Design your building in conversation.

A five-by-six-metre cottage. Two rooms. A small bathroom. And a roof that opens up the space inside. Let’s build it — in conversation.

First, the brief. Set the footprint, the roof, the character. Talos3D Architecture gives that idea a shape we can explore. Turn it around. Check the proportions. There’s our starting point.

Now make room for living. Two rooms, a compact bathroom, places to sleep, and doors opening towards the lake. Windows and shutters become shared components. We can inspect the layout, check the clearances, and refine the same design.

And then — the construction. Ask for timber framing, and look underneath the finishes. Individual studs. Plates and headers around the openings. Above them, timber rafters meet a glulam ridge beam. The wood has material properties too: density, stiffness and strength grade. Follow the supports down through the gables to the foundation. These are editable parts of one coordinated model. This is where the design starts to explain how it goes together.

Keep asking useful questions. Does everything meet? Can the doors and shutters move? How does the foundation change? Inspect the junctions, compare the options, and take drawings and quantities from the model. The remaining engineering decisions stay visible, ready for the next conversation.

From a sketch to a cottage you can explore, refine and understand. Your design judgement. An agent helping you develop it. One editable model. Talos3D Architecture.

1. The idea

   Start an empty Talos3D Architecture project from my sketch: a Swedish lakeside cottage with a 5 m east–west by 6 m north–south wall footprint, north/south gables, a 22° roof, 300 mm overhangs and 2.30 m clear eaves height. Keep the rooms vaulted. Use NCS S 0502-Y horizontal siding and timber shutters, NCS S 1002-B vertical gable boards and trim, and charcoal standing-seam roofing. Begin with simple editable massing and four elevation views. Keep assumptions visible and save a first version. Work in perspective while developing the model.

2. Make room for living

   Follow the sketch layout: put the 1.25 × 2.73 m clear bathroom in the northeast corner, with access from the north room through its west side and from the south room through its south end. Include a 900 × 900 mm folding shower, WC and basin. Place a 1600 × 2000 mm double bed against the north wall, and another against the east wall in the south room. Put a round dining table and four chairs in the southwest. Divide the rooms west of the bathroom with four 625 × 1940 mm folding leaves in a 2.52 m opening. Use a centred south glazed double door with a 1500 × 2020 mm rough opening, plus a 1300 × 2020 mm double door in each west room, with sliding shutters. Place shared M12×6 high windows in both east rooms and the north gable: 1180 × 580 mm frames, heads 2010 mm above the floor. Reuse product types, check clearances and save the layout.

3. Reveal how it goes together

   Keep the layout and develop the timber construction: 45 × 145 mm wall framing with plates, corners, headers and jack studs; insulation, wind protection, ventilated cladding and an internal service zone. For the vaulted 22° roof, use notched 45 × 220 mm rafters, 220 + 45 mm insulation and layered standing-seam covering. Support a 140 × 405 mm glulam ridge through both gables, using 140 × 140 mm posts and 145 × 195 mm transfer headers above their openings. Assign C24 to solid timber, GL30c to ridge and transfer beams, and GL30h to the posts, with timber appearance, density and stiffness. Compare slab and pier/bearer/joist foundations, then select the slab for this cottage. Show the frame separately from the finishes, check support contacts and save both studies. Keep capacity, connection and site decisions open for engineering verification.

4. Inspect and deliver

   Use the selected slab foundation for the final model. Inspect the design: clashes, unsupported parts, door and shutter clearances, continuous supports, and roof and wall junctions. Resolve modelling issues and retain open engineering decisions. Check geometry and timber properties after saving and reopening. Produce a dimensioned north-up plan, four elevations, wall/roof section, foundation comparison and quantities from the model. Save the native projects, reusable components and verification report. Finish with the cottage and a clear handover of what is resolved and what remains.