Another New House Design Review

pajosjunkbox

Hi guys,

After seeing all the great feedback a similar thread got I decided to give this a go. I have plans drawn up and would welcome any feedback. A few points to note :

-Site is in rural Kilkenny on about an acre
- All main living areas face south
- Driveway approaches from south and goes around west cable end of house to park at the north.



Any questions just ask.

Thanks

DOCARCH

Nice design (internally and externally)!

On initial look, hard to come up with anything too critical.

Does the plan meet your needs/requirements?

johnny_adidas

Hi, couple of things I noticed

-is the toilet layout at ground floor compliant with a visitable layout
-there is a level change from living to kitchen but these 2 steps dont appear to carry through from the hall, bedroom, rear hall side
-there appears to be a sliding door at the glazed screen between hall & kitchen. If there is, see the above point. If not then that corridor could be shortened and corner given to kitchen
-the pantry seems small
-the enclosure around the rooflights at first floor could be omitted and the light would filter down both floors with just a guarding around the floor ope
-there would likely be a bulkhead in the ground floor bedroom for the stairs so consider widening the wardrobe
-have you decided on the type of heating system & renewables as buffer tanks etc can be large and if stored in the house need to be considered

BryanF

Mvhr location, access, routes

PhoenixParker

Looks lovely.

Main comment I'd have would be that 90% of the time I'm guessing you'll be coming in and out from the car?
Make sure there's somewhere convenient to take off and hang your coat beside that door, also somewhere for bag storage etc.

I'd also make a list of your awkward stuff - ironing board, suitcases, christmas decorations, laundry awaiting processing, the hoover etc. (take a look around your current house for ideas) and decide where they go, if there isn't an obvious spot add one. I think you may need a big closet on the first floor, unless that's one beside the hot press. Maybe take it out of bedroom 2.

mrsWhippy

That's really nice. The main hallway strikes me as very narrow for such a large house though!

pajosjunkbox

DOCARCH wrote: »

Nice design (internally and externally)!

On initial look, hard to come up with anything too critical.

Does the plan meet your needs/requirements?

Thanks. Plan does meet requirements and now just trying to fine tune so that I'm completely happy before the build starts.

johnny_adidas wrote: »

Hi, couple of things I noticed

-is the toilet layout at ground floor compliant with a visitable layout
-there is a level change from living to kitchen but these 2 steps dont appear to carry through from the hall, bedroom, rear hall side
-there appears to be a sliding door at the glazed screen between hall & kitchen. If there is, see the above point. If not then that corridor could be shortened and corner given to kitchen
-the pantry seems small
-the enclosure around the rooflights at first floor could be omitted and the light would filter down both floors with just a guarding around the floor ope
-there would likely be a bulkhead in the ground floor bedroom for the stairs so consider widening the wardrobe
-have you decided on the type of heating system & renewables as buffer tanks etc can be large and if stored in the house need to be considered

Thanks Johnny.
The toilet will be in the flat roof part to the rear of the house.
-Originally there was a level change but it has been scrapped since.
-Corridor could indeed be shortened !
-Would like the pantry to be quite small with shallow shelves where everything can be accessed easily
-Not sure what you mean by roof lights ?
-Do you mean stairs will be in the way of wardrobe ?
-Regards heating I'm thinking air to water heat pump, UFH. Not sure about MHRV yet

BryanF wrote: »

Mvhr location, access, routes

PhoenixParker wrote: »

Looks lovely.

Main comment I'd have would be that 90% of the time I'm guessing you'll be coming in and out from the car?
Make sure there's somewhere convenient to take off and hang your coat beside that door, also somewhere for bag storage etc.

- Good point. We did have a cloaks cupboard beside the pantry in the back hall but we took it out and moved the pantry down to aaccomadate a window in the kitchen that you can see when you walk in through the front door. To give a line of sight so to speak.

I'd also make a list of your awkward stuff - ironing board, suitcases, christmas decorations, laundry awaiting processing, the hoover etc. (take a look around your current house for ideas) and decide where they go, if there isn't an obvious spot add one. I think you may need a big closet on the first floor, unless that's one beside the hot press. Maybe take it out of bedroom 2.

- Do you think that the utility room would be big enough to accommodate all the awkward stuff. Might need somewhere upstairs alright. Thanks

mrsWhippy wrote: »

That's really nice. The main hallway strikes me as very narrow for such a large house though!

