Void and/or increased ceiling heights

Hello

We have been following Homeone for a long time and it's such a great community ! We are now on to building our house and need some suggestions.

We are thinking of the below options ..they are pretty expensive so hoping to find out which one is the best option
a. Void at entry
b. Void at kitchen
c. Void at entry and kitchen
Which of the above would you choose ? And also choosing a void space would you then also take the option to increase ground floor ceiling height to 2.7 m ? Whilst we are trying to create a sense of space ..just concerned that it might end up looking too open plan and hollow ?

Floorplans attached (they haven't catered for any void spaces yet)

Would appreciate your thoughts !
Thanks !

Not sure I understand. If you added a void above the kitchen and/or entry wouldn’t you then lose space in the Living Room or Bedroom 1 above?

Yeah that's the downside that we loose space and may need to align the floor plan accordingly. But the houses with atrium or void do look pretty impressive and we were keen to get something that creates a sense of space. Additionally our floor plan is not adjusted for having larger windows/doors so that's something which we know will also add to the costs.

Where are you building this house, if it’s in a cooler climate you’ll obviously lose lots of heat up into these voids during the cold months?

I’ve always found that whilst they look spectacular and give an enormous amount of perceived space, the practicalities of day to day living, noise levels/transfers and energy effiency has stopped me from doing it.

We received first draft of our plans from the builder for review. We spent some time moving a few walls (moved the two bedrooms at the rear) and added a void (in living room) - used Microsoft Paint to make the changes so not looking great or correct but gives us an idea.

There are still a number of changes we want but our builder does not allow any until the formal plans are shared with for signing and then one set of variation are allowed

In regards to the void at entry we are not sure how it would look like with it going up to the ceiling without any glass balustrade overlooking. The retreat space with Bed 1 is little unconventional and am not sure what furniture would go there to define it - may be an armchair or two?

Keen to hear any feedback on the floor plan as we are not yet entirely sold to this floorplan....!!!

Sorry not loving the front void at all, will be like a tall tunnel, I don’t think it will create the feeling of space that you’re after at all. We have one at the front of our house, which is about 4x2m, windows on two sides but open to the rumpus upstairs, if you don’t have it opening into any room, and windows only on one side, I just cant see any benefit, particularly when its so small.
In regards to the back void, again I think its to small to be effective, but at least it will provide some light.
I don’t hink there is connection between the bedrooms and bathroom, and the bathroom opening directly off living room, with a view of the toilet is not ideal.

This void is about 2.5-3 meters wide, and still looks a little out of proportion, yours will be considerably smaller at the back. Is that the look you’re after?

I would definitely take up the 2.7m ceilings and increase the height of windows and doors downstairs as well. We did and it makes the space feel much bigger - if you can increase upstairs ceiling height as well even by 10cm from standard it will make a difference.

I think bedroom 1’s shape is more usable without the void and I think that if you put a window in you would end up with more noise and potentially more window coverings.

Thanks Gogo/MinadB - very insightful feedback.

We had requested for void in the initial tender and the consultant took notes and passed them on the draftsman. We have 2.7m ceilings on the ground floor and wanted to complement with an atrium/void. Looking at the concept plans the void above the entry certainly look like a tunnel We will be getting rid of it.

For the void in the living room we cant seem to have much option to accommodate a void - preference would be have a void above the kitchen like the attached but it seems pretty narrow and any wider would make the living room upstairs considerably smaller.

Not sure where you are building, but there is a GJ Gardner display home at Newport with the sort of void like in this photo. It looks amazing. This is the link to their website - https://www.gjgardner.com.au/brisbane/brisbane-bayside-home-builders/display-homes/blue-water-509-532.aspx

I think the entry void is too small, and will have the opposite effect of spaciousness. It will be like a chimney (or tunnel as gogo said), and will draw the eye upward to a boxlike space in the ceiling!

Kitchen void also seems too narrow. Maybe if you put glass in the ceiling of that void you could pass it off as a skylight?

Either option doesn’t seem to contribute to a feeling of spaciousness. I’d go for the raised ceilings instead!

Thanks Bestspecials - the GJ Gardner Newport is exactly the look we are trying to achieve. Would have loved to go and see the display but we are in NSW. The limited space in the upper living might make it difficult.

@Hillsbuillds - completely agree. Been looking at a few options and move the rooms and walls again. Here is what I arrived at - not to scale and the family bath will need some realignment.

Thanks Bestspecials - the GJ Gardner Newport is exactly the look we are trying to achieve. Would have loved to go and see the display but we are in NSW. The limited space in the upper living might make it difficult.

@Hillsbuillds - completely agree. Been looking at a few options and move the rooms and walls again. Here is what I arrived at - not to scale and the family bath will need some realignment.

Aah missed attaching the floorplan- here it is.

Here is possibly what would be the closest to the amended floor plan.

Maybe have a look at Hall and Hart Homes, they do two homes that have voids. The Elyse has an entryway void and the Sienna a large atrium over the living area. We are building the Elyse with the entry void and have put skylights in the stairwell to give more light without losing any of the upstairs living space. They have a virtual tour of the homes.
https://www.hallharthomes.com.au/our-homes/elyse

What if you swapped the wardrobes and doors in BR1 and 2, then took the void all the way from the wall of BR1 to the wall of BR2, and also all the way to the back external wall? Now that would be a nice big void! Do you particularly need the walkway all around the void?

I have been having a play with your plan and the void. Moving the void to the back wall and changing the bedroom layout will make the upstairs activity room feel enormous and centres the void for downstairs.

Wow - that's making so much more sense. You should become an architect if you not already one We will be sending this back to our builder and hopefully they can accommodate the changes.

Btw what do you use to modify plans - Microsoft paint or any other application?

No, not an architect. I just love playing around with floor plans. We have just finished our own house which was modified a lot.
Microsoft paint is brilliant.