Updated with a larger downloadable version: 3200x4000px

(Note: stair arrows have been corrected and now point up as per conventional notation.)

Work-in-progress architectural plan (the estate outbuildings and lower levels are not represented, and rooms are still unlabeled).

It has been years since I posted an update of this plan, and as the date on this illustration shows, this is not new work, but a WIP edition that I have been holding onto in hope that I would get the finalized version done. So far, that has not happened...

So, here we have this nigh-complete version, with much of the landscaping added and with plenty of corrections and new details, presented in fairly high resolution (download for full)

It is my intent to make a fully labelled, layered PDF version, once I work out exactly how to make it work the way I want.



(prior edition)
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A few key details for orientation and comprehension:

Note: The small "x"-marked boxes that dot the grounds represent stone lanterns of various size and type.

At the bottom of the illustration is the Main Gate, the primary pedestrian access to the complex from the boulevard. Flanking — but separate from — the gatehouse are two functional security posts (these are the square structures at the jag in the outer wall, not those immediately next to the swinging gate doors) that serve both the gateway and the immediate areas within the estate's walls.

The Main Gate opens into the Entry Court. To the right of this central courtyard is the large Front Auto Court with its covered coach port. The Main Auto Gate (not shown) would lie to the far right and provides for vehicular access to this and the Inner Lane, which links back to staff row houses hugging the inner wall, the Main Security Tower — a castle-like structure with the entrance to the subterranean garage in its base and exterior loading dock — and finally to the Upper Postern Gate which serves as the primary delivery entrance for this part of the estate complex. Also not shown are the private offices and library, which would lie beyond the lower right corner of the illustration.

On the left of the Entry Court lies a section of the Grand Garden, which fills most of that corner of the estate and includes an artificial lake and various structures, such as the Bonsai Pavilion.

From the Entry Court, one precedes to the Main Building of the house proper, which contains the primary shared and semi-public spaces: the Main Salon and Music Room on the first floor; the Drawing Room, formal Tea Ceremony Room and various meeting and sitting rooms on the second. On the left side of this section is the Assembly Hall (ballroom) tower — modeled after a Japanese castle and separated from the Main Building by a Zen garden — and on the right, past another small ornamental garden, the dining facilities (note the main Chef's Kitchen in the furtherest left wing), which also contains the passthrough to the private apartments of the Residency at the top of the page. Separating the Residency from the Main Building are the private Inner Gardens.

The Guest Pavilion and Sento — since, barring fortuitous location for the estate, natural onsen are unlikely — would lie to the left of the Residency. To the right, between this structure and the security facilities, would appear the Stairway Gate and Thousand Stairs: a long flight of wide, open-air stone steps that links this, the Upper Estate, to both the descending terraces (and the structures thereon, such as the Steward's Residence) and the greater Lower Estate at the foot of the hill (other more practical connections, via interior stairwells, ramps and internal lifts, are also present).

Arrayed around the central illustration of the main levels are the plans for the upper floors of these structures. Clockwise from the top: the Residency's second floor; the upper stories of the Main Building; the tower levels of the Assembly Hall; and the Master Suite's loft.

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These plans only depict visible surface structures, but a hint of the sub-levels is visible in this illustration. For example, at the top of the page, one can discern the walk-out veranda terrace of the recreation area located beneath the Residency and its private yard. On the right of the page, access to a service entrance of a lower area (which contians the main pantry stores, freezers and coolers, and the secondary "Caterers' Kitchen") below the Chef's Kitchen can be seen.

The sub-levels of the main house complex alone plunge down four stories, not counting the foundational vaults, with a footprint greater than that of the visible surface structures.

The intended style of this structure and its estate would be a blend of high, classic Japanese style and Western craft motifs, such as Greene & Greene interior details and Art Nouveau elements.

This project represents a stage in the slow conversion of my many paper plans into digital form.

A bit of background: this mansion is a massive reworking and scale-up of a house that actually came to me in a very vivid dream some years ago and has been the subject of no small consideration since — thus the title. More modest versions — some as small as a quarter of this grand edifice — have been laid out and may eventually appear here.

(Download for full resolution)

Digital Illustration, Adobe illustrator.