Chameleon shotgun house blends modern/vernacular on a budget
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- Опубліковано 28 вер 2024
- Inspired by the shotgun houses of the Gulf Coast, architect Zui Ng set out to create a modern version that could adapt to any lot. Calling it the Shotgun Chameleon, he built a prototype home for his family in Houston’s Fourth Ward (Freedmen’s Town).
Reflecting the buildings on both sides, it is clad in wood and metal, which are slatted to allow for light and breeze to enter while simultaneously allowing for privacy from the apartments next door.
The “Chameleon” in the title refers both to the home's adaptability to place as well as to moments in time. Ng designed it to divide into separate apartments to reflect his changing family. When he first moved in, he left the interior stairway open and his mother lived downstairs. Now the stairwell is closed and he, his wife and young daughter live in the 750-square-foot upstairs. The downstairs is rented out as a separate flat, now accessible via an exterior door.
“There’s different ways to live free. I’ve seen people, they move to the middle of nowhere and they move into a car or something to live free. That’s one way. Me and my wife, right now, we are kind of living free The rent for the bottom unit actually pays for the mortgage.”
In order to keep the build affordable, Ng (ZDES Studio) and his wife created most of the interior themselves: building cabinets and furniture (some hacked from IKEA and Home Depot), staining the plywood, designing and installing steel countertops from leftover siding, and even creating wooden, sliding pocket doors.
“With the digital age we lost a lot of ability that our ancestors used to have, with your hands… This house was built $180,000 less than what the contractor asked for so this is like another master degree for me. I learned to do subcontracting.”
ZDES Studio: zdes.webs.com/s...
Original story: faircompanies....
“A porch is not taxable” this is my type of mentality
weird country
allen lebaron a porch is taxable in Calif.
@@RVBadlands2015 Same in Texas
This man comes off as an awesome caring father. Also, incredibly impressive design. Everything has had meticulous thought and done with purpose. This guy is humble and genius. Thanks for the tour of your home!
I'm not really a comments guy but GEEZ!....
I have to show respect when I see something like this.
Mindfulness is radiant when practiced! Bravo to Zui and his beautiful family.
Thank you, Kirsten!
Renting the bottom pays his mortgage. This guy is awesome
Great Provider
That’s the whole idea of two-family houses. My parents did that in the late 1950’s!
@Jerry Moody how long does it take to pay the mortgage? I'm assuming it's multiple tenants over the period, otherwise the tenant needs to rethink their finances lol.
The Classical architect, in the true sense of the word!! smart, emotionally intelligent, understanding light, air, well being of the inhabitants far beyond the primary impulses of us mortals ;-) love to listen to him talk about his reasoning, design choices and considerations.
This why you should hire someone
This guys attitude is just awesome!
Aaron Henderson i agree. love his energy.
And his supportive wife gives him the free will to do 👏
"When you have restriction and constraints it forces you to become creative."
I agree, it really does doesn't it.
how do i explain to my boss that i am late to work because i was watching this guy talk about his metal and wood house
How did you explain it?
same here. lol
Chuckling... it's late here and even though I'm hungry, I forgot because this fed my mind and heart and apparently was more important than supper! I love skill and excellence.
This video, this house, this architect made me so happy!
Show this clip
@@estebanb7166 he got fired so can no longer afford internet to reply to your question
I've been watching this channel for quite some time but this really stuck with me. Smartest design so far and so resourceful, doing everything himself. Smart guy. 10/10, would move in immediately.
Out of all the tiny houses I have seen this is by far the best. It's a mixture of simplicity and modernism
Smart man simple, strong, functional and great style!
Yeap, very clever..!
Jason Chasteen Very thoughtful indeed.
so smart, so "in shape", so sharp with his glass of water to comfort his interior trauma.
Jason Chasteen u
no central AC in Houston and no way to shut out the light. I don't know how smart this was but good for this guy to do things himself with cheap materials.
what a gorgeous house. for a metal and wood box it's very contextual and complementary to the neighborhood.
very warm interior too.
