[ Not sure where to post this] Designing a house.
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In architecture Uni, Ive been tasked to design a house. Now I thinking I dont know anything about a house. Nothing. I wish someone could tell me how big should a room be, a living room,a kitchen etc. Its a basic question with no answer, google search results are pretty much spammed with irrelevent information.
How big should a room be, a living room,a kitchen etc.? (In meter squared)
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I know I'm being obtuse, but a room should be as big as you need to to be and as big as you can afford.
Practically speaking you need to look at furniture sizes and the space people will need to use that furniture comfortably. You also need to consider how people move around and between spaces and allow enough space as you can.
There's no exact science and if you ask a dozen people for their optimum room size, you will get a dozen different answers. Ultimately the room size will depend on a balance between budget, practicality and aesthetic considerations - hence my opening comment.
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that's because there is no one answer... it's an answer that has so many variables to form it that it cannot be simply put.
but if you need an answer? a Living Room is 20'
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I like playing ping-pong in my kitchen for instance.
There are some nice house plans posted in this topic:
http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=15911I am not saying that you should plagiarize of course but at least you can have some basic ideas of sizes. Many of them are dimensioned in inches however so you may need to calculate a bit.
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@hieru said:
I know I'm being obtuse, but a room should be as big as you need to to be and as big as you can afford.
Practically speaking you need to look at furniture sizes and the space people will need to use that furniture comfortably. You also need to consider how people move around and between spaces and allow enough space as you can.
There's no exact science and if you ask a dozen people for their optimum room size, you will get a dozen different answers. Ultimately the room size will depend on a balance between budget, practicality and aesthetic considerations - hence my opening comment.
However a small room will feel claustrophobic a big room might not feel personal, and too open. Perhaps if I could get an average or something. I know that my brief says just to design a house, and does not mention any furniture, but at the end of the day furniture and a sol goes in it.
@gaieus said:
I like playing ping-pong in my kitchen for instance.
Dont worry, you'll be able to play ping pong in my fantasy kitchen too, thats standard.
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Updated my (rather stupid) post above with a link you can get some useful clues from.
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The most important thing is the site, did your UNI give you nothing ? If so find your own site and then you have something to respond to.
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@chedda said:
The most important thing is the site, did your UNI give you nothing ? If so find your own site and then you have something to respond to.
Exactly! You can't do anything without a proper brief.
In my experience site restrictions, planning regulations and budget will determine the overall square meterage of a property. These considerations will limit the possibilities for each room as you address the spacial and aesthetic requirements of living spaces.
@masterpaul said:
However a small room will feel claustrophobic a big room might not feel personal, and too open.
Which is why I mentioned aesthetic considerations and the way people interact with a space. A house may be a machine for living in, but that machine must be designed to allow for how we live inside it.
@masterpaul said:
I know that my brief says just to design a house, and does not mention any furniture, but at the end of the day furniture and a sol goes in it.
Furniture and other practicalities are things that many architects overlook. That's one of the reasons why we end up with doll houses in the UK that have to be kitted out with small furniture.
If you look at the furniture and utilities you require for a house (average sizes are relatively easy to find) then the space needed to accommodate and use that furniture will tell you something useful about room sizes.
Providing a list of room sizes is as useful as supplying the answer to a mathematical equation without any explanation of how you calculated the solution.
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Heiru you are right about the furniture did you know in show homes they use custom scaled down furniture ? I've seen this many a time, people move in and find it difficult to even get the furniture in through the maze of corridors and stairs. They think to themselves but everything was in the show home, ah yes but it was scaled down stunt furniture suckers ! lol
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Yes, that's what I was referring to. And then there is the size of the windows...............
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I am willing to bet many of those disappointing examples were not designed by college trained Architects. At least in my experience, the study of architecture is the examination of human needs, and the practice of applying these principles to the built environment, and that includes things like furniture, and the ability to move it in and out of the spaces.
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Of course not homes were picked from a catalogue and scattered by a developer for maximum profit. Architecture has no place in this scenario.
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I agree with all of the above. I am licensed architect for 20 years now. While there are some aspects of home design that evolve to a logical progression of spaces, no 2 of my designs are the same. There are many ways to "skin a cat"! A home is always a reflection of the challenges placed on the designer, from site characteristics to the clients program for needs. It all evolves within the process. While furniture placement is a pragmatic aspect of design, it is often overlooked and reflects poorly on designers who have not taken placement into consideration.
To determine your space needs, imagine yourself in the room, how it will take in natural light, what view may be important, how will circulation flow through the room. A successful design considers all of these elements from the inside and are reflected on the outside.
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Right, Sonder, that is an eloquent statement.
Back to chedda: I live in a home "designed" by a developer. All of the elements are there, even though there are some strained relationships with the spaces. One of the first models I did in Sketchup was this house, and in the process of modeling I discovered clear evidence of intentional reduction of square footage, because these reductions can be seen as whole sections across the house 1' thick that were removed. These reductions affected circulation in small spaces where they thought it would not matter, but these are minor daily irritations. The developer most likely saved thousands of dollars. -
I know an architect who forgot to design a staircase into a two storey house. Now that's saving on the space big time!
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@gaieus said:
I know an architect who forgot to design a staircase into a two storey house. Now that's saving on the space big time!
Well, admitedly we are not always the smartest bunch! If you ever watched Seinfeld - Architects are just people that couldn't get into Dental school
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Well, this guy is the professor of whichever architectural department at the university here. Imagine the students graduting from there!
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metric handbook is one of the best book for this check amazon.
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This reading might cast some light for you,
The shape and proportion of rooms
http://homesdesign.wordpress.com/2009/01/02/the-shape-and-proportion-of-rooms/Homes for Today and Tomorrow: more on the Parker Morris standards
http://homesdesign.wordpress.com/2010/12/18/homes-for-today-and-tomorrow-more-on-the-parker-morris-standards/ -
@gaieus said:
I know an architect who forgot to design a staircase into a two storey house. Now that's saving on the space big time!
Omg really? No... way? What did he provide a rope?
@mike lucey said:
This reading might cast some light for you,
The shape and proportion of rooms
http://homesdesign.wordpress.com/2009/01/02/the-shape-and-proportion-of-rooms/Homes for Today and Tomorrow: more on the Parker Morris standards
http://homesdesign.wordpress.com/2010/12/18/homes-for-today-and-tomorrow-more-on-the-parker-morris-standards/Thank you Ill read through it.
Update:
Im designing this house for an artist (Andrew Jones), from what I know hes lives alone, but I want to future proof the house also, thus the extra room.
Ofcourse not all toilets and bathrooms are visable, just to give a simple sense of scale, each cube you see (on the ground or on that side wall) is 3m x 3mInput?
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