Browse Forums Building A New House Re: Help with north facing block 3Mar 08, 2019 5:57 pm Best thing is to have your main living area at the front of the house. Have a look at this display home for inspiration: https://www.summithomes.com.au/display- ... rakee-road Re: Help with north facing block 5Mar 08, 2019 10:24 pm amilelka Best thing is to have your main living area at the front of the house. Have a look at this display home for inspiration: Only issue with having living areas exposed to the street frontage is lack of privacy. But if you can develop some reasonably high garden hedges etc (or maybe a tall fence if allowed) then this would work ok. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Check our Homeone build blog here Re: Help with north facing block 6Mar 19, 2019 11:21 am Dear All, Thanks for your valuable feedback. Please see the attached floor plan that we are considering now, this one would include: Skillion roof Celerstory windows Again, it is north facing to the street. Would really appreciate your feedback on this.......thanks in advance Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Re: Help with north facing block 7Mar 19, 2019 11:36 am planetshilp Dear All, Thanks for your valuable feedback. Please see the attached floor plan that we are considering now, this one would include: Skillion roof Celerstory windows Again, it is north facing to the street. Would really appreciate your feedback on this.......thanks in advance Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Since you are in corner block, is it possible to move your garage to the south? Mine house was like yours, but my garage is at the south... So the front facing street/north its all open area... Plenty of sunlight... during autumn/spring/winter. Re: Help with north facing block 8Mar 19, 2019 11:41 am darb74 Hi, as you would probably know already north to street are typically challenging to setup for passive heating etc. We lived in this orientation for our last build, but also didn't do anything to improve the design which didn't help our situation. Because we have now designed a house based on the exact opposite orientation it has also allowed me to consider what we could have changed last time to improve the setup. My main thoughts around north facing blocks now are:
Anyhow they're some of my own thoughts. Re: architect vs draftsperson.....I would certainly not rely on a draftsperson to implement too many great 'sustainable' design elements into your house plans. I would suggest either getting right up to speed first, then take your concept plans to a draftee later on, or go straight to an architect and hopefully they can work up something pretty good. Hmm, I always thought north facing the street is great. Since you won't have double storey houses blocking your sun. Unless its corner block. North facing the street is great as long as you don't have a very narrow block. And double storey will help. Re: Help with north facing block 9Mar 19, 2019 12:28 pm MyFirst planetshilp Dear All, Thanks for your valuable feedback. Please see the attached floor plan that we are considering now, this one would include: Skillion roof Celerstory windows Again, it is north facing to the street. Would really appreciate your feedback on this.......thanks in advance Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Since you are in corner block, is it possible to move your garage to the south? Mine house was like yours, but my garage is at the south... So the front facing street/north its all open area... Plenty of sunlight... during autumn/spring/winter. It is a corner block but cant move the garage as that's part of the developers guidelines Re: Help with north facing block 10Mar 19, 2019 12:46 pm darb74 Hi, as you would probably know already north to street are typically challenging to setup for passive heating etc. We lived in this orientation for our last build, but also didn't do anything to improve the design which didn't help our situation. Because we have now designed a house based on the exact opposite orientation it has also allowed me to consider what we could have changed last time to improve the setup. My main thoughts around north facing blocks now are:
Anyhow they're some of my own thoughts. Re: architect vs draftsperson.....I would certainly not rely on a draftsperson to implement too many great 'sustainable' design elements into your house plans. I would suggest either getting right up to speed first, then take your concept plans to a draftee later on, or go straight to an architect and hopefully they can work up something pretty good. We made an attempt at having a central courtyard! What do you reckon? Not sure about the considerations that would come with having a central courtyard (havent taken it to any builder as yet!) but just thinking about the cost involved in having large glass frames, double glazing, moisture issues etc. d Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Re: Help with north facing block 11Mar 19, 2019 2:52 pm We have two central courtyards connected by a glass corridor. It definitely ups the cost. If you imagine a basic house shape of a rectangle, that would be the least expensive shape to build, but the cost goes up the more external walls you have. Re: Help with north facing block 13Mar 19, 2019 3:02 pm Houses with a central courtyard increase the price dramatically, and visually they often disappoint if they're not big enough. The size you have in your sketch is quite small. You may want to consider a side courtyard instead so that you can use the outdoor space all the way to the boundary. The house below does this quite well. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Re: Help with north facing block 14Mar 19, 2019 4:04 pm Sorry, when I first mentioned a 'central' courtyard, yeah I meant a 'side' courtyard/alfresco as per what amilelka posted above. Anyhow first comment on your revised plan (not the central courtyard one), is do you need the main living zone as forward as it is, when you may not be benefiting there from the north aspect anyhow? Unless the roof design will allow this north light in? Great job playing around with the ideas though, and posting them. Although the orientation does present some challenges at least by giving it lots of thought you will end up with the best setup. It will just be a matter of compromise, which we all have to accept when designing a house. My main thoughts are:
Back to the side courtyard concept....It would add some cost, with additional articulations in external walls and hips/valleys in the roof. Also remember the more hips/valleys the less 'clean' your roof surface area is for solar panels etc. Anyhow we have visited a pretty good display house that another builder in this area has available. Although the main house design for this one is arguably for a north-to-rear aspect (as living areas are on the rear of the house), they allow north sun into the central rumpus area by creating the 'side' courtyard. Our own builder (Bryan and Petersen) have variations of the 'Barwon 214' plan that also has side courtyards. It is certainly not critical to have this side courtyard, especially if you are trying to keep costs down but it does do a couple of things including allowing some north sun into your main living zone, and also additional light into the main hallway. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Check our Homeone build blog here Re: Help with north facing block 15Mar 20, 2019 7:55 am amilelka Which side of your block faces the park - the front or side? It's the front side which faces the park. Re: Help with north facing block 16Mar 27, 2019 10:14 am We have made some changes in the floor plan and now thinking of having the lounge in the front followed by Master and then the open plan layout. Also planning to keep the rake ceiling and also incorporating velux windows. please see the attached floor plan....absolutely look forward to your input. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Re: Help with north facing block 17Mar 27, 2019 10:24 am This is a functional and very economical floorplan. Velux skylights are great and definitely worth the cost. I would suggest making the lounge room bigger - at least 4x4m. This is the only room that will get a lot of winter sun so it's worth making it a comfortable size. Also consider how you will furnish your living/dining to make sure you have the proportions right. The warning is on the sticker on the door too. Second the aluminium powdercoat 6 18409 It might be a bit darker in the mornings but the light is still light, so you should be getting it. Similar to what you see from your western windows 3 20070 Hi, can anyone recommend a custom home builder who can build in north east area? Looking to build a custom 4-br energy-efficient home with a max budget of 750k. If they… 0 23050 |