On shapes

In my case while I'd admired and critiqued other house shapes actually drawing a floor plan of our own home was new territory.  So the method I used was to first think about what the core shape would be. 

A simple rectangle or classic L shape was out - almost every project home was a series of perpendicular rectangles with few going outside of these boundaries; so it was easy to decide what I didn't want.  Drawing from my inspirations I concocted a basic layout using a pencil and paper.

My initial sketches combined the curved glass wall with the obtuse L shape.  This provided a starting point so I could begin adding extra rooms and seeing how well it worked.  I proceeded to add rooms around the perimeter of the basic shape and out of it came a basic layout that is pretty close to what it looks like today.

The shape of an obtuse L configuration provided something unique that would have angles that would challenge the eye and provide interest in its form. The rooms would protrude from this core shape; it was important that the shape was not diluted and still visible from both the outside and inside of the home.

The placement of rooms followed the requirements of maintaining close proximity of rooms that had relationships with each other.  The children's bedrooms were at an arms length from the master bedroom but close to the main bathroom, the study could open out to the main living area and it would be no problem getting the groceries from the car to the kitchen.  Other touches like a deck and pool added food for thought.

One thing that was obvious is that we would not be able to fit everything on one floor.  So the guest room was missing and there were also practical considerations like storage that were still unanswered.  However, this technique definitely worked well for getting all my thoughts together where they could be analysed and allowed to evolve. 

It was also fair to say that the true appearance of the house could not be seen or abstracted from a simple two dimensional floor plan.  Three dimensions would be needed to express the concept in its full form.

On rooms

As we are building a home of our own design we put a lot of thought into what rooms we would need.  The location of rooms in relation to each other is also an important factor to ensure that the home works and does not present hurdles when carrying out daily activities.

There are a number of techniques that I had seen such as bubble diagrams for working out the position of rooms relative to each other; although honestly I didn't use them when putting together ours.  I relied on practical ideas of how to overcome common design problems with everyday living.

The first requirement was that it would be a family home, so two kiddie bedrooms were top of the list.  The bedrooms would need to be a decent size to avoid the overly cluttered look and have enough room for when their inhabitants are older, so 3 x 4 m would be the minimum.

As the central meeting point of the home, the kitchen was also of high priority.  There is a commonly known test for kitchens called the work triangle test.  This is said to ensure an efficient working environment by ensuring that the fridge, oven and sink are all in a triangular pattern from each other.  A large working bench and also a generous pantry would be ideal attributes.

The first rule of the bathroom is that it would have a separate WC.  The WC would need to be spacious enough for a basin so that one's not hampered when the bathroom is in use. 

For the main bedroom we wanted a large ensuite and walk-in-robe.  Who wouldn't? Otherwise it needed to be in reasonable proximity to the other bedrooms.

I tend to spend a bit of time in the study when working on either personal projects or occasionally work, so it was important to me that the study was open to the main living areas.  This way I supposed I could remain in touch with what was going on, rather than being hidden from view.  However a large cupboard where all the computer junk and books could be hidden from view would make the room workable from a practical perspective.

A guest room would be useful to accommodate visiting friends and family - with its own bathroom to make things comfortable.  But small enough to make sure they want to limit their stay too :-p

While a part of the philosophy of this home has been to minimise the number of living spaces to remove duplication, there would need to be one exception for when there was one Masterchef fan and one Rugby League fan eager to watch their favourite show on a Friday night.  So a family room would also be added into the mix.

One of the last two rooms would be the laundry.  In our townhouse the laundry is narrow and difficult.  Something that would open things up and allow actual laundry activities like folding possible would be nice.

Finally the garage.  Here is where the requirements become a little less ordinary.  Together we have three cars and a motorcycle so lots of space was always going to be important.  We settled on a four-car garage to also provide workshop space.  It would need to be close to the kitchen so that bringing the groceries in from the car would be easier.

As I mentioned earlier when designing the positions and relationships of the rooms I didn't use a bubble diagram.  However out of interest I have decided to give it a go and see how it would look, the results are below.