- Have thought about widening the hallway a little. I am conscious that it is a long enough corridor down to main living and kitchen area.

Thanks so much for all the feedback. It's great to get some honest opinions.

pajosjunkbox

BryanF wrote: »

Mvhr location, access, routes

Hi Bryan. I haven't fully decided about MVHR yet. My brother in law has it and it seems good. What do you mean by access and routes ? Do you mean the drive etc ?

pajosjunkbox

If anyone has any ways to improve the external design I would be delighted to hear them. I have been looking at it so long now I don't know whats what. I have been toying with putting an A roof on the garage to tie in with the main house. I am afraid that it might interrupt the views from the large rectangle window at the top of the stairs. Views out this window are lovely but its north facing so its my only big window to the north. The carport would still be flat.

sydthebeat

id this your own design pajo? i like the simplicity of form and selection of material. i also like the attention given to each aspect.

my only real comment is the its not very obvious where the front door of the house actually is in the elevational treatment.
Personally i would keep the door flush with the wall its on, an extend the flat roof porch further out to empahise that this is the main entrance. You can then landscape around this area to focus visitors to this door. perhaps some cast concrete to create an external seat etc.

one other comment.
i think its a bad idea to be coming at the house from south to west and parking north.
this means that your main sun area is prioritised to the car.
on a warm summers evening you want to be out sitting where your front door currently is.
it woudl be a better arrangement to come from the south (as necessary) but to drive to the east side and the park north.
that would allow you to create a more private area in your south / west for patios, lawns etc and not being subservient to a car.
assuming the plan is on a strict north / south axis, the evening mid summer sun will be shining into corner between the hall and bedroom office.

Calahonda52

Hard to tell what % of the house is flat roof but there are insurance questions theses days with flat roofs so might be worth checking.

Don't see how the upstairs sits re the ground floor, what purpose is that corner with the planter serving?

Why are doors in bedrooms not all opening the same.
Bed 2 follows what I consider good practice.

Have you draught lobby on front door?

I would scrap the car port and make it a double garage, especially if the site is anyway exposed down there in rural Kilkenny, I know it well!!

Put electric roller shutter on the one nearer the house, remote control opening and an isolation switch to disable the power when required

bemak

Hi Pajo, 

Looks like a good start - would be nice to see a site plan to see how it relates to it's context. Just some general notes from me in no particular order, just as I see them 

personally i wouldn't have a connection between the living room and family room - i think theres an opportunity to make create a double sided fireplace between the two rooms meaning that you could lose the chimney on the left of the living room as we're looking at it. then i'd orientate the furniture towards the 'double sided fireplace' and have units each side for tv/books etc. the reason i'd remove the connection between the family room and living room is that, it's nice to have an area of the house that's a bit more closed off/cosy. you want it to offer you something a bit different from the family room - no point in having two rooms with similar offers (my opinion)

i understand why the dining room is shifted slightly to the left - it gives the kitchen worktop a natural 'stopping point'. however i think that the resulting impact on the family room is a bit awkward. I also think the kitchen isn't working hard enough - lot of wasted space between the island and the pantry. I also think that the corridor needs to shorten as other people have suggested. as i look at it now, i wonder if the walls to the left and right of the dining room 'extension' needs to be inline with the walls of the garage - almost like a mirror image. this would give you a stronger layline for where your corridor should stop and would resolve the awkwardness between the dining room and family room. The family room would also gain more glazing which isn't a bad thing and I think overall, there would be a better flow between the kitchen and dining room. 

I think upstairs is much tighter and wouldn't really suggest anything if it works for you.

pajosjunkbox

sydthebeat wrote: »

id this your own design pajo? i like the simplicity of form and selection of material. i also like the attention given to each aspect.

my only real comment is the its not very obvious where the front door of the house actually is in the elevational treatment.
Personally i would keep the door flush with the wall its on, an extend the flat roof porch further out to empahise that this is the main entrance. You can then landscape around this area to focus visitors to this door. perhaps some cast concrete to create an external seat etc.

one other comment.
i think its a bad idea to be coming at the house from south to west and parking north.
this means that your main sun area is prioritised to the car.
on a warm summers evening you want to be out sitting where your front door currently is.
it woudl be a better arrangement to come from the south (as necessary) but to drive to the east side and the park north.
that would allow you to create a more private area in your south / west for patios, lawns etc and not being subservient to a car.
assuming the plan is on a strict north / south axis, the evening mid summer sun will be shining into corner between the hall and bedroom office.

