Opinions for House Orientation (FNQ)
Luke George
2 years ago
Hello all, partner and I are building a home in Port Douglas Far North Qld.
We thought we had our house orientation all squared away with living areas facing south to allow for the south easterly breezes but now we are seeing people recommend North facing living areas.
Problem is with our design there are no real window openings opposite the living areas to allow for cross ventilation through the house.
Does anybody have a south facing yard in Qld? If so how is the cooling during summer? I understand the sun moves further south during summer which can heat up the patio area but surely the breeze more than compensates for that.
All opinions are appreciated. You'll also see below our house plan. Keep in mind, south is where the patio and living area is.
South facing Patio and living area
North facing Patio and living area
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Comments (7)
bigreader
2 years ago
Kate
2 years agoRelated Discussions
Need your opinion on my new floorplan! Thank you :)
Comments (29)Hi @sophie0lm Congrats on the developments in this plan. It's working much more successfully for the orientation of your site. It's great to see you've taken on feedback and pushed the design to improve it. A few observations: 1. I agree with comments about the study nook. I would make that a storage cupboard for umbrellas, shoes etc for leaving and departing at the front door. 2. The view both into the master bedroom and guest toilet from living areas is not ideal. I would suggest turning the toilet room 90 degrees clockwise (so it's long wall runs along the back of the stairs). You should be able then to have a more private entry to the toilet and master bedroom - and I would even suggest having the internal entry from the garage at that point as well, so that cleans up your entry hall. 3. I would consider pushing to improve the whole WIP / Laundry / Linen arrangement. The WIP is quite detached from the kitchen. There may be something in mirroring the whole kitchen - so the entry to the WIP is then where the fridge is, and it sits behind the kitchen, rather than off to the side. The linen will then sit where the WIP, and having a solid wall to the deck so you can not see into these service areas from your deck and living space. 4. I would also suggest putting a wall up along the back of the stairs upstairs so the rumpus can double as a fourth bedroom. That's my quick appraisal - hope it helps, Regards Amelia www.undercoverarchitect.com amelia@undercoverarchitect.com...See MoreHouse Plan
Comments (22)The amended plan isn't too bad. These are my non-professional thoughts: - do you need a mud room? Does it need to be on view to everyone who visits the house? - the main bedroom WIR and bathroom looks like it needs work. The WIR is huge. The bathroom is also big, but the toilet is positioned near one of the two sinks instead of being in a separate room for visual and acoustic privacy (not to mention certain ... scents). Since you have a bath in the main bathroom, I would at least get rid of the bath to give the toilet its own "room" in the ensuite. But, I think the whole area could be re-done to much more efficiently use the space. - the hallway is LONG and dull and only offers glimpses of part of the kitchen. If it can't be changed, consider adding some wall niches for art, sky lights and other features to give it some interest. - I'm not sure why a three bedroom house requires two living rooms and a study. If the study is meant to be a fourth bedroom, then it should have a regular hinged door and a BIR. - the wall between the main bathroom and the living area will need to be soundproofed to the maximum extent possible. At the very least, I would swap the position of the toilet and the wet room in the main bathroom so that guests don't have to worry about what sound is filtering into the living room. - the kitchen is pretty huge. I can't quite tell what appliances have been placed where on the plans, but consider ease of movement between the fridge, stove and sink and whether the current locations will be practical. The space beside the pantry also appears to be pretty useless. I'd consider just expanding the pantry or reducing the size of the pantry and including a built-in desk / bookshelves / charging station beside the pantry.\ Good luck!...See Moreblock orientation
Comments (18)If you design your house along passive house principles you'll build a rectangular house (long sides facing north & South), close to your southern boundary, & your outlook from your living areas will face north. However I'm not sure if I agree with Ed Ed or not. I'd always take into consideration privacy issues & where the neighbours will build. But which is better, your living areas facing 3 backyards, or one home? Note that building setbacks usually have rear setbacks (& front setbacks), which are much larger than side setbacks. So for block 256 you'll be adjacent to 3 backyards, but these 3 homes will be quite far away, due to the large rear setbacks. While for block 245, you'll only have the one northern neighbour, but they could build close to your boundary (due to the smaller side setbacks). Do you know what will be built on these neighbouring blocks? Have you investigated the rules for setbacks? Luckily these are all large blocks, so hopefully you won't have a large double storey close to your boundary. It's a tough choice. But I'd prefer to look towards 3 backyards than a double storey house. Also, as someone else asked. It's block 256 dual frontage? I'd prefer to build the garage facing west, to protect the house from western sun, but I'm not sure if I'd want dual frontage or not....See MorePOLL: Big house with small backyard or smaller house with a big yard?
Comments (36)I have a relatively small but very well designed house of 160M2 on a block of 1000M2. We get lots of northern light in all the right places. Garden views and connection from every room and plenty of borrowed views. Outdoors we have space for produce gardens, fruit trees, outdoor patio and BBQ area, a fire pit, play space and a native garden. We also have a large, private courtyard off the master bedroom and a small one off the en-suite bathroom. And utility spaces to the south (washing line, hot water, outdoor compressors for air con, garden sheds etc). Internally we have 3 bedrooms, a study and open plan kitchen/dining/kitchen plus small activity area for the kids. None of the rooms, other than the activity area are poky. Because it is well designed there is no wasted space, and it flows really well, accomodating two adults and 2 teens while providing a good balance between connection and privacy. Ample ceiling heights, 2.4m high windows and sight lines that connect with the outdoors means it feels spacious despite its relatively compact size. It’s such a joy to live in this house. It feels like the goldilocks house. Not too big, not too small. Just right....See More
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