Floorplan & Orientation Help!
Hello, we are excited to be in the planning stages of building our first home. We are in Brisbane and hoping for a cool house with lots of breezes and natural light. I’m a bit of an amateur with orientation but have put together the below floor plan as a starting point.
Our block faces south to the street, north to the rear.
Any feedback is appreciated!
Ideally I’d love for a gabled roof and to pitch the ceiling above main living areas and kitchen with skylights.
To assist we have 2 boys under age of 2 but intend to stay perhaps even through to teenage years. Would definitely like separation of Master from kids bedrooms and my own bath in the Master! I have put a bath to dictate this but assumed it would be a wet room based on this layout.
Also the MPR would be a rumpus for the kids large enough for them to have friends over with direct access to backyard and pool area.
Id love a courtyard/garden/outdoor access to the north side of the Master so have included that on the plan.
Please ignore dimensions at this point as I haven’t really worked those out yet....very early stages. I’ll attach a pic of the block also. It’s a very leafy street and block.
Thank you in advance!
Comments (13)
Kate
last month
bigreader
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Need help with my extension/reno floorplan
Comments (29)Daniel, can imagine you don't deal with a lot of fire places in QLD but South of that we do. It's like any beautiful old building we need to respect and conserve what is already there, a new addition can allow for more sleek and modern design. I had been very fortunate to own a beautiful federation house which was simply white inside with polished floor boards, fire places mostly timber, when we sold the new owners striped all beautiful arch ways and all exterior Fret work. I have recently seen an Architect show his work on this forum where the Bull Nose verandah's and metal posts were removed "they weren't original", even though they would have been a 100 yrs, and were replaced with more modern square posts. Look at what is happening on the North Shore Pacific Highway, the past government (Labor) has approved multi story apartment blocks along this highway destroying beautiful heritage houses and gardens to do this and losing any historic charm a big lose for Sydney and Australia , and while not doing anything to update ANY transport to support .this Conserve what we have as is done in other countries for future generations cheers...See Morefloor plan 14m by 28m floor plan 14m by 28m
Comments (10)obviously there are some "professionals" operating to arguably less than professional standards and unfortunately they contribute to the confusion of the value of what we do, and make it harder for you guys to trust us at the time that you actually most needs us. There is also a significant difference between a Pro who knows what their doing properly clarifying/translating information as required throughout the design process, to having the subtleties and complexity dumbed down for the sake of "plain language" that risks misinterpretation and underestimation of what's involved. I completely agree, it's often made way harder than it needs to be, and I think again it's horses for courses and certainly there are many professionals who would arguably be best utilised for their skills specifically contained to within the professional industry boundaries, yet others who are naturally better at "bridging the gap" and liaising/working/communicating seamlessly with both the clients and the industry. Unfortunately, to the average punter it's very very difficult to distinguish and gauge these critical key differences between the various Pro's....See MorePlease help me with floor plan design for a small Australian home
Comments (20)OP, OKL's plan is better from an energy efficiency point of view than your plan (your plan wastes the northern aspect with bathrooms). But DON'T just flip OKL's plan, as the orientation would then be all wrong! It's important to get the orientation right, this will greatly effect the comfort of your home & your heating/cooling requirements (& hence your bills). Read this. It's all very useful, but maybe focus on the section about orientation first. http://yourhome.gov.au/passive-design Below are some generalisations. As has been requested, it would be nice to know your general location, as climates vary across our big country, so building requirements change. But generally, you want your living areas (& a large proportion of your glazing facing north). If possible, have a smaller portion of your glazing facing south & east, for cross ventilation, & try to eliminate western glazing. Bedrooms to the south & east (if they won't also fit in the north), & rarely used rooms, like garages, bathrooms & laundries to the west. Your verandah is south facing, good, as it won't shade your home in winter. Hopefully you have north facing eaves & they aren't too large. If they are the right size you'll get sun through your northern windows in winter, but the eaves will shade the house in summer, when the sun is higher in the sky. So can you knock out windows & doors wherever you want? Would be good to know where they are currently, the size of the verandah, the block dimensions & any other structures which will influence shading & privacy. I'd also be looking at some tiny house blogs/websites. 72sqm isn't tiny, but you really want an efficient house that works well, & you'll find some ingenious storage solutions that are used in tiny houses. Well designed built in storage is definitely very important in a small home. Can't see if it all fits now, while using the app on my phone. But I'd aim for something like this. The kitchen in the NE corner, running down the eastern wall (so you get good morning sun). An island bench for dining, separating the living area on the northern wall. Master in the NW corner, with the ensuite on the western wall (if it fits - important not to have the master bedroom window facing west). Minor bedrooms (& windows) on the south wall. Main bathroom or powder room somewhere on the southern wall, in the SW corner would be nice if it fits there. No idea is that all fits, just some ideas. If you're not fussed about an easy facing kitchen, you could flip this all, & have the kitchen in the NW corner, & the master in the NE corner. If you're taking off external or internal cladding, this is a good time to insulate you're walls. Also up insulation levels in the roof cavity of they're inadequate. It will greatly effect comfort, is quite cheap & the walls are very hard to do at other times. Edit: as I got the verandah location wrong, then added to my post....See MoreFloorplan Help!