Hi Syd. No it is not my design but I have had a lot of input. I want a simple unfussy design that is contemporary but cost effective to build hence simplicity of form. House started off quite fussy but has been chopped and changed a fair bit to get to here.

I agree with the driveway. I would also rather it to the east. To keep the internal layout somewhat the same I would have to put the back door to the north and maybe get rid of the carport. Any ideas on this ???

pajosjunkbox

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Calahonda52 wrote: »

Hard to tell what % of the house is flat roof but there are insurance questions theses days with flat roofs so might be worth checking.

Don't see how the upstairs sits re the ground floor, what purpose is that corner with the planter serving?



Why are doors in bedrooms not all opening the same.
Bed 2 follows what I consider good practice.


Have you draught lobby on front door?



I would scrap the car port and make it a double garage, especially if the site is anyway exposed down there in rural Kilkenny, I know it well!!


Put electric roller shutter on the one nearer the house, remote control opening and an isolation switch to disable the power when required

- Downstairs has a flat roof at front and back of house so upstairs is that bit smaller. Trying to keep the house at a reasonable size and feel that we don't need the same space upstairs.

- Not sure about this. Must look into it. But looking at it now it seems that they open to allow the best access to the room.

- We had a draught lobby in a prevoius drawing but it got taken out along the way . Is there a need ?

-
Might just scrap carport and have a garage with an A roof.

pajosjunkbox

bemak wrote: »

Hi Pajo, 

Looks like a good start - would be nice to see a site plan to see how it relates to it's context. Just some general notes from me in no particular order, just as I see them 

personally i wouldn't have a connection between the living room and family room - i think theres an opportunity to make create a double sided fireplace between the two rooms meaning that you could lose the chimney on the left of the living room as we're looking at it. then i'd orientate the furniture towards the 'double sided fireplace' and have units each side for tv/books etc. the reason i'd remove the connection between the family room and living room is that, it's nice to have an area of the house that's a bit more closed off/cosy. you want it to offer you something a bit different from the family room - no point in having two rooms with similar offers (my opinion)

i understand why the dining room is shifted slightly to the left - it gives the kitchen worktop a natural 'stopping point'. however i think that the resulting impact on the family room is a bit awkward. I also think the kitchen isn't working hard enough - lot of wasted space between the island and the pantry. I also think that the corridor needs to shorten as other people have suggested. as i look at it now, i wonder if the walls to the left and right of the dining room 'extension' needs to be inline with the walls of the garage - almost like a mirror image. this would give you a stronger layline for where your corridor should stop and would resolve the awkwardness between the dining room and family room. The family room would also gain more glazing which isn't a bad thing and I think overall, there would be a better flow between the kitchen and dining room. 

I think upstairs is much tighter and wouldn't really suggest anything if it works for you.

Hi Bemak. Thanks for the detailed feedback. Much appreciated.

- With regards to the family room, our architect wanted to keep it blocked off aswell. We felt we would use it more if we had access to it from the kitchen / living area. We have small children and this living room will be used as a playroom and then a teenager room as they get older. I agree with the back on back stoves or double glass stove.

- Do you think the dining area is eating into the family room. If dining area was flush we would lose the corner window near the sink which i like. The space between the pantry and the island is the result of inserting a window so that when you enter the house your eye is drawn down the hall and to a view out the east gable end. We felt the hall was long so instead of looking at at a dark blank wall at the end of the hall we will put in fixed glass with a view to the window in the kitchen. We sacrificed a coats room for that.

- Upstairs is tighter but we felt we didnt need too much room upstairs compared to downstairs. I am conscious of keeping the sq ft reasonable.

I will put up a site map

Calahonda52

Re the bedroom doors, the thinking is privacy.
Draught lobby is, I believe a requirement, probably wrong
However I believe it an essential component, security, wind proof....
Whats the renewables component?
the driven to the car port is a good idea as is, however if it were a proper garage then very secure.
I do a lot of work with women who live alone so its a security based idea, hence my idea and the desire for not too many corners

pajosjunkbox

Here is the site map

pajosjunkbox

Calahonda52 wrote: »

Re the bedroom doors, the thinking is privacy.
Draught lobby is, I believe a requirement, probably wrong
However I believe it an essential component, security, wind proof....
Whats the renewables component?
the driven to the car port is a good idea as is, however if it were a proper garage then very secure.
I do a lot of work with women who live alone so its a security based idea, hence my idea and the desire for not too many corners

- Ah privacy ...get it now.

