Hi All,
I've been reading and following lots here over the past year as we work towards a knockdown and rebuild - we are moving along with the design planning and wanted to get some opinions and thoughts.
We have an existing duplex half in Perth. It's an odd shape block. The house is on the left (north) of the block and there is a small park (with no equipment, closer to grass and trees) to the right (south). The back of the block (east) has some overlap with property in the cul de sac behind us. The front of the house faces west.
We have survey strata'd with the neighbour to separate our block from theirs. Our block is 498 square metres, R30, with a truncation on the SW corner that is around 17 square metres. The common wall with the neighbour is around 3m so not too bad.
The existing house is 86 square metres - we bought it for the land knowing we would knock down eventually. It was fine for my wife and I, manageable with a baby (and getting harder as she gets older) and we don't want to tackle two kids in the house.
We have been working through what we want design wise, and I've been drawing up plans progressively over the past 6 months. I've done some plans up but they currently haven't sent for a proper design, but we have run them by builders in the family for feedback and ideas. The designer should tidy up most things and help with some of the issues below hopefully!
Hopefully the upload has worked and you can view the current plans here:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ypmeij7cahdoa ... p.pdf?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/6h9u9nggqtbno ... G.pdf?dl=0
Two features have dictated the design of the house.
1. We love raked roof and long connected living/dining/alfresco area. See example https://i.pinimg.com/originals/e3/ed/ba ... a1af8b.jpg
2. With the shape of the block want to build to open up to the southern side, basically house on the left of the block and yard on the right. The orientation isnt ideal based on sun direction summer v winter.
In general I think the walls need to be parallel to the nearest boundary. That puts some odd shapes in the house (storeroom, study and ensuite shower).
On top of any general thoughts there are a few aspects I'd like opinions and thoughts on:
1. Window arrangement for North side wall (which will be one end of the raked roof). Want to get sun in to the living/dining room for winter but also would like a window setup that can have window coverings (so the triangle top bit probably wont work - would prefer rectangular). How much window area? Would you go from the floor to the 30C height? With offset to the side fence thoughts for window style?
2. The alfresco design is mostly only open on one side (facing the yard). Is there any rule against that? The only one I can find is R-Codes 7.3 has 45% open space. If the Alfresco isn't open on 2 sides I assume I can't count it as open space (ie it contributes to the building area)? Can I still have it like that as long as the building area falls within the requirements?
3. My wife has concerns the alfresco area will feel too much like a room and not enough like being outside due to being walled on both sides. What's everyone thoughts? I admit I didn't think of it that way, but most examples I find are open on 2 sides. Has anyone seen this style in use? Any ideas for the general design and layout of it? When I search for enclosed alfresco areas it seems to find more of the café style doors for weather protection (that is opened when required) rather than the style I am considering. If anyone has photos or something similar happy to hear thoughts?
4. What is the general thought on rake angle vs. room width. We looked at some existing raked roofs and found the summit display home (The Viewpoint) felt like too much angle for the room width. I took the disto and got 55C roof height in the middle and a room width of 4.8m. I think the fully glassed room didn't help either?
I feel the wider the better (we also looked at Dale Alcock Essense and Smart Homes Grand Madelaine), but with the current design we don't have that much scope - we have gone 5.1m side and 52C.
https://smarthomesforliving.com.au/disp ... madeleine/
https://www.summithomes.com.au/en_pm/ho ... ve-aveley/
https://www.dalealcock.com.au/display-home/essence/