Floor plan designing has a mathematical beauty. A good floor plan allows one to move with ease from space to space. It is elegant and really easy to use. That being said, the floor plan bellow confuses me greatly.
Original layout:
• Completed: 1999
Surface: 90m²
External storage space: 8m²
• Technically it is highly desired to have all the water columns, drain pipes, gas and the works as close as possible. It makes construction easier and any maintenance much faster (as no one will kill anybody faced with the cleaning aftermath). Trust me, being told that there is a leak somewhere on the length of the water pipe that goes diagonally from the entrance door to the bathroom was not funny. Nope. Not at all. The idea that my hallway would turn into a dust world for at least a week made my skin crawl.
So though spreading the toilet, bathroom and kitchen is totally doable is not necessary desirable in the context of an apartment.
• The angle of the bedroom wall is unfortunately something that I have seen more often. It is typically a side effect of a rather not elegant attempt to split an existing space. I do however doubt that is the case for this layout. In an adaptation where there is no way around it, it is something that I would accept. I wouldn’t be happy, but I’d go along! As I have a hard time believing this was a later adaptation, I can’t find any logical explanation.
• The slalom of the corridor is a side effect of the chaos created by the weird placement of the utilities. Though there is technically nothing wrong with it, there is nothing pleasant about it.
New layout:
• In my opinion a simpler, more pleasant and much more effective approach is to move the bedroom where the kitchen initially was and to group all the technical functions next to it. This allows for a clean circulation and for the privacy of the bedroom. It allows the usage of the bathroom without worrying about guests and creates a division of the apartment in private and public spaces.
• The living room maintains its large surface and has two distinctive spaces: the kitchen area which allows for a large enough surface for the dining section and a more cozy corner where the sitting area can fit with ease.
• There is even enough space to create an office space while still having a generous day area.
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7 thoughts on ““-Re” House no.5: Chaos”
Absolutely agree about the awfulness of the original plan. Would, however, rearrange the order of your amenities: bathroom straight after bedroom, toilet in the middle, so as to use from bedroom without going around the corner, and storage accessible from the hallway. I can imagine that it’s not deplaceable in the real world, but in an ideal one :)…
The choice to leave the toilet with access from the hallway was due to it being used by visitors without intruding on the private space. And indeed, the storage and the bathroom can switch places without any problem.
There are 3 options here, based on necessities: 1.separate toilet with entrance from hallway and bathroom near the bedroom 2.toilet and bathroom in one with access from the private area 3.separate toilet with access from hallway, bathroom with toilet included in the private area and a smaller storage/laundry area.
The visitors are there on occasion, the people living in the house go pee every morning :). I understand the logic of the choice, it was a matter of who the house is about ;).
True! :D But then, the house is not that big so the toilet is half way between day and night spaces.
In what concerns the finesse issues, there are multiple versions applicable to a space. They do however require a family to inhabit it and provide specific issues.
Obviously, a lot is preferences and habits and family logic. It’s really much nicer, don’t mind my nit-picking, i was just interacting with your design. The kitchen front cutting the hallway seems smart, for instance, but i see myself stressing about seeing my unwashed dishes when coming in :). The strange thing about what i’ve designed so far is that walking through your own plan makes you do aware of your own preferences.
No worries, I am thoroughly enjoying the conversation. :D
Preferences, style of life, culture and psychology affect so much of how a plan ends up. I personally love to discover how culture, in particular, affects it.