Plans:
Guest cottage
Tech center.
Residence.

Mary Ann's Tropical Building Page

The Technology Center

Updated: August, 2003

Between 1997 and 2001, my husband Bob and I acquired land on a Caribbean island where we designed and constructed our home, a technology center and guest cottage. This page describes the Technology Center, the second building constructed on the site.

The top floor of the technology center contains a spacious apartment where we lived while completing the other buildings.

Bob is a software and web developer, so I built him a "clubhouse". It has room for his computers, his office, a conference and teaching room, and a luxurious apartment for visitors. This is the home of news.ai and other quiet IT activities. The building site is at the back of the property, looking over the other structures straight up the sand beach. Since it is the highest point on the property, it has the widest and most spectaculor view.

Above is a view from the north west, showing the guest villa upstairs with porch on the North side (ocean view) and a main floor with two offices and large meeting room, also with porch. The basement has storage and cisterns.

Here are are some more photos showing the completed building:

View of technology center from the water.

Entry to technology center.

Driveway, entry to office area.

Back of the office, notice solar panels.

West side seen from the garden.

East side seen from property line.

Below is the office floor plan (downstairs). It can be used as two offices, two bathrooms, a general teaching/conference room, a reception area and a snack area. Or it can be used as a two-bedroom apartment. It is air conditioned.

[main floor
of office building]

Below is the floor plan of the upstairs guest apartment, with LAN wiring direct to your ocean view. The wind is over the bed nook, the view to the right on the veranda. The large main room can be used as a traditional living room/kitchen/dining room, but is also large enough for a board meeting, class room, small conference, or to serve lunch for a conference held downstairs.

[second floor of
office]

Click for all construction reports

Individual Reports on This Building

Engineering the Conference Room
Starting work on the technology center
Assembling the ground floor walls
Second Floor, Basement, Dungeon
Framing the Upstairs
The Roof and Traditional Gutters
Wooden Ceiling, Stucco, Windows
Acoustic Ceiling, Solar Hot Water, Mexican Tile
Moving In, Landscaping
Teak Doors, Selecting Paint Colours, Kitchen
Bathrooms, Bahama Shutters
More Tile Work
Bathroom finishing, Faux Tile
Solar Power, Air Conditioning
Porch Trim and Decorations
Security Gates, Awning, Shutters