Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Mar 18, 2015 9:58 am Hi all This is our first time doing any kind of planning and building. We are in the early stages of subdividing a block of land and building two 4 bedroom townhouses on it. We have just had some initial plans done up by an architect and I have started writing down a few things I love and others that I don't. I would really love some expert eyes to have a look at them and let me know thoughts and ways I could improve them!! Its a bit of an odd shaped block, hence why we haven't made them exactly the same layout. I look forward to some good / bad constructive criticism!! Also thoughts on materials they have recommended for the outside. Michaela Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Re: New 4 bedroom townhouse build - Subdivision 2Mar 18, 2015 12:47 pm HI Michaela, Wow, what an exciting project. I am sure that you will get heaps of feedback from the forum. Just to put my 2 cents worth in. Here we go. Firstly, I will assume that your brief was to your designers for 2x 4bed, 2.5 bathroom townhouses with rumpus and DLUG. I assume that you were also happy with the main bedroom being at the front door. I also assume that north is up the page as I can't see a north point on the drawing but it appears that the whole thing has been designed around that. If north is somewhere else then that changes things. Overall I think the room sizes are good. Bed 4 in Residence 1 does seem a bit of an odd shape. Maybe there is a rework that could be done around the robes to possibly get a study nook or linen cupboard or something in that zone that would be more useful. Maybe the door and the robe could be relocated so that you could get a little workspace where the current robe is, possibly for a teenager to do study etc. On the ground floor in both residences I would consider moving the laundry door out to be between the WC and the garage wall. It could possibly be a slider to avoid a door swing clash. This would then provide an airlock between the garage and the house avoiding exhaust fumes heading straight into the meals area. You may want to play a bit more with the open plan ground floor areas to provide a bit more definition between the spaces. This may end up being done with furniture rather than structure. I think the front elevation looks fun although the windows on the place seem to be different from the elevation. You may want to check that. Also, the roof on residence 2 may need a little work with how the skillion sits with the flat roof next to it. There are couple of things I would check about how the two levels sit over each other. There appears to be a funny little corner by the meals and kitchen corner in residence 1. As I am looking at the drawings separately rather than overlaying them you may just want to have a look at how that works structurally. I think overall this is quite a fun project and wish you all the best with it. I would also be very interested in seeing the comments that other Homeoners have. Cheers, Jenny. Need hints, tips and inspiration? Join me on my Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ournewhomecoach Who am I? See my LinkedIn page: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/jennifer-crawford/1a/429/296 Re: New 4 bedroom townhouse build - Subdivision 3Mar 18, 2015 1:34 pm Thanks Jenny Great feedback. Thank you!! Yes, the north facing windows are at the back of the property, which is why we chose to put all the living areas in this spot, rather than at the front of the house. It wasn't my ideal to have the main bedrooms at the front, but I would rather make use of the north facing aspect for the living areas. I will also attach some latest drawings, which we have changed the look of Bed 3 and Bed 4 in Residence 1. I agreed that the bed 4 was quite impractical. We have made two walk in robes with sliding doors to utilise that wall for either TV or study area etc. I love your suggestion about relocating the laundry doors!! Definitely something I will be mentioning to the architect. The architect was also concerned at our last discussion about the flat roof next to the skillion roof on residence 2. You will notice in the new drawings he has bought the roofline back in the corner of Bed 3 in residence 2 to make this look better. However, I actually now think there is no practicality to Bedroom 3 at all !!! I am not sure how we are going to get around this one, but I'm wondering if the flat roof next to the skillion roof in the concept picture looks that bad. Interested to hear thoughts on this. Also, there is a park across the road from the fence line of residence 2 which goes all the way down the street, which is why we have included balconies in the project to benefit the open spaces. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Look forward to some more comments!! Michaela Re: New 4 bedroom townhouse build - Subdivision 4Mar 19, 2015 4:40 pm Hi Michaela, Nice plans. Along with northern living areas, it's good to have a high proportion of your glazing facing N (passive solar design principles). This will help warm the houses in winter. So it's good to see that in the revised plans residence 2 now has north facing windows in the living areas. What is to the north of your build? Unfortunately it looks like residence 2 may face overshadowing issues from it's northern neighbour, as it's built very close to the northern boundary. I assume you're building as close to your southern setback as possible, & can't increase the distance from residence 2 to it's northern boundary? For residence 1, the alfresco area will totally shade the northern windows of the living area throughout the winter, eliminating any passive heating by the sun. I would move this alfresco to the SW, between the kitchen & living area, mirroring residence 2 (maybe extended a little to the north also). This will also have the added benefit of shading the western window in the living area, as it's not a good idea to have many western windows, particularly of this size (in general, the plan has minimal W windows, which is very good). A stacker window could then be added to the kitchen, so serve a bench in the alfresco area. I'm not a big fan of open stairways, as they leak heat, sending it all upstairs. So for residence 1, I'd add a door so that the living areas can be zoned off from the entrance hallway/staircase. For residence 2 this could only be done with a cavity slider at the base of the staircase. Upstairs, for residence 2, maybe add a north facing window to the rumpus, to aid passive solar heating? Looks good though. This Government website may help with the design process, http://yourhome.gov.au Building Standards; Getting It Right! Hi, sorry if this is the wrong place - Iām new to the property/building journey (trying to buy my first home) so not sure where/who to go with these sorts of… 0 19155 Personally, considering your layout (study/work desks in bedrooms), I don't think you have any other option but to leave NW windows and make them as big as possible e.g.… 7 10470 |