Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Aug 18, 2021 11:04 pm Hi guys, I’ve just started the designing stage of a two story house. The problems: 1. There is a block of units on one side. 2. I need two dwellings upstairs and downstairs. 3. The current single story house doesn’t get much sunshine and I’d like a design to maximise the sunshine. My architect has come up with this draft with two variations upstairs. Any feedback is appreciated. I also like void a lot. Just wondering if it’s possible to have void fit in this design at all? Many thanks, Judy Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Re: Feedback on floor plans 2Aug 19, 2021 2:40 pm First of all, can you show us where the north direction is? So we can see if your sunshine issue can be fixed. If there is a block of units on one side, ideally you don't want your outdoor living and main opening windows/doors facing them. Leave minor windows such as bathroom and WIR windows facing them. Your living/dining is at back of the house. You can have a void directly above. Just make the floor of your retreat upstairs shorter, Re: Feedback on floor plans 3Aug 19, 2021 8:26 pm Hi Jason, Many thanks for your feedback, really appreciate it. The north direction is where the court yard and the staircase are. The design of the court yeard is to maximize the sunlght from north and get some privacy from the block of unit, which is on the other side ( garage side). Yes the living/dining is at the back of the house, initially the upstairs design was with a rumpus room at the back, which would make void possible, but that would leave the two bedrooms upstairs on the block of units side, without ensuite. The second design is to have a bedroom at the back with an ensuite. I have attached a photo here. My builder thinks this is better as it leaves only one bedroom/study on the block of units side, and gives the back bedroom an ensuite. He even suggests to make all the three bedrooms upstairs with ensuites. What do you think of this updated design? Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Re: Feedback on floor plans 4Aug 20, 2021 11:23 am You will have plenty of light into your kitchen and living. For upstairs, my opinion is actually to have your master bedroom on the other side, directly above garage. Your windows/balcony open to the front anyway, so you don't have to look at those units. Shared bathroom can stay on that side too. And have bedroom4 and study on the stairs side. Those windows will open to this side, not looking at those units. This way you can still keep your void at end of rumpus looking down. Also, do you really want such a huge rumpus room? It's more than 100m2, and you plan to have kitchen and dining upstairs? Please consider smells and noise if you do so. I would move those two bedrooms at downstairs to upstairs, and make that space a living area. So all your four bedrooms are upstairs. If not enough space, move study to downstairs too. Then you will have two living areas downstairs where all your cooking eating playing happen. Re: Feedback on floor plans 5Aug 20, 2021 12:58 pm Hi Jason, Thanks again for the good ideas. It makes sense to have the master bedroom on the garage side with the balcony/windows open to the front. This way the upstairs design will be pretty much similar to downstairs. The only issue will be there is no room for ensuites for bedroom 4 or study. So there is only the master bedroom with ensuite. Maybe that's not ideal for a 4/5 bedroom house? I think the 105 m2 is the whole upstairs floor area, not just the rumpus room. The reason for the rumpus room is because I need to have two seperate dwellings, Upstairs is for me and my daughter, who would like to have an ensuite as well (bedroom 4), and away from mummy's bedroom ( Master bedrrom). Re: Feedback on floor plans 6Aug 20, 2021 2:35 pm Savagepuppy Hi Jason, Thanks again for the good ideas. It makes sense to have the master bedroom on the garage side with the balcony/windows open to the front. This way the upstairs design will be pretty much similar to downstairs. The only issue will be there is no room for ensuites for bedroom 4 or study. So there is only the master bedroom with ensuite. Maybe that's not ideal for a 4/5 bedroom house? I think the 105 m2 is the whole upstairs floor area, not just the rumpus room. The reason for the rumpus room is because I need to have two seperate dwellings, Upstairs is for me and my daughter, who would like to have an ensuite as well (bedroom 4), and away from mummy's bedroom ( Master bedrrom). I see. There should be enough room upstairs to fit two main bedrooms upstairs. In order to have an void at end of rumpus, the external back wall need to line up with the back wall downstairs. So now your upstairs is extended a little longer. I did a rough cut and paste of each element. I think it would work. There is still space for other stuff. It's worth going back to your draft person and start blank. You can also browse online floor plans of volume builders (Metricon/Henley/Carlisle etc) and get some ideas of good elements you like and get your draft person to incorporate them in. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Re: Feedback on floor plans 7Aug 20, 2021 3:58 pm Hi Jason, Thanks again for taking the time to help me with this plan, so kind of you. Sorry I didn't mention that I'm doing it under CDC, so the upstairs setback is 8m, whereas the downstairs is 3m, as marked on the righthand side lines, so the extention of the wall upstairs is restriced to the line where it says 8m rear unfortunately. The setback downstairs to the side is 900mm, and upstairs to the side is 1.5m. As my land is pretty small, the total max building area under CDC is 235 m2. and 17m2 garage area is excluded. My architect initially said I could build double garage, now he is saying 1.5 garage to make it work. So now the total building area is roughly 227 with this design, Any other way to make the void work? Or maybe it won't be a good idea to have void after all, as there won't be privacy from downstairs, and noice will be a problem, too. Thanks for the suggestions of looking at online floor plans of volumn builders, I'll do that and hopefully get some good ideas. Hi there! Absolutely agree on the wasted space. We have no desire for the master to be that oversized, but it occurred when we increased the depth of the garage. We have… 4 12504 6 55349 CDC Housing Code 3 When to apply Floor Area external face of wall vs Gross Floor Area internal face of wall. Reading thru CDC Housing Code 3, lets take a lot 915sqm.… 0 16563 |