Any budding architects out there ? house plan help needed

_Gizka_ said:
Im assuming that the plan is orientated so north is up, seen as there is no north arrow, which is one of my pet peeves sorry.

Some issues with the plan, if it was me anyways, namely the overuse of french doors and I do agree with Stupots view of the folding facade, I may have to look at them for m studies ;)

I agree with Stupots configuration of the kitchen, to avoid cluttering the space, this also adds greater axis to the plan as you enter and can see right through the building.

The stairs do look odd, there could be much more made of them to be honest.

Also, how is the site composed? Is it enclosed on one side? Two sides?

I would play with it on AutoCAD for fun times but i'm on holiday till tomorrow :D

/Architecture student :D
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The back of the house is south facing, the plot is 400ft by 67 ft wide and is fenced in by mature hedging and shrubs on all sides. TBH I dont feel the wow factor with these plans which is why I came on here for help, some may say its insane!
 
I cant see the wow factor either, the drawing quality being the main issue. I would be embarrassed putting them up in a crit and i'm a second year student, not in a professional practice!

Like I said, ill have more of a look tomorrow, but some of Stupots ideas seem logical :D
 
Just a few points which should be addressed...

Why does each bedroom need an ensuite, a family house should have a house bathroom,

Why 4 baths? do you really need so many?

Looks like a grand house so why only a single front door?, yet a lot of the internal doors are double width.
 
rupsingh said:
The back of the house is south facing, the plot is 400ft by 67 ft wide and is fenced in by mature hedging and shrubs on all sides. TBH I dont feel the wow factor with these plans which is why I came on here for help, some may say its insane!
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Me neither, glad you feel this way as you can put it right!

How about some more information -

Who is designing this?
- chartered architect?
- Designer?
- Technician?
- builder?
- some muppet with a hacked version of autocad?:P

Where is it? Google maps view?

What's the local area like? Historical, or all new build? Are there houses of a certain age/style nearby?

How big is your family?

To be honest, these plans don't look architect designed. I would really stress the importance of getting a sound local architect on board. Perhaps it might be exploring the idea of downsizing the build slightly, and using the saving in employing an architect who will give you excellent local advice and be someone you can constantly go back to to revise ideas etc.

If this were my house I would be keen to design for my needs - Do you have 5 kids? Need all those bedrooms? Why not downsize, and not build right up to the extents of the plot? (width). I appreciate a lot of those rooms probably won't be used as bedrooms but still... it's just so big!

Do you have any elevations? I'm expecting some kind of mock neo-classical mess:D Please prove me wrong!
 
Felix Da Housecat said:
Just a few points which should be addressed...

Why does each bedroom need an ensuite, a family house should have a house bathroom,

Why 4 baths? do you really need so many?

Looks like a grand house so why only a single front door?, yet a lot of the internal doors are double width.
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1.For a house this size I would expect every bedroom to be an ensuite, it's just the done thing for large, new builds. Adds value.

2. Again, value.

3. Double front doors look naff:) And I expect there are security problems. The front door drawn looks about 1200mm which is plenty big enough...


As for the drawing style, yeh it's not great but these look like pretty early layout drawings that you would give to a client for some feedback so not too many worries there... Thing is, if this is being designed and built by a builder then I imagine that's probably the level the drawings will get to, just enough to satisfy planning. When it comes to building the thing, most decisions will probably be made on site, as the builder is building them, this is where problems could happen...
 
Stupot_ said:
1.For a house this size I would expect every bedroom to be an ensuite, it's just the done thing for large, new builds. Adds value.

2. Again, value.

3. Double front doors look naff:) And I expect there are security problems. The front door drawn looks about 1200mm which is plenty big enough...


As for the drawing style, yeh it's not great but these look like pretty early layout drawings that you would give to a client for some feedback so not too many worries there... Thing is, if this is being designed and built by a builder then I imagine that's probably the level the drawings will get to, just enough to satisfy planning. When it comes to building the thing, most decisions will probably be made on site, as the builder is building them, this is where problems could happen...
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The architect is well experienced and is local and is the one of the best and very highly recommended! We live on an estate that is deemed an area of special character, fairly traditional but having said that we have had a hauff house come up recenty
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rupsingh said:
The architect is well experienced and is local and is the one of the best and very highly recommended! We live on an estate that is deemed an area of special character, fairly traditional but having said that we have had a hauff house come up recently
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"Well experienced" means nothing to be honest. I know of a "well experienced" architect who is a complete and utter joke.

I'll throw something together on cad shortly just to give my personal ideas on this build.

I do think that those drawings look very unprofessional though, especially the ones you emailed me.
 