Comments (74)could suggest that you make the extension a separate building connecting via glass or other enclosed walk ways ie: one extending from the passage into the family and another between the kitchen and pantry they only have to be deep enough to stop the gutter from the original house touching the new house which could have amazing sloping roofs and high ceilings. I also notice that I haven't marked a laundry, that shouldn't be too difficult. You could consider extending the carport along the boundary which could include a laundry, WC within a pool house for the NEW Pool. Many ideas as many ways to do things cheers PS: do you want to share where the house is, must be one of the wine country areas in , guessing SA,VIC,Hunter Valley...See MoreFiona Joss
last monthoklouise
last monthlast modified: last monthbefore committing to a floor plan we need to understand the available space and although i can't read the precise dimensions it feels like the proposed floor plan is too wide to fit the block
my variation shows how the basic plan could be arranged to fit (with a guestimated 6m setback) although the roof would be challenging and compromises could be made by adding biw under the eaves to the kids bedrooms to avoid the angled setbacks and assume that you would include a pool house/alfresco and keep the pool visible from the family room and kitchen but suggest that the MPR doesn't have direct access to the pool
Fiona Joss
last monthoklouise
last monthlast modified: last monthFiona Joss
last monthoklouise
last monthwith such a generous back yard something like this with separate zones could be suitable (and note that i've made the western pathway wider for more comfortable access from laundry to clothesline) but imagine the design that could be achieved by a design professional with all the local knowledge but these ideas may help you better understand what you like and hope you share the design that you finally choose.. best of luck with your new home
fianou luca
last monthokay so I had a bit of a fiddle with your layout, i didn't change a lot, I think I'd be avoiding having plumbing all over the place for costs and move the ens next to the laundry. I expanded the hall so there's room for a study nook/computer when they're older, and i would have the bath accessible from the pool so you don't have wet kids and guests wandering around the lounge.
BUT.... I think you're a step ahead of yourself. I think you need to start with the feel and look of the exterior and design the layout later. look at some mags and websites for recent architectural builds and see whatstyle you like, cut out pictures of what appeals to you and note why. It's too soon to plan the layout in detail. For the good orientation, breezy, cool house your describing I would go for white timber modern style inspired by queenslanders. I would have connected pavilions with big overhanging eaves with different sections for living/dining, master suite, kids suite. the pavilion style maximises air flow. your design has closed in areas, and it's kind of big, and its hard to get the air to flow. Seriously think about hiring a designer... the money spent will be saved elsewhere in efficient layout, minimising footprint, quality build... remember they can work to your budget! Money can be saved using modest materials and good design. Find someone whose work you like rather than trying to get them to fit you. No matter how hard they try they will still have their own style. Your building your own house from scratch, not many people get that chance, so make it something special!
fianou luca
last monthFiona Joss
last monthFiona Joss
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siriuskey