Rand Soellner Architect recently was engaged to design a very nice house for a couple north of Atlanta in one of the residential suburbs not far from Norcross, Georgia.
Residential Design in North Atlanta
There will be a main house of about 5,000 HSF (Heated Square Feet), an attached 3 car oversize garage with interior and exterior storage, and a 4,800 SF related but detached separate car barn for collectibles (a hobby of the client). Additionally, there is ongoing Master Planning of the site to accommodate a Porte-Cochere (a fancy word describing a nicer sort of carport) off the Front Porch, with two 12′ wide driving lanes passing through it.
Out back, the tall gable roof of the Grand Hall (main central open plan living space of the house) continues to cover about 24′ of a Rear Porch/ Outdoor Living space, then there is the swimming pool, Summer Kitchen, pool bathroom and related hardscaping and landscaping.
Ah, this is the life! All together, there will be about 13,480 square feet under roof, including interior and exterior covered spaces, but not including the full gable tall screened enclosure over the pool. The building site will be roughly 10 acres in size, with plenty of buffering trees and other landscaping from the road. Privacy is desired, as are beautiful views.
Like many of Rand’s clients, this couple wants this to be their retirement dream house. There is something about Soellner’s designs that appeals to this special market segment. Perhaps the vaulted ceilings with muscular beams and timber trusses, large stone pedestals and timber posts, or huge glass areas framing spectacular views. All of these are part of the equation and the path that leads to Rand Soellner Architect.
Soellner’s work has been featured in books and magazines worldwide, including in a major residential design coffee table book published by Images Publishing, available through Amazon.com (log on to Amazon and type in: “House With A View.” Soellner has several of his built house project designs in the book along with the likes of Richard Meier, Mario Botta and other luminaries of the architectural world). Rand is quick to comment: “mine are the rustic ones that look like they grew from their sites and have been there for 100 years.” Seeing the elegance in Soellner’s design for this new North Atlanta house belies his mountain leanings more toward “Rustic Elegance,” a flavor that seems to be appealing to more retirees these days.
Soellner takes it all in stride, enjoying the fact that so many people looking forward to their dream retirement houses contact him. “I get 84,000 hits a year on my website www.HomeArchitects.com ,” he says with a grin, “but no where near that many actually call me. I wish they did!” Here is Soellner’s Contact Us page from his website–> Contact Rand Soellner Architect
He designs custom houses all over the United States and he confides, that yes, he actually lives in just one state, however he is licensed in multiple states all over the USA and enjoys creating projects anywhere. He actually lived in Kuwait City for 2 months, while designing a major project there, on the Arabian Gulf. “So me designing a residence for people in North Atlanta or Washington State, or South Carolina, or Virginia, Pennsylvania or Illinois is not a difficult thing to do, ” said Soellner.
tags: north atlanta residential design, custom, norcross, alpharetta, newnan, macon, timber, post and beam, pennsylvania, farm house