Yarnos I agree with Natasha. Your existing architect will have (well, should have after working on your existing design) an intimate understanding of your site, soil conditions and implications of levels on your design. He/She are in the best position (given his/her understanding of your brief and constraints) to illustrate to you how a design solution such as this can work. No one on this forum is currently in a better position than your architect to explain this to you and outline the affordability of it as an option, based on your site, your brief and your budget. You can visualise this concept by letting your architect demonstrate it for you. If they are not demonstrating it, then you have the wrong architect I'm afraid. And if you are not empowering them to use their expertise and provide design solutions for you, then you either need to get another architect, or be a better client. Architects and designers - the good ones - are creative problem solvers. They are design detectives in the art of living well. They spend their entire professional and personal lives and time studying how people live, and how to create environments (and homes) for them to support them living better - more functionally, flexibly, beautifully. The talent of a good architect/designer is invaluable in elevating your lifestyle ... of taking the 30 year mortgage you're about to wage on this bet of building a home, of taking this massive investment, and turning it into a physical building that is your heaven and haven, your place of sanctuary and inspiration. They expand your vision, interpreting both what you say, and what you don't, into a result that is beyond your imagining. That's why you hire them - because you can't do what they can, and you need them to bring your dreams into life in a way that's better than you could have ever anticipated or created yourself. As a client, you have a responsibility to brief them well, trust them to do their job, be open to their ideas, and be guided by their expertise. The not so good architects and designers are simply drawers and documenters. They 'convert' your brief, your expressed wishes and shopping list into a floor plan that fits, and can be built, but that's simply it. It's a house, not a home. It functionally will do the job, but it never reaches its full potential. And so your life in it never reaches its full potential. You unwittingly compromise, never truly aware of how different, how much better, things could have been. The catch is, you've made a massive investment, and created something that will outlast you and become someone else's home too. So the impact is generational. Your responsibility as a client to these architects and designers is to understand the difference, and ideally not work with them - not unless you can show design leadership yourself. Work out which one your architect is and make a decision. Trust them to do the job properly for you (and give them the ability to do it), or walk away and find someone else. Regards Amelia Lee Undercover Architect www.undercoverarchitect.com amelia@undercoverarchitect.com

If you are after plans of architecturally designed homes, magazines may be your best bet (try libraries as you are unlikely to get most at the newsagent), however there are also a number of open homes and architecturally designed homes that are open to the public, including the Rose Seidler House. Also, if you are trying to get away from the kit-home look, take note of how the architects and designers use everyday material creatively in unexpected ways to achieve a highly polished look. As for your floor plans, further work is needed to the downstairs plan. I would seriously question whether you need two bathrooms downstairs. The bathroom for the guest room could be used by everyone (maybe consider setting it up as a three-way bathroom). You can remove the doors between the pantry and the butler's pantry, it is already hidden and just uses up space. As MB Design & Drafting has said, there is a lot of empty space on the downstairs plan and there is going to be an empty void around the meals area. Also of note, try to have continuity in your windows - that is, try to minimise the number of different sized windows and ensure they are standard sizes where possible (its cheaper and more cost effective to make 10 of one thing rather than 10 custom sizes); and try to ensure that the header and sills have a relationship. You have engaged an architect as you feel they are able to successfully design you ideal home. I would suggest giving the architect the ability to experiment and push your brief, otherwise you are doing yourself and them a disservice and you should have gone to a draftsperson how would have simply just drawn up your ideas as you stated them. You are on the right track, so don't give up! Often a design needs lots of discussion between the client and the architect before a great design can be achieved. Whilst it is wonderful that public forums such as this exist, ultimately the discussion needs to occur between yourselves and the architect as you are the ones who will be living there. Take time to listen to their ideas, and don't be afraid to question something you don't understand.

sorry about the drawing, but I quickly just sketched over your plans. I tried to keep the basic design you had just to save on re drawing over, but I would suggest the following as there was a lot of wasted space before. Also keep in mind that you are able to flip the house over (mirror image) if it will be too hot for the bedrooms to be on that side. Following the above drawing I would get rid of all the small hallways and extra doors you have, I would put the activity room directly on the Bed 1 wall and have built in bookshelves around the two walls, this will turn it into a study which will be a better choice for resell value. I would also put a skylight in that room as there are no windows. Entry to Bed 1 will be via the corridor which links all bedrooms, it still gives you dbl doors into the master, WIR and your ensuite. Your ensuite I would move the shower to the end and put floor to ceiling glass and turn it into a dbl shower one side can have dbl vanity and the other the WC and you would also have enough room to install a cupboard which could be a nice decorative on with glass on the top half where you could keep your towels and door on bottom to hide things. I would move Bed 4 in line with the other bedrooms, I did not move the main bathroom but you could move int and have it in the middle between two bedrooms. The main bathroom I would do a wet room which incorporates a bath and the shower behind again floor to ceiling glass. You would still have room for dbl vanity and toilet. By moving the activity room in line with the entry way, it will give you room in the bedroom hallway to incorporate a linen cupboard. By moving the drop zone and putting the PDR room door at that end it allows you to have a bigger laundry. therefore, behind the laundry door you could have overhead cupboards as well as undercounter cupboards for extra storage. Drop zones end up becoming messy and with yours right in the entry way, whenever you had guest your mess will be out in the open. By moving all this around it opens up the main hub of the house; it gives you enough room to extend the kitchen bench a little further down, I would put a large square island in the middle it allows for better flow around the kitchen and it also gives you extra seating, especially for quick breaky with the kids in the morning before running out the door to do school drop offs and work. It also gives you extra cupboard space as you are able to have doors put right around underneath for extra cupboards. Your dining area now has grown and leaves you with extra space along the the new study wall that you can have as a kids zone. Firstly, being little you will want to keep an eye on them secondly as they grow they want their own bedrooms. Your family living area is still the same; I would also wrap the pergola around to the end of the house which enables you to build an outdoor kitchen/bbq area with a table for entertaining and on the other end you could have comfy couches to lounge in when outdoors, have your morning coffee and watch the kids play in the backyard. Hope this helps Good Luck

Why wouldn't you get your architect to provide a sketch design of the kitchen? As in like a preliminary sketch of what it could look like from the front? That should help clarify any concerns you may have. On occasions where something like this is important to the client I'll knock up a rough sketch to demonstrate how I visualise it integrating and managing the requirements that (should) have been defined in the design brief. In regards to finishes etc that really doesn't need to happen now, but layout should be relatively clear and indicated on the plan as to say where the sink, fridge, oven, pantry, mixing centre, dishwasher etc are positioned. That can be shown at 1:100 no issue. Your architect (should) be the logical person to best understand the space and balance of it all.. I've commented many times previously how design is an "inside to out" process, and so the architecture resolved should have been super responsive to the specific (client) requirements of the internal fit-out and the design process should have managed this competently so you don't get down the line and go "oh, we now can't find that french door fridge or wall over etc". If you're not sure about that level of detail, you're still in design and not at planning IMO. You're right on one hand in that it needs to be "designed" and resolved now, but also understand that there needs to be some flexibility at your end as when you're dealing with council nothing's 100% and it could be a waste of time designing internals before planning - definitely your architect's correct in his advice on the typical process. We sometimes integrate/incorporate"sub" design consultants such as interiors to handle the fine detail of fit-out if the project calls for it, however invariably it's down the line at width late documentation (Stage 3) or early construction (Stage 4), but never in Stage 2 planning Hope this helps Cheers PD :) www.pauldistefanodesign.com