suck it up and draw it yourself. i had the same problem during my thesis. the architect wouldn't/couldn't give me the drawings to a building even though it was under construction. i even tried to explain to them it was a school project and schematic drawings would have been sufficient. good luck.

ask the owner? another route. cause they might have a set of drawings for you to make a copy of.

did the city have a copy of the drawings and just refuse your request? if so, try going down there and sweet talk or something. i've gotten a lot of drawings for free just by being nice and asking. the best was in Pittsfield, MA when the guy at the building dept said:

"Well, copies of these drawings are usually $15 a sheet, but I wouldn't notice if this one suddenly disappeared when I turn my back."

And he turned around and left.

the book Contemporary California Architects (violet & green cover) featured two of his malibu projects...they have schematic drawings that you can scan and redraw in autocad...if you need the drawings in cad

well, thats why a lot of architects (i hate to say most) are termed to be assholes. Its really frustating when architects act like inventors.

The house is on the cover of Distinctive Homes, is on the market for $ 23,500,000.

The said that I have to call the architect to get the permission so they can make copies.

I can’t draw the floor plan, its really complicated. The house is amazing.

My presentation for the building is today and I have nothing.

do a "Google search" with the house name and another with the Architect's name ... maybe there's a plan published on-line somewhere that you can use

Its dumb, I wouldn’t give out floor plans either, I totally understand.
The teachers should just give a floor plan to everyone,
this is just frustrating

also ... if the house is on the market, go to the website for the listing agent ... maybe they post a floor plan with the listing information ... if not, give them a call and see if they have a plan they can fax to you.

Are you an architecture student? If so you may want to familiarize yourself with standard contract language. Generally the architect is sole owner of the drawings and other "instruments of service." Most contracts are written such that technically the owner needs permission to make copies of his own set of drawings. So, while the architect could be nice and let you have copies, he's under no obligation to do so and many architects will not do this.

If the house has been published anywhere else then you might be able to find schematic plans of it in a magazine or something. Have you checked the architect's website? Perhaps there will be some more images or other visuals there.

Many jurisdictions don't keep residential plans on file. One other thing you could check would be the fire department. Recently some municipalities have begun to use systems for their fire departments that allow the schematic plan of any building to be pulled up on screen. Of course, they're not supposed to give out those plans and even if they did they'd only be very diagramatic...

Here it is

www.malibusarchitectural.com

ok that house is not in the book i mentioned

yuck.
can you pick another house?
like this one:

I did talk to the architect, he said NO, this is the only house that I wont give the floor plans to anyone and that its not in any magazine either, he is the only one who has it. Annoying and I went there to take picture of the exterior of the house and to try to get in to the house; I knocked on the door to see if anyone was home, (I was going to jump into the balcony and take pix from inside if nobody was there) but they were, the house is on the market, what if I am the client and want to see the floor plan? Right?

sheri, what id advise you to do is, if you have nothing is, to go to google maps, just put the address and get some nice views of the community around it, and some aerial shots of the house. That way you will have something to show.

And, as a rule of thumb, please allow yourself 2-3 days to obtain drawings for such projects. As I mentioned, most architects are snooty about their super-valuable drawings and will not give them out.

"well, thats why a lot of architects (i hate to say most) are termed to be assholes. Its really frustating when architects act like inventors."

it is a private residence...did you ever think that the owner might
not want the actual drawings of his house to go out to just anybody?

it is getting published..but the drawings may show things that the
published copies do not...that and it's a working drawing...the architect
has paid alot of money to get to the point of creating that
document...computers, cad, people etc etc...why should they be
expected to give it away for free?

it is proprietary information...so in essence we are inventors...

If I may ask, why does your teacher asks you to draw this plan? Wouldn't be part of the asignment to guess or imagine a floor plan from documents you have collected? Like an exercise of interpretation or something?

waxwings - you dont like the house???