Hmm! No offence but that is not traditional! Have you ever seen a house in England that looks like that?! (not new build). That's a bit of a hotch potch of ideas. Anyway, if it's to your taste then go for it:P As an architecture student I'm being bred to hate the current trends of housebuilding!

Back to one of your previous posts -

Library's not a room you would use tbh, it's more of a fancy feature that mediates between the living and dining, and i think it's a nice thing to have in a house of this size:) might as well go all out and live in style. Considering that half of the house(in my plan) is for formal occasions it's really only an evening area so lights not such an issue - the house is such a deep plan that lights going to be a major problem anyway, regardless of the fact that you have small windows down the sides and a rooflight above the stairwell.
 
Stupot_ said:
1.For a house this size I would expect every bedroom to be an ensuite, it's just the done thing for large, new builds. Adds value.

2. Again, value.
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TBH there are loads of people looking to buy a house that would rule that one out as there is no main bathroom for a couple to bath the young kids etc.

Also when your entertaining or having a party are guests expected to wait in line for the toilet? or are they expected to walk through your bedrooms to do a number 2?

Can't believe an experienced architect has overlooked a very large error, does he/she not watch tv progs about home renovations/building?
 
Felix Da Housecat said:
TBH there are loads of people looking to buy a house that would rule that one out as there is no main bathroom for a couple to bath the young kids etc.

Also when your entertaining or having a party are guests expected to wait in line for the toilet? or are they expected to walk through your bedrooms to do a number 2?

Can't believe an experienced architect has overlooked a very large error, does he/she not watch tv progs about home renovations/building?
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It really doesn't happen on this type of build, as nice as it would be;) including a family bathroom means removing a bedroom. That means less £££ because everything gets sold on bedrooms.

Yep, by all means have a second loo tucked in on the ground floor somewhere, but upstairs is private. guests shouldn't be expected to traipse upstairs and if they are then they're invading your privacy!

To me, the issue is not to do with bathrooms and toilets, it's to do with the 'wow' factor and basic planning.
 
Felix Da Housecat said:
My point exactly, it's been overlooked just so it can have maximum bedrooms.

Why not have a fantastic house bathroom with wetroom area, large whirlpool bath etc etc.

How many people on this forum live in a house without a house bathroom? i recon it will be zero or very close to it.
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But when every bedroom has its own bathroom why the need for a seperate bathroom?
 
rupsingh said:
But when every bedroom has its own bathroom why the need for a seperate bathroom?
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As a matter of personal opinion an ensuite bathroom should only be on the master bedroom and used minimally. I assume you are a family so privacy isnt so much of an issue as opposed to, say, student housing. Having a large, luxury bathroom would save floor space seen as you have a large amount of bathroom and will require less piping.

You have seven bathrooms, they are all going to require down pipes, which will add to cost. Think how much poop your going to have flowing around that first floor :/

I mean, floorspace isnt exactly hard to find on this build, your not squeezed due to the large size of this "bonus room". Its not really cost effective and a communal, grand bathroom seems a lot better option imo.
 
rupsingh said:
But when every bedroom has its own bathroom why the need for a seperate bathroom?
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Why give each room it's own bathroom, why not just let 2 of them share.

Seems like it's just a endless amount of money being spent on bathrooms that are probably not going to get used.

You never answered the question about how big the family is.
 
rupsingh said:
This was the image brief given, ducks for cover!
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Hehe... *takes aim*

If that's what you like then I'm not going to try and convert you:D

Couple of points in comparison to that house -

They seem about the same size. Octagon one seems a bit more interesting in plan, not so symmetrical, and the formal living/dining area are grouped. Again, I would really consider doing this otherwise the dining room in your original plans just becomes redundant.

I like that you want to open the back out, definately take a look at the solarlux link I posted, had a talk from them and looks like an awesome product.

Octagon house has seperate hallway before you get to stairs, potentially nice idea. The hall you have is a pretty massive expanse, and then it leads in to drawing room/kitchen. One issue with this is I imagine you're just going to get a massive expanse of laminate flooring right from the front of the house to the back. Bit dull no?! Why not look at different floor surfaces, and possibly stepping areas and introducing a change of levels? Helps to zone out the house...

---- so, you step up to the front door - Gives a sense of grandeur and probably needed anyway to prevent any drainage issues with water/leaves etc coming in. however, if you're house is now at this +1 step level, you could step down to kitchen at rear. This will create a nice family 'zone' at the back of the house. Added benefit - your folding facade system is now at the same level as outside - you can step from your family room to patio outside without a change in levels... 'inside/outside space' very cool, hits all the buzzwords, just watch any grand designs. Of course... I'm assuming a level site.
 
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