I love everything about this. It has to be my favorite house tour ever, the thought and creativity that went into it blows my mind. Stunning. And lovely people. I'm obsessed.
"You see that? That's water damage." Well, sir, I love your water damage. Well done. You are very inspirational, Zui. Thany you for sharing Kirsten.
Marine ply for the wet areas would have been the way to go.
"Being a good neighbor" - so great
Zui Ng - am blown away by your sensitivity above your ingenuity as you’ve considered your family’s happiness and that of your community’s. You’re a good citizen for both environment and community.
Kirsten Dirksen, thank you for finding /filming/ posting this gem.
I loved this video, this house. This architect is a very very smart man.
If I could afford an architect I would choose him.....I would even love to just have a conversation with him about my own project Im sure even that would be project changing for me.....but I live in Australia so will watch and listen to this over again and take notes.
did you got the structural idea ? I need that too, everybody is commenting but no body will reply, so you along with us even don't have the chance to buy the design. I want to built it with some modification. this video lacking to show the other side exterior, that doesnt have the stairs. Anyway if you could get anything from this video let me know pls. I am palnning to show some architecht frendz of mine and create the full design with modification. TIA.
Quazi A Ahmed He gave his e-mail address, why don’t you e-mail and offer to pay for his plans...they are his intellectual property after all.
Architects are smart.
This is brilliant. Very creative, and talented. Very thoughtful build. Thank you for sharing.
This is amazing~ Super well spoken guy. Very humble. He did a lot of the interior work himself which is impressive!
Very cool, I like the idea of taking wood from one neighbor and metal from another, and bring them together, because he's the middle man!
This video changed my life.
This is such a beautifully-designed house. Architecture at work displaying both form and function. I love it.
just super smart and great details...modern and functional and creative. such a spacious in semi urban neighborhood. open and high ceiling, clean and minimalistic...wow all are possible.👍 thanks for sharing.
judy on art It is urban! It's just outside of downtown Houston. I think that you let the appearance of a tall tree fool you.
This man is a genius. Especially loved his concept of wall art / window blinds, enhanced by the way he thinks about windows as picture frames. Incredible! As they say, if you want something done right...
This guy is a genius! I'd like to watch more of him just talking about design and share his insight about stuff. Thankyou for sharing this video!
Love it "the table right here? 5 dollars."
Love this house! And even more, I love his approach and attitude to life!
⟗ such a well-rounded "builder" with styles of design ⧰
My favorite of all the house ideas and concepts you've interviewed.
I enjoyed that he was actually humble and explained how most things he designed were done with sensible cheap materials. very cool that with his excellent craftsmanship he was able to make even cheap materials look extremely high grade.
This is a lovely space & home.
MAN!! Absolutely Beautiful!! I admire the heck out of all of you carpentry diy folks!
Amazing what intelligent design can do with simple materials. Well done.
The light and shadows the outer structure creates make the whole design look like art.
I love this guy, what an inspiration!...
I love how Zui had an answer to each challenge that their property faced. Such an inspiring design. LOVE IT!
That's one cool tenant to allow a landlord such free range to show their personal space.
Love his expressions, super proud and happy with what they've created.
Wow this is so genius. I loved the way he repurposed the material very nice :o
It's great that he was considerate about his neighbors. I see here all the time how little architects care for the sorroundings and the impact their building is having on the local community. Small things go a long way.
Bravo! Everything about this is fantastic.
I Love this , it is actually perfect for my family. The Architect is brilliant. I'm going to email him to see how much this would cost in another city, just perfection. Love his attitude, design, and overall take on living.
