layouts. We set out wall positions, refine openings, and coordinate structural requirements to create plans ready for 3D development.

Building the 3D massing model in SketchUp to test volumes and proportions. We extrude the floor plans, add roof forms, and walk around the model to critique scale and relationship to the landscape.

Adding windows, doors, and facade details to the SketchUp model, then testing in Enscape for real-time feedback. We evaluate fenestration rhythms, material combinations, and the quality of key views from inside and outside.

Running Enscape exterior walkthroughs to test material choices - brick tones, zinc cladding, glazing reflections - and check how the building sits in its landscape setting from arrival to garden views.

Testing interiors in Enscape for natural light penetration, furniture placement, and spatial quality. We check overlooking distances to neighbours, adjust glazing positions, and verify that habitable rooms receive adequate daylight.

Exporting from SketchUp to DWG and producing planning drawings in MicroStation. We create floor plans, elevations, and site plans formatted for planning submission with appropriate annotation and scales.

Selecting Enscape render viewpoints that tell the client's story - the arrival sequence, living space views, and key moments. We set up cameras, adjust lighting conditions, and produce presentation images.