- Renewables ... not fully sure ... A2W, MVHR, 2 stoves, UFH, Insulated to max

- Garage will have roller door facing west and there will be an access door to garage from inside carport.

bemak

pajosjunkbox wrote:

- Upstairs is tighter but we felt we didnt need too much room upstairs compared to downstairs. I am conscious of keeping the sq ft reasonable.

When I said tight I meant it in a good way, as in very efficient it's well planned.

Ya, with regards the kitchen, I understand the location of the window in line with the hall, I think it's just that the kitchen layout isn't working for me at the moment.

I'll think about it and see if I can pinpoint it

pajosjunkbox

bemak wrote: »

When I said tight I meant it in a good way, as in very efficient it's well planned.

Ya, with regards the kitchen, I understand the location of the window in line with the hall, I think it's just that the kitchen layout isn't working for me at the moment.

I'll think about it and see if I can pinpoint it

Get you now. Also a problem in the kitchen is at the moment, there is no space for the fridge !!!

Thanks for your help.

bemak

What if you had the dining room where the kitchen is and extended the kitchen to the east? That way all the rooms would have a south aspect.

The chimney in the living room doesn't seem to be coming through upstairs.

Have you costed it - it seems big.
There are some long open stretches on either side - would they need structural engineering?

pajosjunkbox

bemak wrote: »

What if you had the dining room where the kitchen is and extended the kitchen to the east? That way all the rooms would have a south aspect.

My wife feels it would be too linear and that and L Shaped kitchen/dining/living is more interesting !

pajosjunkbox

Deleted User wrote: »

The chimney in the living room doesn't seem to be coming through upstairs.

Have you costed it - it seems big.
There are some long open stretches on either side - would they need structural engineering?

Hi PG, I think the chimney is coming through the upstairs bathroom. No costings on it as yet !

Open stretches where ?

pajosjunkbox

pajosjunkbox wrote: »

Hi PG, I think the chimney is coming through the upstairs bathroom. No costings on it as yet !

Open stretches where ?

The feature in the living/play room that the furniture is pointing at - this stove has a chimney on the roof but doesn't seem to have one upstairs - there is a window where the chimney would probably be coming through. The other chimney is coming through fine.

The long stretches are in the kitchen area where the glass and dining area is - I am just guessing.

Edit: I see the wall between the sitting area and kitchen is supporting and has beams noted. And the corner is supporting.

bemak

just had a quick go at diagramming out what i was saying in my first post. 

starting with the dining room, i've realigned it to tie in more with the line of the garage - this gives the family room more space to breathe and i think the connection between it and the kitchen is a bit more resolved. orientating the dining room as ive shown provides an opportunity then to create a terrace which can be shared between the dining room, family room and even the living room if you wanted. i've rotated the planting to the south west so as to provide a bit more shelter from the south-westerlies and a bit more screening from the driveway. 

the knock on effect of aligning the dining room with the garage is that you can push the bedroom from it's current location (red square) west to where the green square is shown - this gives your corridor a natural stopping point and also has the added benefit of providing more space to the utility and pantry which is no harm. moving the bedroom to the west slightly should not affect the stairs and as such have no impact on upstairs. 

just my two cents! 

note: this diagram is just for fun and to generate conversation - it is in no way a slight on your architects design which i feel is generally very well considered and resolved. 

Water John

Original was good, but you have improved it nicely, Bemak.
Always liked to avoid internal steps, children, elderly or infirm visitors, yourself as you get older. Also going to the one chimney, that could be a two sided stove.
Would go with the MHRV plus A2/W and lots of insulation and sealing of building envelope. Good luck, a great project.

who what when

My only comment would be that there's not a massive amounts of storage / plant space. As someone who has just built a house I can say we didn't allow for half enough.

Also can I ask what drawing program does your architect use?

pajosjunkbox

Deleted User wrote: »

The feature in the living/play room that the furniture is pointing at - this stove has a chimney on the roof but doesn't seem to have one upstairs - there is a window where the chimney would probably be coming through. The other chimney is coming through fine.

The long stretches are in the kitchen area where the glass and dining area is - I am just guessing.

Edit: I see the wall between the sitting area and kitchen is supporting and has beams noted. And the corner is supporting.

