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Owner Builder Blog

Owner Builder by Design

2/4/2019

17 Comments

 

Making the most of your site

OK, I will admit it, I am a bit of a design nazi!!.

I love good design, but more passionately, poor design or lack of consideration and sympathy for the environment disappoints and frustrates me more than any other area of the building profession.

I recently viewed an award winning apartment in Melbourne and to say it was a design disgrace is an understatement.

Where developers push the boundaries (no pun intended) to maximise the use of available land and airspace, they drive architects, planners and designers to decisions that are seldom aligned with the end user.

By end user, I am talking about the owner occupiers, the pennants and the community at large.

The unit I was asked to evaluate, had several glaring design elements which were certainly not considerate of the liveability of the space or of general traffic flow around the floorplan.

Who designs a bedroom where once furnished with typical contemporary furnishings, it is not possible to useably place a bedside table at either side of a queen bed. Where the introduction of a single bedside table makes the built in robes inaccessible.

But the issues don't stop there.

The master bedroom is built back from the building facade, with natural light and ventilation achieved through the 4 meter by 1 meter hallway to nowhere. This 4 square meters of valuable floor space is provided as access to the master bedroom window. Quite bizarre.

The list goes on and on. Finishes in the unit are reasonable and again are touted as being designed by an award winning interior designer. God help us!

Flooring is timber in the living space with carpeted bedrooms and tiled wet areas, pretty standard, but the flooring used is of such poor quality, that it is all but unusable. Installing furniture and normal cleaning result in damage and marking of the finishes which will be a renters nightmare and an owners money pit.

Built in wardrobes are a high point of the apartment being of good quality and functional design, however other area of cabinetry leave a lot to be desired. The laundry recess see a standard 600 mm space for the installation of a washing machine, but the intrusion of the hinges remove the ability to install the machine without dismantling the doors.

Finally, the kitchen sink is a single tub farm style sink which are all the rage. Please take my advice and spend some time considering the practicality of these fixtures. They look great and are extremely functional if you want to clean large items such as BBQ grills, but be aware, it takes about 5 liters of water just to get coverage across the base of the large cross section sink, just to wash a few pieces of flatware and cutlery. Not at all eco friendly, and with many units now basing utitlity charges on hot water usage, very hard on the hip pocket.

There are some redeeming features of  this inner city dwelling, but overall I could not rate it as a successful, innovative or intelligent use of space.

As owner builders, plan carefully and discuss your requirements with your architects of design professional. Be considerate of the impact on the environment, the use of natural features and the footprint you will create. Use wind, slope orientation to your advantage and leverage naturally occurring conditions to achieve the best outcomes for your family and the community.

Being an owner builder is a privilege, and you have the opportunity to create something quite special and unique.

Please choose carefully.

Best Regards and Happy Building,

Rick
17 Comments
Lorraine Reynolds link
21/3/2020 19:27:01

I must ask "what design award did this building get?" It reads as a truly bad design in all regards. Functionally, environmentally , aesthetically and probably cost wise. There are many talented designers and architects in the market who are very devoted to "small footprint" functional designing, A lot of research information is available on the internet. No real excuse for such bad designing.
The joy of being an owner builder is that you have a decisive and responsible role in the planning and construction process. Consult the experts.

Reply
Fiona
11/5/2020 22:08:47

I would be really grateful to know your suggestions for good design with regard to natural light. My architect is in Darwin and I am in Sydney and although he's very good and we send lots of photos, the considerations of wind, slope orientation and naturally occurring conditions are mostly on me.
What kind of windows would you suggest for maximising natural light from the winter sun on a property with a southerly aspect?

Reply
Colin Hill
19/5/2020 08:52:43

Absolutely agree. Do your homework as there is no need to reinvent the wheel. Read mags, visit display homes, scour the internet and pull out the best parts from of all of these.

Reply
Jerome Andrew
20/5/2020 14:48:17

Completely Agree. We required 5 bedrooms to fit our family needs and the first design draft we were given by the architect had a void near the stairs, which whilst lovely, provided no benefit to our needs and simply acted as wasted space. With intentions of a large family a nice design feature was not going to cut it. There needs to be a better balance between design and practicality.

Reply
Margareta Carter
4/8/2020 11:58:33

We stayed in a newly renovated airport hotel a couple of years ago and my husband and I lay in bed suggesting how different styling and colours would have improved the feel, look and practicality of the rooms.
So I guess even the professionals don't always get it right.

Reply
Andrew Smith
25/8/2020 21:25:09

Hi Margareta
Yes great comment, we do the same when we travel, always looking for positives and negatives, just about to start a new house so hopefully can put all those good ideas to work, cant beat good simple design.

Reply
Louise Post
22/10/2020 01:09:14

I love to visit display villages every few years just to see what is trending and to lick up good ideas. I often find many of these homes however have the WOW factor when you walk in but I usually start asking "How would you clean that high window?" or where am I going to store the Christmas tree. Sometimes designers forget about "real life".

Reply
jiehan zhu
22/2/2021 18:26:31

totally agreed, we do the design of our house by ourselves. although the designer does the drawing part, it is a lot of fun to us to make our house a total unique place for our needs

Reply
Peter Ayres
3/6/2021 14:10:28

I also think it is fun and exciting to create your own design for new projects around the house. Ours is an old house and we have lived in it for 7 years. When we first bought it we talked about some changes we would make, but I am glad we waited because now we have a real feel for the house. We are putting a small deck out the back which will be a lovely place to sit and enjoy our view of the mountains and will give us much better access to the back yard.

Reply
Ingrid Prell
11/11/2021 15:30:10

I love design, I only have 36sqm and to find the most efficient use of space is challenging but I loved it. Had my plans drawn up by a professional and now have lodged the plans with council

Wayne Caruana
5/5/2021 10:35:23

I think it takes a long time to get to know your site.

I have been planning the build of a back sunroom/back deck joining the back of my home to the pool area.

It's amazing how many things come to my mind later on the design, trying to make the most of the views.

The length process of approval architect etc has been frustrating at times but I have also appreciated the extra time to form my ideas and incorporate the ideas of others

Reply
Peter Ayres
3/6/2021 13:32:38

I have to agree about your comments regarding those large country style kitchen sinks. Far better to have a large sink in the laundry which can be used for the cleaning of large items.

Reply
James Morrison
5/9/2021 06:18:00

Good points here. Definitely things worth considering when designing a home!

Reply
Ian Dawson link
10/10/2021 17:06:50

I thought i had my design perfect until i went to the architect! after 3-4 revisions i now have it perfect! it good to keep going until we are satisfied when this is our forever home. Worth the struggle

Reply
alan Fitzgerald
8/3/2022 10:04:32

I think design is an important part but for me practically supersedes it most people forget u have to live in it it's not a show home

Reply
Pierre Thomas
19/6/2022 16:30:29

Some of the designs that are being created make absolutely no sense - some are not practicable, your example of the Melbourne design should be addressed and abide to relevant environment factors which are mandatory in NSW.

Reply
Nick Wall
29/8/2022 16:42:03

Totally agree,
I like to research and read up, look what ideas other people have done.
as someone who grew up on a farm with loads of space to now living in town with limited room, I like to make use my available space as best as possible for functional reasons but trying to keep it aesthetically pleasing.

Reply



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    Author

    Rick Heaton is a Building and Construction Industry professional with formal tertiary qualifications in management and training.

    With over 30 years assisting Owner Builders, he brings an easy style to providing information and advice to our students.

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