Interview with Bruce Cheatham our Tiny House Design Winner

Posted on January 18, 2019Leave a comment

Bruce Cheatham of Cheatham Drafting and Design our Winner of our Tiny Home Design contest was nice enough to sit down with SaveOld2StTree and share some of his story.

Bruce sharing holding a sample from the winning design

Bruce and his partner from college Paige Jimenez work together at Cheatham Drafting and Design to produce some very creative works that can be seen at their website https://cheathamdrafting.wixsite.com/global

So here is our interview:

SaveOld2ndStTree: Bruce how old are you?
Bruce: 25

SaveOld2ndStTree: Bruce please share with us your education in Architecture?
Bruce: I have been interested in Architecture since attending high school at William Tennent High School. Drafting for 9 years in high school, college and after college. He went to Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology in Lancaster PA and studied Architectural Drafting where he met Paige Jimenez.

SaveOld2ndStTree: What made you take up drafting?
Bruce: While in High School an older brother of a friend brought home some drawing work and he really like the idea of drawing.

SaveOld2ndStTree: How did you hear about the contest?
Bruce: I saw the Facebook ad.

SaveOld2ndStTree: What made you want to participate in the contest?
Bruce: I love doing Tiny Home Concepts. And I recently did a concept for someone on a property st 19th and Ridge.

SaveOld2ndStTree: How many projects have you worked in the past?
Bruce: 5 or 6 during 2018. With two years of designing for house flipper, bathrooms and decks.

SaveOld2ndStTree: What are your hobbies?
Bruce: Golfing and drafting. His hobbies are his commercial endeavors: construction, drafting, concepts, real-estate,etc.
SaveOld2ndStTree opinion- Bruce is a real go getter and hard worker

SaveOld2ndStTree: How can people contact you for working together?
Bruce:
Email (CheathamDrafting@gmail.com),
Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/BCheatham013),
Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/bruce_cheatham/),
LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/bruce-cheatham/) and
his website (
https://cheathamdrafting.wixsite.com/global ) .

SaveOld2ndStTree: What are you looking for in the future?
Bruce: Moving back into Philly. I spend most of my time in Philly when I’m not home. I’m currently looking at developing a 1/2 Block property. My older brother has a construction company and maybe we will team up on future projects.

SaveOld2ndStTree: What did you like most about your design?
Bruce:

The Floating Stairs – with options for creating storage as with small houses storage is always and issue

3D rendering of the tiny house design showing floating stairs and roof changes

single closet storage available

1st Floor design with storage below stairs and a mechanical storage location in back

2nd Floor design with closet and variable levels making the house interesting with balcony

the Juliette style balcony for light inside and so it looks good from the outside

3D View with Juliette Balcony and Front entrance

Fun of designing with different pitched roofing

3D design showing different roof pitches plus sun lights. This is so Cool!

SaveOld2ndStTree: What do you think of some of the box architecture designs popping up around Philadelphia?
Bruce: Not a big fan. I’m not liking the fake extensions from the house designs, where they don’t use that space for something. They are just facades that add no functional use to the resident.

So we used Bruce’s design as a part of our Philadelphia Zoning Board hearing. Our statement to the Board “I could see myself Living in this House! It is really Cool.”

Again this was a Great Design! Thank you Bruce.

Winner ! – Quick and Dirty Design Contest for Tiny House Concepts

Posted on December 24, 20181 Comment

We have a Winner for our Quick and Dirty Design Contest for Tiny House Concepts. We will be doing an interview post later in 2019 with the designer and his business, for now here are some of the images from his entry

Winner – Bruce Cheatham from CHEATHAM DRAFTING & DESIGN

Cut away view

https://cheathamdrafting.wixsite.com/global

Trying again – Quick and Dirty Design $300 Contest for Tiny House Concepts

Posted on June 11, 2018Leave a comment

Extended to 12/18/2018 midnight -Quick and Dirty Design Contest for Tiny House Concepts with Open Space

In preparation for our next Zoning Hearing we decided to create a quick and dirty architecture design contest for tiny house concepts. We wanted to see the possibilities the imagination could come up with that could be build-able. Not build with the drawings submitted. Submittal due 12/18/2018 midnight.

The Winner gets $300, 2nd place $200 and 3rd Place $100 plus two $100 bonus winners for designs that include the tree in their designs

Rules:

Main Design Winner:
- Design Tiny House with some open space in back.
- The lots size is dimensions of 14 ft 4 inches (frontage) x 19 ft 1 inch deep with back wall
- Design meets Philadelphia zoning and building standards. We acknowledge no design can meet the full open space requirements.
  - Goal: Noted under International Building Codes (IBC.2009) accepted by the State of PA and City of Philadelphia, Section 1206 Yard or Courts: 1206.2 Yards shall not be less than 3ft in width for building two stories or less. Increase 1ft for each additional story.
  - We Acknowledge: winner can not meet Philadelphia Zoning requirement of Minimum Open Area: REQUIRED 30.0% (85.5 Sq. Ft.)
Judging factors:
- Most creative use of interior space
- Most open space (ground level) – roof deck not considered open space
- Zoning and IBA standard met as listed above
- Most usable interior space
- Bonus factors:
  - Preserving the tree’s south side from being cut off (20% bonus)
  - roof deck in access (5% bonus)

There will be bonus winners for designs that save the tree ‘s south side from being cut off.