I'm going to redo it to a privat exclusive members only hotel.

correct me if i'm wrong, but there's a $24million home on the market which has something to do with a school project of yours requiring the use of said house's floorplans for which you've not surprisingly been denied your requests for them by the architect and the city who knowing full well that it's a 'distinctive' home seen in magazines and the like giveth forth denials but the project requires a floorplan of some kind without which ye' shall be deemed incomplete for a presentation of sorts that is to be given today.

today?

well, if you can't locate them, perhaps my cad files of both the brooklyn and williamsburg bridges will suffice in absence of the aforementioned 'distinctive' home.

you realize that you're asking for a SUBSTANTIAL favor from someone whom I'm guessing you've never met?

sheri24, I believe you need a be a bit more creative.

go zoolander on 'em and dress up like a janitor, sneak in to the office and get the files.

they're *in* the computer.

larslarson - the house is on the market for sale

larslarson, im sorry an architectural drawings IS NOT AN INVENTION. Sure the architect does not need to give his drawings to anyone, even more so when the client does not want to, but im just saying that in most cases architects think too much of their work, when in essence there is nothing scientific about it.

composer may be the better term
or composeur for some

I have to work with an existing building and convert it to something, but why is he asking for something that is impossible to get? as an architect he should know better, and just give us a floor plan to work with

but what if I go and pretend as if I am the client??

sheri, not so much -it's a behemoth

conversion from a residence to hotel would be a step in the right direction, but architecturally it's mediocre.
the glass guard system is tired.
the wickets at operable window units are unfortunate
i do like the fabric ceiling system shown in one shot

it's certainly a good example of what's available for the money

is there any assessor gis available.
you may be able to get a footprint that way.
and just make up the interior based on what you know.

or google earth it.

Ok you guys are at a different level, I'm a student, I cant just start to draw the freaking floor plan.
and I didn’t start today, I've had one week to get the floor plan, and I have been calling the architect everyday, finally today I got hold of him, and I was sure that he was going to give it to me, specially cuz the house is on the market for sale

i got a hunch, this prof. is WANTING these drawings for his/her own interest. anyone else with me? This said professor asks students to go out and retrieve what can be obtained to save him/her leg work.

just make it up from the flash presentation, draw the back elevation, ocean elevation and have fun with filling in the blanks........

When did you start architecture sheri 24? I don't ask to start to blame you or anything, I was just honestly askin
g the question to understand more of the context of this assignement.
I want to know if your teacher didn't give it you as a challenge of sorts. Was it your idea to use this house for your project or his? Are you the only student that was given this to do?

sheri...
sorry realised after the fact that it was on the market...
and sorry that you've been unable to obtain info...

same ol'
i'm not sure what your definition of an inventor is.. and i know
that for the most part everything has been done before...although
i feel as though i could say this of inventions as well...i do feel
as though some things done by architects is truly creative/
distinctive and could be considered 'inventive' or a invention...
i'm confused as to what you have against architects, in general,
and why you say an architect is 'an asshole' for simply not
wanting to give out a drawing...

it also seems to me that this project having been built years
ago has probably been archived...so it would probably be a
chore to get out of storage...and if this architect is well known
these requests are being made on a frequent basis.

i dont have anything against architects, and im an architect too. The thing i hate about most architects though is that they are extremely uncivil, uncouth and unfriendly. So what if a student wants a drawing? Call the client, if he's okay with it, just hand over the drawing. And for people talking about 'working drawings', im sure that there must be design drawings done too.
All im asking is for architects to be co-operative, nothing else.

you're kidding me--fucking KALWALL and RANDOM HVAC SOFFITS created with no forethought that randomly hit walls at random points?!?!?! What kind of architect is this? one that doesn't like to think?

UGH. This may as well have been put together by an engineer. It looks like it "works", but it certainly is uninspiring in the extreme. Why pay 23 million for something that just works but is ugly... I am honestly surprised taht this is being published.

Publishing is ordinarily reserved for projects that demonstrate thought.

it may be on the market, but it is still someone's home.

Agents usually qualify buyers before showing them the home and/or details.

A few photos on the internet is not quite the same as letting someone have to plans for every nook and cranny of your home, or letting them walk around in it.

Find another building to mess around with.