The fact that he saved money by doing it himself and instead of getting in over his head he got creative and was flexible means he now lives in a beautiful home. A solid foundation, solid frame and flexible floor plan. It is a lesson many Americans can look to in building a home. Being a former home builder for over 10 years I was floored time and time again at how cheap and poorly designed most people build their house. Even after we would warn the homeowner their decisions would not last they wanted what their neighbors had. So we built it because they paid for it. I now remodel older homes and sell them after updating them and fixing so much of what shoddy developers build. I will never settle in a typical American home that's not older than 50 years. I will build my own home and use similar concepts this guy used. It is what I have thought the standard home has needed for the last 25 years I have been in construction.
cdanielh128 i
I know it's two years old, but your comment continues to be relevant, and to become more relevant as time passes and American residential building becomes more shoddy. Thanks for posting it!
amazing perspectives, Mr. Zui Ng. you home is lovely
I respect people who go this extent in a strategic manner, coming from an architecture student.
Other than the transformer NYC apartment video, this is the best video I've seen from Fair Companies. So informative. He was so stellar at communicating his vision. Salute to both of you.
This guy is so on-point. Made the best of an undesirable lot and employed excellent solutions in so many ways. Very cool!
I love this house and the owners wisdom and enthusiasm. Thanks for posting this, Kirsten. One thing it shows is how ordinary things can be used and be beautiful.
We absolutely Love this home, a really smart and practical design. Plus this family has the same mindset as we do, build it to last, but do it practicality and as economically as you can, and use your own 2 hands to do it. This has to be our most favourite 1 of your videos ever. Thank you for sharing it with us all 😀❤
This is an excellent house. I love how he conceived it as a visual transition between two different building styles.
Kirsten and Zui, this may be my favorite video ever. Gorgeous home and a well articulated explanation.
Love this house . Many great and simple ideas. I love his attitude well done.
I love this guy. Very DIY and very good undestanding of style and function. The plywood walls are cheap to build but the appearance at the end is very modern and appealing. I will take this guys design to heart and admire his home very much.
Your house is absolutely incredible! You did a fantastic job. I wish you could build a house for me like this!
This was really really good. You could tell from the beginning the way he spoke of the house that he really loved it, and then I realized he himself was also an architect. Love it!
Wow. Zui really did something cool. So much thought and intention. Impressive. Thank you for bringing us this story as well.
VERY HAPPY AND CREATIVE HUSBAND AND WIFE. I WISH THEM WELL ON THEIR ENDEAVORS. A SIMPLE LIFE WELL LIVED!!!!!!!
Oh this is such a wonderful house, and I love how his attitude reaches even the finest details. And the use of inexpensive materials in a smart and elegant way is very inspirational. My favorite part is how he placed the windows in the downstairs bedroom to create a secure and comforting but still not gloomy or dark feeling.
i hated the exterior but the more i watch the more i fell in love with this place! i actually like the bottom floor more haha. wonder if their daughter will get her own room downstairs later?
kuroholic I bet the exterior helps to keep their energy bill low in summer and winter. Houston gets really hot and sometimes pretty cold too with the wind chill factor.
This was one of the most enlightening architectural videos I've seen to date. Thank you for your detailed explanation. Awesome design and creativity.
So impressive! Seems like a lovely guy too
Thanks for taking the time to open your home and sharing your thinking and craftsmanship.
Great Design theory understandings and implementations! simple beauty.
My favourite by FAR. I think this qualifies as REAL GENIUS 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾
I love this home, minimilistic style..just my taste...beautiful
I love this house. Very much. The placement of the windows is very appealing. Too many likeable details
That guy did a very good job on that house. That's to much money, I'll do it myself! Put it on a T shirt.
This guy is charmed. He is a slice of life, I want a show of this guy and his friendly adventures
This guy is awesome
I love the passion that these people have for what they are doing. If you watch all of Kirsten's videos, you will not see one unhappy person giving a tour of their home. When I am having a bad day, I go to this channel and the happiness is contagious :)
You and your wife did a wonderful job on your home...so simple and beautiful!
jesus thats right down the street from where i live :-)
It's about eight miles from me.