Tree dimension information
- 72 inches from back wall and back wall is 19 ft 1 inch from front
- height from ground where the branch crosses garden wall 16 feet from ground
- foot print
Winner gets $100 bonus, if tree is preserved
Next Best two designs with the tree preserved get $100 each.
Pre-cut-away

Potential winners:

Winner $300 or Winner $300 with $100 bonus
Two or three $100 winners for tree incorporation

Entries must be submitted by 11:59pm EST on 12/18/2018.

Requires:

Two dimension drawings with iso (allows for measurements to be calculated)
Data listed for interior space
Data listed for open space
Links to 3D digital videos are encouraged
Permission from from contestant to use the drawings and images online, at ZBA hearings and any court to defend the tree and open space. Digital email is acceptable.
Permission for Photo Opt with Winners (tentative for social media promotion for cause)
Must be over 18 years old, so that permission to use material is legal

Email submission to bigoldtree@saveold2sttree.org

Please also email us if you are thinking about submitting, even if you don’t. It would be nice to know how much interest there might be. bigoldtree@saveold2sttree.org

These designs will NOT be used in any proposals to build properties. We wanted to see the possibilities the imagination could come up with that could be build-able.

References for concepts, but the designs do not have to look like these:

3D Rendering of Impacts on Light without Open Space

Just a few windows and a small open space changes everything.

Tree Damage and Safety Impact Caused by Proposed Development

Good Luck.

Sincerely,

Greg Mester

3D Rendering of Impacts on Light without Open Space

Posted on August 12, 2017Leave a comment

I’m so surprised that the Philly ZBA does not require this for all new developments. It was so easy to create. The new tech is awesome. We created a few 3D renderings of the developer’s proposed design of a 3 floor building without open space and then two designs with a small L-shape open space in a 3 floor and then a 2 floor design. We used www.SketchUp.com a free product for 30 days that also allows you to drop the rendering into Google Earth to get the appropriate shadows through out the year. Then we used Flashbackrecorder to record the rotating and changing of time through the year.

The first video is of the 3 story version proposed by the developer. Notice the size in comparison to the house on Manton Street and the garage behind. The recording and shadows are based on August 30th at about 10:52am for an accurate comparison.

The next video is the 2 story Tiny house that is more appropriate for older residents and people that just want a ting house with a little open space to store trash, bicycles, barbecue or enjoy our giant tree. Look at the sight lines in the back of the houses. Just a little bit of open space just 2 to 3 ft just changes everything.

The next video is a capture of the shadow changes for the 3 story no open space design. What I did was start early in the year and then vary the hours in the day. After I cycled through the day I then would pick another day a month or two later and cycle through the hours of the day. I repeated this throughout a standard year. This is important because the Sun’s angle changes throughout the year and you have to look at more than one day for a good comparison.

Then the same 3 story concept with the small L-Shape open space. The sight lines and openness really is present even with just a small bit of open space and variation from a plain vanilla box design.

Now here is the same L-shape open space but in a 2 story design. It is so much better than the 3 story design. Plus because of building codes for PA, US and international the house can never be more than a one bedroom. Who wants to travel up 3 flights of stairs to go to the bathroom?

Lastly we create a comparison video of all three designs at the same day and time August 30th at 10:52am.

Value of Small Gardens in Tiny Houses

Posted on July 26, 2016Leave a comment

Small gardens are now the in-thing to use in marketing and sales ads for tiny homes and small living spaces .

With people feeling like they paid too much for their homes, having a small piece of garden is an oasis in a sea of concrete and stucco. We were walking along South and 2nd Streets the other night and noticed all the Real Estate images that contained gardens and patios in their sales pictures in the show room windows.

Garden yard sales feature — Rock garden in yard as selling feature

The city of Philadelphia calls for open space to be a part of any building project. In the Philadelphia Zoning there is a RSA-5 requirement of 9 ft per Zoning Code Table 14-701-1 which reduces to 5 ft per note 7 for lots of 45 ft or less in depth. Note 7 says: In the RSA-5 district, the minimum rear yard depth for lots less than 45 ft. in depth shall be 5 ft. for the first 12 ft. of building height. Portions of buildings above 12 ft. shall comply with the minimum rear yard depth as set forth in Table 14-701-1.

