Browse Forums Building A New House 1 May 17, 2007 9:33 am Hi everyone - we have a bit of a strange situation where lots of people will be seeing the side of our house. The long side boundary of our property will face a golf course and the design guidelines for the estate indicate that the side of the house will have to have "architectural merit".
I think they mean that it just can't be a solid wall. From what we've seen of project builders & homes - nothing interesting tends to ever happen on the sides - just on the front where they put on a fancy facade. Here's a pic of the side of the house based on our current plan Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ It's just a brick face at the moment - but this isn't allowed in the development. We'll have to render some and it's preferred that we use "lightweight" materials on the upper floor to make it look less top heavy. The rooms from L to R are: Ground - windows 1-2 - home office - windows 3-4 - games room/home theatre - windows 5-6 - family/dining area Updstairs - 1-2 - master bedroom - 3 - ensuite to master - 4-6 - upstairs lounge/library This whole side of the house faces almost directly north. I plan on planting some large deciduous trees along that side (in between the windows) to provide summer shade & allow winter sun. Would this be sufficient to break up the monotony? I tried on MVH to experiment with using cladding on top - maybe it's the colours I'm selecting but it looks a bit tacky. Any suggestions? Or examples of what people have done? Thanks in advance Re: Making the side of your house interesting 2May 17, 2007 10:37 am Facing North, !!!!
I'd be trying to get more sun into the house, make a D shaped or triangular verandah and sundeck over the games room setout, then use some sails out over it going from low on the house to high outside so the winter sun can get in, then see what that looks like, Then you can enjoy the winter sun. Do you play golf? No, Me neither So the 2nd option is go to the golf club, tell them you are bulding onto their course and you'd like to walk around and see what else has been done to make the houses look architecturally nice. Do something that helps you enjoy it, does their looks thing, and also get better use of that northern sunshine in winter. My thoughts. Steve Re: Making the side of your house interesting 3May 17, 2007 10:51 am Hi Yak Chat - thanks for your input
Our block is 16m wide and 54m long - with the long side along the golf course. At the moment, the house is just within constraints - 1.5m setbacks required on each side leave us with 13m building area. This is fairly standard in Sydney subdivisions these days. I'd love to do some outdoor areas along the north side - but we are just out of building width A bit further to the right on the picture at the back there is a huge outdoor entertaining area that lets more light into the rest of the ground floor. On the long south boundary we have the garage, laundry, kitchen downstairs - upstairs are bedrooms and bathrooms - but they should get plenty of morning/afternoon light as they face either E or W (the bedrooms - with bathrooms in between) We are mad keen golfers! And our dream is to live on the golf course - however, in Sydney - there aren't many places to make that happen - this being the only one within 1 hr public transport of the city and less than $1.5m. Unfortunately - as buyers in the estate's pre-release - we don't have access to view other houses - and almost all the other golf frontage homes will back on to the course. We've looked at houses at other golfing estates in NSW - The Vintage (Hunter Valley), Macquarie Links (western Sydney), Kooindah Waters (central coast of NSW) and no homes have side views of the golf course. So it's certainly a case of testing the waters. We don't know what they'll accept or reject - we are the guinea pigs! Maybe they'll allow us to make the setback on the golf course side smaller as we'll have no neighbours - just us, 10m of landscaping and then the course. The other alternative I've been thinking of is interesting window shading that might do the trick. Re: Making the side of your house interesting 4May 17, 2007 1:47 pm Hi
I think this side lacks symmetry. My guess is your front facade has windows all lined up - 1.8m (or 2.1m) high x 0.9m? Why not carry this look around the side of the house? Or duplicate the symmetry from the 1st floor to the ground floor. Then add some interest with a bifold or wide sliding door to replace windows 3&4 or 5&6 g/flr. Can you use 1 (or 2) 900mm wide window in your ensuite to maintain the symmetry? If not use a wide window (2m x 600mm) to line up with a (possible) door on the g/flr- if this does not interfere with walls etc... Thanks "ECOECO" At 'EcoEco', we design windows, we design the best windows, we do it for you, so that when you’re happy we are happy. Tel. 1800 326 326 Re: Making the side of your house interesting 5May 17, 2007 1:47 pm Hmm. Personally I think the house looks fine as is, but as just suggested, somembigger windows will give it abit more openess and nicer looks. Maybe the council can give you some ideas on that they are thinking of. I'd take this image in as a colour printout and ask them what they would like to see.
