Unbuilt Projects 3: What may have been

 The Inn at Broken Top, Bend, Oregon

 Galley Bay, Antigua, West Indies

Lewis County Convention Center, Washington

Ocean Front Hotel Renovation

The design challenge renovating a 1970's era beachfront hotel had to do with the long narrow rooms with windows only at one end.  The renovated rooms had to be comfortable and cozy because guests could be confined inside during Pacific Northwest Coast stormy weather.  On wider rooms a day bed was extended onto the deck as a glassed-in alcove as a cozy place to watch dramatic storm driven surf.  The bed uses a common double mattress so it could also be additional sleeping space within the room.

The "Pullman" bed was also used in narrower rooms by offsetting an alcove with the adjacent room.  An additional child's trundle bed could be pulled out from below creating a flexible room for families. This also broke up the long parallel walls giving the room more character than it had before.

Senior Living Plans

Designing an affordable small unit plan for senior living is a challenge. Many seniors are downsizing from a single family home and many of the pieces of furniture they wish to bring with them are scaled for houses and not small apartments. When a large hutch, dining table or favorite easy chair is placed in a small apartment the result is a home that feels crowded and cramped, making the transition even harder on the individual.

This concept for a 600 sf One Bedroom modular apartment borrows a trick from the RV industry -- the slide out. The common party wall between units does not run straight but is offset adding 18" to the width on one or the other side of the unit, just as a slide out in an RV makes a narrow space more livable. When this additional width is in the living area it allows for a larger couch, when in the kitchen area it allows for a larger dining table. The variety of configurations possible in this common module provides greater choice for the tenant. In unit A3 the kitchen is on the inside next to the corridor as is traditional in most apartments, allowing a larger living area. On Unit A2 the kitchen is placed on the outside wall and has the added width. This allows a larger table to be used and provides a bright well lit working, cooking and entertaining area. Where as the living section is on the interior side for a dimmer environment better for watching TV, etc.

There are no wasteful hallways in this unit. The bedrooms open onto the main living areas with double sliding doors. In this way a person who may be bed ridden for a period of time still feels part of the home and not confined to a small bedroom. It also visually expands the width of the unit making it feel much larger than it's 600 sf would suggest.

Storage is accumulated in two large closets with large sliding doors to make everything easily accessible and to allow for a variety of closet storage components to be placed inside for more efficient storage. The "L" shaped kitchens can have a built in dining bar freeing up more floor space, or incorporate open shelving for displaying the many small treasure collected over a lifetime.

This unit concept was incorporated into the design of the Russellville Park Senior Living project we designed in Portland, Oregon.

Rosewood Estate Suite, Jumby Bay

We sometimes search the web for photos that guests have taken while at the resort we designed in Antigua, Jumby Bay. It is interesting to see what guests felt was important enough to take a picture of and share it on the web, especially when it is the architectural or site design that caught their eye or made an impression on them. Luckily one blog we came across, Super Yacht Blogger, the blogger also was a talented photographer - Frances Howorth - who captured much of the design spirit of Estate Suite in her following shots of the room during their stay.



This view of the suite terrace above shows the primary site design concept for Jumby Bay. When relaxing on your terrace there is nothing between you and the sea, no slot views between other buildings, no walkways running in front, nothing to disturb your privacy and enjoyment of the setting. The buildings are run in a gentle arc so that each room is looking out to the view and not at each other. Here is a link to the site plan.



Each room in the suite is designed as a simple proportional space with very high ceilings. No odd angles or architectural complexities. A clear simple space makes for a much more relaxing environment. Most hotel rooms have windows only at the end of the room, we call it tunnel vision. At Jumby Bay there are windows on two or more sides to make the rooms very light and airy as well as focus on the most important quality of Jumby Bay which is it's stunning Island setting. The clerestory windows allow views up as well as out. The Caribbean sky and the blowing palms are all part of the Island experience. The plan for the Estate Suite can be seen here.



The bedroom is a smaller more intimate space with lower ceiling off of the living room.



The bathrooms at Jumby Bay are large and again simple, opening onto private courtyards. The focus is on the vanity which is treated as a piece of furniture. The rooms are air conditioned, however, swinging the double doors open brings the outdoors in and allows the bath to be naturally cooled by tropical breezes.



