New plan BIG TREE.....

Hey everyone!!

So we have been planning for a while... had a plan we wanted but hit a bit of an issue with a street tree.

A large eucalpytus on the verge which requires a 12 metre tree protection zone.

So it was back to the drawing board.

This is what we are happy with - except the guest retreat (needs rejigging) which in the long term will be for a grandparent/s.

Our council is strict on garage dominance but we were faced with pushing the whole house back and losing backyard, we also did not want to build in the tree's zone or under the tree. We are not allowed to keep the garage further forward than the rest of the house. There is no room to put the garage on the north side (north is the top of the diagram).

The shadow on the diagram is the TPZ, the canopy is not that big.

Any thoughts are very welcome.



http://i728.photobucket.com/albums/ww288/ambipup05/Homeone.jpg

Hi there, interesting house. My first impression is that it may be a somewhat severe house in appearance, being that it's a simple rectangular shape. Often some variation in the line of the walls and roof can make a place look more attractive. My second thought is - I'd that sliding door next to the mud room the only way out to the backyard? And where is the majority of your backyard - this looks like only a narrow tract of land then the fence?

Also, which way is north?

Another thought is that having a grandparents retreat right in the centre of the home is perhaps not the best location. It will be a noisy spot and privacy is limited (no separate entrance etc).

I've just seen that they're probably sliding doors off the family too. That's cool.

I feel it's a shame to have the mudroom where it is because it blocks that whole side of the kitchen/living room from natural light. If you were to shift the mudroom over to the right (you could enter from the garage THROUGH the mudroom, then you could get a lovely big window above your kitchen sink, or a window splashback allowing lots of light into your kitchen which may otherwise be a bit dark.

I would also consider shifting the guest retreat ensuite down to against the hallway and having it have two doors - one to the hall and one to the guest room. This way you could delete the fourth toilet/powder room as it would work as both and save a whack of money. I guess it depends on how definite the grandparents plan is or if it's a just on case. Anyway, I'll shut up now hahaha.

Just a thought but I would flip the guest retreat over to the other side and move the function room up and then have the study near the play room. Given that you have such a lovely 8m space down the side widen out a couple of the rooms and make so the hall is not one long continuous stretch.

I would think about zones like Emyn says, the mud room should be repositioned. Probably the other side as you gotta think where will you be if you are muddy. Maybe position at the rear of the house on the other side. Will you be having a pool? locate it near there.

I might even flip the kitchen to the other side then it could easily service an alfresco off the main area and if the mud room is relocated you would also have a defined dining area and the living adjacent to the kitchen.

I would look at how you can design and take advantage of the block more as there is a massive amount of land on the side.

You may want to down load sweethome 3d and draw a template of the block with the protection zone and then layout various rooms and designs. I went through 11 different designs before settling on the final one.

Pm me if you wish.

How exciting.

Ciao
Mark

No !! Don't do that.

I love the feedback.

The upper part of the plan is north - so the family room is fully north facing.

I understand where you are coming from with lack of interest in the houses appearance - I do love more angles/setback walls - but with the street tree and the other deciduous street tree, massive leaf litter is an issue. I wanted to have no valleys in the roof design if possible. We would try to bring some elements in the façade to make it interesting we hope. There will be a rendered or bluestone wall across the "open part" of the block for privacy which will also "fill it in". I am going to council today to discuss it......no the plan itself but their idea of garage dominance.

The kitchen is on the south side but will be very bright from the family room light. I can be sure of this because the kitchen and family on the design are an exact replica of our current house.

We want a separate powder room because if the grandparent (and this is only when they are unable to live alone/frail/unwell ) are their we want them to have their own bathroom - the doors in this room are 100cm wide.

Thank you so much for looking !!

Thanks Mark.

I looked at and tried sweethome - I am using floorplanner and have for a while and I find it easy and the 3 D is pretty good. Its great these things exist the current plan is about version 300....We did have an L shape going across the front but now we want to avoid the tree.

I should call the mud room the shoe/bag room - its for us to take our shoes off when we get home - currently with the kids we either have a stack of shoes near the garage door which is unsightly or a pile inside the garage. So it will have a narrow shelf for all the shoes in the house. The sliding door near the mud room is for ventilation and bin access - bins will be kept on the south side.

The north part of the block - 8x51m is massive but its one of the reasons we bought the block first to be able to build a house with as many north facing rooms as we could but also have that lovely big garden. We have had an earlier design fully quoted by a few builders - and the long house did not add much extra cost. Our current house has a full north living area (identical to the new plan and a study facing north) - we adore the room its bright but not hot in summer (long eaves) but we barely use heating in winter and we wanted more of this in a new home. Hubby did not want a north facing study - all of us congregate there because it is so lovely and sunny.....he wanted his study on the south (how antisocial : ))

We want the living areas to get the benefit of the north windows that's why we kept the kitchen on the south side. We do have versions of kitchen accessible to the garden but it did not really suit us.

It is exciting....sort of

Thanks Mark