Dixie Normous It's been gentrified. It was originally settled by freed slaves, but the land was stolen from them by the city of Houston through imminent domain for development. There was no development and the former owners/residents sought to return to their land. The city Houston refused to even sell it back to them. However, the city did sell the properties to white people. As the white people prospered and moved out of the neighborhood black people returned. Developers now wanted the land so the city of Houston and HISD helped out by closing schools, a library, and a park. The area has a historical designation, but that didn't stop looters from stealing the old wood off many of the houses. Several historical black churches there mysteriously caught fire with bulldozers being spotted parked nearby hours beforehand to clean up after suspiciously short arson investigations within a few hours. Those good church folks didn't care about the neighborhood because most of their families had left the area a long time ago. Eventually, the white (stolen) property owners started selling the land off to developers maybe around 20 years ago when the price was right. Now there's a new library, high school, and zillions of new homes plus restaurants & businesses. The new gentrified label for most of Freedmens Town and the Fourth Ward area (for whitewashing purposes) is Midtown.
Hmm. Nope.
Also, this is about the architecture not your rant on how the white man stole it from the black man song and dance. Pick a different channel. It's a cool guy showing off his house and he is not even white, he's asian! face palm*
You're an idiot, Dixie. lmao
This home is built with various elements of creative genius.
why can't we apply these ideas to create big scale affordable housing
We can. The thing lacking is will.
Tommy.... greed and politics.
Politics
Capitalism my friend
Short answer - stupidity!
Long answer - contractors not willing to learn/experiment, authorities lacking the balls to approve non-standard cookie-cutter homes, lending institutions looking for documents from stupid contractors and stupid authorities to approve mortgages, NIMBY neighbours, and so on and on.
Very smart intelligent man! My question is why no one wanted to help him make anything he had ideas for. He literally has such a beautiful soul and he knows exactly how things work look good together. Extremely well done!
I look forward to more videos.Keep it up!
I really love being around smart people.. this guy is amazing! wow what a home he has made.. love the forethought and in site that he possesses his helpful family and wife are great to behold.. enjoyed this very very much! thank you ed
Amazing craftsmanship!!!!
for 750 sq ft, his house was huge. i loved it. kirsten, i wish i had your job, traveling to see beautiful, eco friendly, money saving homes.
What a dope house, I hope it withstands the devastation from Hurricane Harvey (as everyone else around him of course).
Zui is the man. What a beautiful and ingenious home. Much respect and admiration to you, Sir.
I really like this shell or veil around houses, its very versatile and modern... It really does create a micro climate and privacy
I've subbed since 10k n I've waited for you to visit Houston!! great job on your channel n welcome to my home town! peace
Chris Pruett I know, right?! I was shocked when I saw the Houston skyline!!!
I love it! The only modern house I've seen so far with warmth!
this is one of the rare design built architect that I can actually feel genuine in his design. Amazingly done
Brilliant man
This couple is so cute!! Love the fact that they did most of the work themselves!
This Chinese guy is smart and practical.
Such a high level of creativity. This is a beautiful house.
So happy to see paintings up on the walls.
I really love this home all of the angles and light are very inviting. It feels very warm and very clean.
Very inspiring design. I especially like the shade material technique to keep the house naturally cool.
Pragmatic and romantic... the house and the man/family who built it... beautiful home...
Actually i've already subscribe your channel since long time and I like your content. But you should invest on gimbal because your video footage is unstable. Its unfortunate when the content is nice but makes the viewers dizzy. Good job keep your work.
i have thought this for a lonnngggg time.
I have to say for me the style works well, I hate shaky footage but barely notice it in these videos.
Damnit now I can't unotice it
I like it personally, it's part of her style
it’s not over the top shaky and i think it adds up to the candidness of the coverage.
I love this guy and his design philosophy
this was soo much more than design and architect; it gives you a newer prospective of life and philosophy
Wow. This home ticks all the right boxes. It's truly a labor of love.
Belleza: armonía, simplicidad, austeridad, ¡Un verdadero lujo de casa!
Absolutely beautiful. An inspiring design that shows how less can more. Much more is this case. A triumph of ingenuity over vulgar expenditure.