The outdoor bath has become part of Jumby Bay Style that has evolved over the years. In the early 80's when we started working on Jumby Bay (at that time know as Long Island Resort) most Caribbean hotels had shower curtains which grew mold in the hot moist climate and had a tendency to be blown against your skin by the wind. The first rooms we designed for the island did tiled shower rooms to get rid of the dreaded vinyl curtains. For the next larger rooms we designed for the resort we added a garden courtyard outside the shower, because the private Island infrastructure at that time could not support air conditioning and we needed to be able to open louvered doors to keep the rooms cooled with cross ventilation. The next step was to move the shower and tub outside into a larger courtyard making an outside room, which is shown above. The courtyard walls not only provide privacy, they also break the force of the trade winds so the space is comfortable. The rooms still provide an indoor shower (sans curtain) for those not adventurous enough to venture outside for their shower, but most people find the experience enjoyable, even in the rain.

Island Resort Suite Concept

©MCMarchitects 2010 All Rights Reserved

This is a concept for a resort suite that can be developed as duplexes and tightly grouped on a site for high density. It is a combination of indoor and outdoor space using a splash pool that spans it's whole width. A central atrium allows light and air into the interior of the suite, so even though it may have party walls on both sides, a guest always feels connected with the outdoors.

Resort Room Design Concept

©MCMarchitects 2006 All Rights Reserved

©MCMarchitects 2006 All Rights Reserved

This resort room concept creates a villa that can be sold, rented as one unit or rented separately as three rooms. The center unit has kitchen facilities and an upstairs master bedroom with sitting room. Two adjacent bedroom suites are accessed through outdoor courtyards so there are no internal connections between rooms. Each suite is entered through a private courtyard with fountain. There is more outdoor covered space than indoor space for a truly Caribbean living experience. When northerners vacation in the Islands they want to be outdoors in a garden environment, not confined to a narrow balcony or terrace as provided in most resorts. In this design the sleeping, bath and kitchen areas are enclosed for bug control or to be air conditioned, though all these rooms can be cooled by natural breezes. The outdoor rooms need to placed on the leeward side of the wind.

Design Visualization

Photo by Don Riddle



The drawing above was the sketch used to visualize the proposed design for the new rooms at Jumby Bay. The intent was to give a feeling for the character and style of room being proposed. The drawing is computer generated from a 3D design model, however, rather than rely on photo realistic rending capabilities of the software, the view was enhanced by hand with a digitizing tablet to provide a more interpretive impression of what the room was going to be like. A photo of the actual finished room is shown on top.

Jumby Bay Estate Suite Design

Photo by Don Riddle

All plans copyrighted by MCM Architects 2010 All Rights Reserved

The Estate Suite is formed by a cluster of three rooms, a Courtyard Suite and two Pool Suites. Each room can be rented separately, or they can be combined into one three bedroom villa. The central room has been enhanced with a kitchen, small study and a larger residential sized pool. Removable screen walls allow two terraces to be combined into one large wrap around patio. The other room is accessed from the central courtyard. There are no interconnecting interior doors to assure privacy between rooms when rented individually. Each bedroom has a private courtyard with outdoor shower and tub.

Design of Pool Suite at Jumby Bay

Image by Don Riddle

All Plans copyrighted by MCM Architects 2009 All Rights Reserved

Pool Suites have a private courtyard entry, which when you open the gate there is a direct view through the room out to the water. The Suite consists of a large living room with tall ceilings and a separate bedroom. The bath and dressing area have an over sized shower, all of which opens out onto a private courtyard with an outdoor shower and soaking tub. These courtyards have curvilinear walls to soften the perimeter and expand the sense of space around the building walls. A large covered outdoor terrace overlooks a private pool. All rooms at Jumby Bay have a direct view of the ocean.

Design of Courtyard Suite at Jumby Bay

Photo by Don Riddle


Plans copyrighted by MCM Architects 2009 All Rights Reserved

The rooms at Jumby Bay are designed as indoor and outdoor spaces. Each suite has a gated entry courtyard for privacy, an interior living and sleeping area, a covered outdoor living area, an outdoor sunbathing terrace and a private outdoor shower courtyard with soaking tub. The Courtyard Suite, shown here, are clustered in buildings with no more than three rooms each. The rooms, while air-conditioned, are designed to allow flow through ventilation to cool the rooms naturally for those guests that do not want to rely on air-conditioning.

The suites at Jumby Bay are more than just a hotel room with a balcony, they are four spacious private indoor and outdoor spaces for guests to enjoy.