What about the bigger windows then a nice balcony for some fine winter seating with a cup of coffee, sunshine, out of the breeze with views of the course and those more eager than youself that day. It's good to see your building near the thing you love. The only white things I chase are ocean waves Cheers Steve Re: Making the side of your house interesting 6May 17, 2007 2:40 pm EcoClassic - thanks - great idea! I hadn't even thought of that - I think on the front facade, the builder's pic shows windows all lined up too. Once we get some colours decided, I think we'll try and organise a preliminary meeting with the Design Assessment Panel for the estate.
Yak Chat - my parents are ocean lovers also - but ended up going for a deep riverfront. My dad was ever practical - the stuff to be done for salt protection on the house and needing to regularly upgrade the car because of salt damage was too much hassle! And didn't like the fact that there is no street parking. He also couldn't sleep with the sound of crashing waves Ahh - to have that much money to spare! Re: Making the side of your house interesting 7May 17, 2007 5:39 pm Well - it's amazing what a little window placement will do - still have to do some work on the upstairs bathroom one - but much improved:
In this pic I've also shown the upstairs balcony (though I couldn't quite get it to appear correclty) and the large downstairs alfresco area Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Re: Making the side of your house interesting 8May 17, 2007 6:16 pm Looks much nicer stonecutter.
Still reckon a balcony in that northern wall would be good to have Re the crashing waves, to far away for that, but heck, I'm only 20 minutes to the surf, 20 minutes to the city, and 5 minutes from the seaside cafes. So no salt spray, wave noise, tourists or sand everywhere, but I can go enjoy it or be home on the hill and watch the sunset over the sea from the balcony. And your new place on the water / backing onto the golf estate should be just what you want Look forward to all pics being on the one post beside each other so they are easier to compare once you've had more of a play with them. Chat soon. Steve Re: Making the side of your house interesting 9May 17, 2007 6:48 pm Hi Stonecutter,
Just a comment in regards to your window placements, even though they they are nicely aliened from the outside, they would need to be aliened from inside the house otherwise it would look a tad silly. I would much rather windows be even from the inside of the house, than outside. Just my 2 cents Re: Making the side of your house interesting 10May 18, 2007 6:21 am Hi new home builder - thanks - good point - I haven't had a look around the inside yet and fiddled with furniture to see how the windows go - next step Re: Making the side of your house interesting 11May 20, 2007 11:31 am Hi Stonecutter,
Minor points you might like to consider: - 1 Make sure the head on the ensuite window lines up with the others. 2 I think a door on the games room would enhance the look. Preferably a bifold, or French Door - or slider. 3 The alfresco on the golf course side could be improved with a low wall to the sill height of the windows and a lintel to the head height with brick infill. You could have an open doorway with openings either side the same size as the windows again with brick infill. Vines growing up the brick areas on the alfresco will also add interest. Thanks "ECOECO" At 'EcoEco', we design windows, we design the best windows, we do it for you, so that when you’re happy we are happy. Tel. 1800 326 326 Yes, Im following your Lindfield build, looks amazing. 4 2237 Thanks for the photos. You need to know whether the inflow or the overflow pipe is leaking and this is a simple process of elimination. INFLOW: The vertical riser… 4 4848 The bottom of the downpipe has been taped (see the black tape) to seal the necessary gap between the downpipe and the adaptor that would normally prevent the downpipe… 3 9799 |