We are leaning towards a double fireplace. The idea with the stove at the gable end was that you would also have better view outside when sitting. When stove is in the internal fireplace the corner window is behind you.

pajosjunkbox

bemak wrote: »

just had a quick go at diagramming out what i was saying in my first post. 

starting with the dining room, i've realigned it to tie in more with the line of the garage - this gives the family room more space to breathe and i think the connection between it and the kitchen is a bit more resolved. orientating the dining room as ive shown provides an opportunity then to create a terrace which can be shared between the dining room, family room and even the living room if you wanted. i've rotated the planting to the south west so as to provide a bit more shelter from the south-westerlies and a bit more screening from the driveway. 

the knock on effect of aligning the dining room with the garage is that you can push the bedroom from it's current location (red square) west to where the green square is shown - this gives your corridor a natural stopping point and also has the added benefit of providing more space to the utility and pantry which is no harm. moving the bedroom to the west slightly should not affect the stairs and as such have no impact on upstairs. 

just my two cents! 

note: this diagram is just for fun and to generate conversation - it is in no way a slight on your architects design which i feel is generally very well considered and resolved. 

Hi Bemak. First of all thanks for all the feedback and providing the diagram. Great to hear peoples ideas and thoughts. Finished working with our architect now so just trying to fine tune the design. We also were granted planning on this house last week so would like to be 100 % happy with design before we decide to build.

I can see the reasoning behind aligning the dining area with the garage but I think I prefer the original. Maybe im so used to looking at it that way. ( Its been over a year since we began designing the house !!)

There will be a terraced area at the south of house and this area will be
planted and will continue around to the west of the house.

I agree its no harm to make the utility a little bigger and shorten the hallway so the walk from the front door to the main living area is a short as possible.

From an external point of view - do you think the flat roof box to the south works in the design ? There is the argument to just take it off and have the dining area incorporated in to the Kitchen/living area. We plan to cap it with zinc and have some cedar of larch cladding .

pajosjunkbox

who what when wrote: »

My only comment would be that there's not a massive amounts of storage / plant space. As someone who has just built a house I can say we didn't allow for half enough.

Also can I ask what drawing program does your architect use?

Agreed. An area I need to look at. My main architect didn't do those external images. A friend of a friend in Bristol did those for me . He's an architect over there and is going to help me with the rest of the build. I can ask him if you want.

Calahonda52

We also were granted planning on this house last week
in this case, you are pretty locked up with the footprint and roof design, are you not!

bemak

pajosjunkbox wrote:

From an external point of view - do you think the flat roof box to the south works in the design ? There is the argument to just take it off and have the dining area incorporated in to the Kitchen/living area. We plan to cap it with zinc and have some cedar of larch cladding .

I think you could easily omit it now and add it at a later stage if you felt you needed the space. At that stage you're requirements might have changed and you might be adding something else.

pajosjunkbox

Calahonda52 wrote: »

We also were granted planning on this house last week
in this case, you are pretty locked up with the footprint and roof design, are you not!

You can always go back and reapply

pajosjunkbox

The plan is to apply to change existing planning for driveway to go around the east of the house and then to the north for parking.
Thinking of getting rid of the carport and putting an A roof on the garage which will not be connected to the house anymore.
Thanks for all the feedback. If I'm going to go to the bother of going through the planning process again I wanted to get all the changes now.
Would I be able to start the house with existing planning while new application is being considered or does a new application void the previous one ?

Gumbo

pajosjunkbox wrote: »

The plan is to apply to change existing planning for driveway to go around the east of the house and then to the north for parking.
Thinking of getting rid of the carport and putting an A roof on the garage which will not be connected to the house anymore.
Thanks for all the feedback. If I'm going to go to the bother of going through the planning process again I wanted to get all the changes now.
Would I be able to start the house with existing planning while new application is being considered or does a new application void the previous one ?

The CN has to state which application is being implemented.
If you implement one then the contributions are due on that.
Best to wait to keep it clear.

pajosjunkbox

kceire wrote: »

The CN has to state which application is being implemented.
If you implement one then the contributions are due on that.
Best to wait to keep it clear.

Good advice. Thanks

pajosjunkbox

Thanks for all the great feedback guys. Some great ideas. Apologies for not getting back to you all but I'm in the middle of preparing a new planning application with a new house design. I will post this in a new thread .