(http://library.amlegal.com/nxt/gateway.dll/Pennsylvania/philadelphia_pa/title14zoningandplanning/chapter14-700developmentstandards?f=templates$fn=default.htm$3.0$vid=amlegal:philadelphia_pa$anc=JD_Table14-701-1)

Also in the International Building Codes (IBC.2009) accepted by the State of PA and City of Philadelphia, Section 1206 Yard or Courts: 1206.2 Yards shall not be less than 3 ft in width for building two stories or less. Increase 1 ft for each additional story.

Yards help allow light and air to flow in to our homes and the building code was written with that in mind.

Roof decks across South Philly to escape the confines of small space living.

Even cities like Japan cherish their small gardens.

Locally Real Estate agents will add the garden plug in a second.

full real estate sign w garden2 — full real estate sign w garden promotion

Please don’t forget to sign and share our petition to save small open spaces in new developments in Philadelphia.
https://www.change.org/p/councilman-mark-squilla-save-old-2-st-tree

https://www.change.org/p/councilman-mark-squilla-save-old-2-st-tree

Tree Damage and Safety Impact Caused by Proposed Development

Posted on June 27, 2016Leave a comment

The Images below reflect the before and have view of the trimming of the tree that the developer will be doing to build the 3 story small house. This post shows side-views of before and after the developer cuts tree at the property line.

The Results = Half the Tree Gone

We will have to cut the balance of the tree due to an unbalance in the structure of the tree.

Why the Tree is at Risk

Posted on June 27, 2016Leave a comment

Our 80-plus year old tree is in danger from development plans on an adjacent lot that is just too small for building or living, 14ft wide x 20ft deep. The design calls for a 3 story trinity house which would force cutting almost half the branches. If the shock doesn’t kill the tree, it would still be unbalanced, posing the danger of falling toward our house or neighbor’s properties,

The plan is coming before the Philadelphia Zoning Board soon. Hopefully, they will see that the lot is too small for the suggested plan. However, if the Philadelphia Zoning Board releases the lot’s owner from the open space requirements, our tree will be destroyed.

Here is a summary of our discussion with the lot’s owner/developer so far:

In our very first encounter (Early 2015) before he purchased the lot, we told him the lot would not be worth it. There was no way the local area was going to permit a curb cut for a garage, because they just turned down similar requests to larger houses down the street.

The next encounter (Saturday 5/16/2015): The gentleman approached saying that he bought the lot property next to our house and said he was going to build upon it. I told him we would fight any zoning changes for the property use. Here is one of his comments as it related to the Old Tree:

You are going to have to get the tree off my property side when I build my work shed.

That’s when we asked our tree company to trim up the tree as much as possible to get room for the developer. Our Arborist said that if they take away that big branch, we will have to take away the entire tree for safety.

We heard nothing for a year, until Friday night (6/3/2016), when the developer posted a notice for a zoning meeting on Tuesday 6/7/2016. This left us one weeknight to circulate a petition among the neighbors. In less than 2 hours we got 47 signatures Against the Zoning Relief!

At the Pennsport Civic Association Zoning meeting (Tuesday, 6/7/2016), the Developer said:

If the tree is on my side, I can trim that, correct?

After the 6/7 meeting, we figured the next meeting would be on August 3, 2016 with the Philadelphia Zoning Board in downtown Philly. However, we got another late Friday night (6/17/2016) notice for a meeting on Tuesday 6/21/2016. A bunch of neighbors were complaining about the late notice, and how only a few people could make the meeting.

At the next Pennsport Civic Association Zoning meeting on Tuesday 6/21/2016, I mentioned that we had the arborist clean up the tree as far above his lot as possible. The Developer replied:

Did you get a quote for cutting down the tree?

We don’t want our tree to be cut down! It is one of the oldest, tallest trees remaining in our neighborhood of South Philly. The Big Tree helps

Our Neighbors, by cleaning the atmosphere and providing shade for people and animals (see our post: OLD 2ST TREE BENEFIT CALCULATOR )
Possum visits the Old Tree May 10, 2016

Big Dog and Boy playing Under the Old Tree
Families, as there are so few Big Trees for the kids to see every day
Wildlife, as this is a great place for birds and even hawks to rest as they migrate, plus small mammals like to visit every once in awhile. (see our category of posts BIG TREES AND ANIMALS )

The Environment: (see our post: OLD 2ST TREE BENEFIT CALCULATOR )
- CO2
- Storm water
- Energy
- Pollution

Help us save this tree by signing our petition, and follow us on Facebook and Twitter for all the latest updates.

Thank you for your time and support.

Save Old 2St Tree.org with our Change.org Petition

Posted on June 27, 20161 Comment

This petition will be in addition to hand petitions we are circulating with the immediate neighbors, local neighborhoods and others in Philadelphia.

Click on the Image Below to Read and Sign the Petition

Thank You
Signed the Big Old 2 St Tree