This is the thesis project class where you choose a site with an existing building on it, and you convert the building into something else, then there will be 5 or more architects at the end of the term sitting judging your project and you have to try to convince them why your project is good

This myriam girl is a hater

sheri24 i dont understand why you cant just draw it, as i student i did plenty of research that involved me doing plans and sections of buildings from things I sketched photographed, etc... A few times I made models for different classes with no information but images/skethces.

in the time it took you to post you could have done about 6 plans and sections and a small model of that house. Now get to work!!!

awwwwwwwwwww, 6 plans??.
Im going by the pool now to get some tan, Im over it.

sheri, i'm not particularly fond of the house either. some of the spaces seem out of scale, somewhat cramped, and odd.

we were given a project when i was a student. each student was given a plan of a little known renaissance church. we were asked to draw what we thought the sections of the chuch were. it was a rather interesting assignment.

and seriously, that has got to be the WORST kitchen i have ever seen.

and why hate on myriam? she's just clearly enunciating her distaste for your chosen project, no offense.

what kind of a thesis is this anyways? and if you're doing a thesis, i would imagine that you've had plenty of crits and should be able to handle her comments without needing to "get some tan."

or is it a "thesis"?




really folks, nothing to see here.

e- I will modify it.
I agree that would have been a much more interesting project to do, this is stupied.

ha ha :)

Honestly, sheri, if you're in your "thesis" and you can't see the lack of thought that went into that "design" (and what is "design" but thought and care for aesthetics?) then you should be questioning your institution, not me.

I am coming down hard on the architect of this house because he didn't try--not because I don't "like" the house, as in I don't care for the style or something, but because it is literally poorly done.

I hope you can see that.

the kitchen pictures boggle me. the photos are all taken w/ an assortment of lenses and i can't get a real dial in on the space. in any case, i agree w/ most of the comments above. it's at best a shoddy work w/ expensive yet unfortunate finishes.

mightylittle- calm down you are getting way too excited

Who cares about the freaking kitchen, I am redoing the whole house into something totally different

eventually some loosing pool shooter in that house would commit suicide... like the 25 cents brains splattered on the travertine floors and police would discover the body a week later because house is ... ummm., so defensible?..
sorri.
thats not ed niles pro. is it? if it is, he is got better projects to turn into a dentist's clinic...

sheri24: I think a lot of people who've posted are just reacting to your tone - you seem to feel that you're somehow entitled to copies of the plans.
I don't understand some of your logic - for instance you've stated a number of times that the architect should make the plans available because the house is on the market for 24M.
But the architect has no direct involvement in the house being on the market. And in fact this would be exactly the worst time for an architect to release the drawings, because most renovation projects take place just after a house changes hands. So if the architect has some concerns either about the "integrity" of his design (i.e. he would like to avoid if possible having some other architect come in and chop up his original design) or if he has some interest in marketing his services to the next owner, then the WORST thing he could do would be hand out the drawings right now.

There is also the possibility that the original client had a confidentiality clause in the contract -meaning that the architect may not be permitted to publish or distribute the plans. In that case the architect really has no choice to let you have the drawings.

I would definately NOT reccommend trying to get into the house or even stepping on the yard. You and the rest of the public have no right to do anything but take pictures from the street unless invited by the home owner.

It seems to me that everyone has provided you with all the reasonable options (pick a different house, draw the approximate plans yourself, present your project without any existing floorplans, attempt to find other sources of information about this house, etc.) It seems that every suggestion is unwanted and that you won't be happy until the plans magically drop out of the air onto your chair by the pool.

Sheesh

sheri, why don't you just design something new instead of limiting yourself with something crappy from the get-go?

just a thought.

I dont think you guys really understand

Myriam- I have to work w/ an existing structure, I wouldnt have had any problem if I could have just designed something from scratch.

Bloopox- I need to have the floor plan for my project, I underestand, but it's frustrating when your teacher dont underestand

hey now myriam, slow down there einstein. baby steps.

let's start with a round of mai-tais and some iced tea with ginger...waiter?!?