floor plan

the floor plan...

there you have it. that's why it's the apartment house. it's small. i mean, it's not that tiny (in fact, my research turned up that you would need to pay over a million $$ to get an apartment 10% smaller and share it with 2 other people at least, in any of the current developments in the area), but it's not big.

the footprint is in the vicinity of 93m2, but the roof deck allows for about 150m2 of outdoor living/entertaining area. 93m2 is more than enough for 2 people to inhabit very comfortably, and the living space alone is bigger than most flats and plenty of new apartments.

so it's open plan living/dining/kitchen, with a couple of moveable kitchen benches to allow for different capacities or scenarios. then there's a small study nook with beautiful northern light from behind. from there it's into the wc/ensuite/laundry with its skylight chimney, massive shower and communal basin. through into the bedroom which is vast and which i'm sure will incorporate a small lounge area when it's done. there's a full wall of cabinets and wardobe that conceals the ensuite and bedroom sliding doors behind. then back through the big slider (the jo pickup door) that also acts as the door for a storage cupboard accessed from the study side. that's the tour. it only takes a moment. as i have more interior sketches i'll post them to see how the inside feels.

the north facade is all sliding glass and operable louvres with a beautiful big eave to keep the joint cool. this glass opens on to the vine-covered carport and the big slab deck and shade tree. around the corner is the access stair to the roof. and down the walk to the mailbox.

the engineer called it 'cute'. i'm going with 'compact'. or 'succinct'. it's going to be beautiful.

*re-posted the floor plan with the revised one for the new planning app.

the design

so...the overwhelming response to my last post has been something along the lines of "so david, nice site...bit small...but it's not a house". how astute (and kinda rude). so with limited further ado, let's see what the proposed joint looks like. we're a bit past sketch design now, having already submitted for council approval, but it hasn't changed too much from day 1, just grown and matured.

it's 93m2 (perfect for zac and i) with roughly 200m2 useable outdoor space, including a huge roof deck (perfect for open-air dinner parties). the north facade is all operable glazing to allow for efficient heating/cooling/lighting, and the rest of the walls are grey cement block. they in turn, match the floor, which is a polished concrete of some sort, the deck, which is also concrete, and the carport, which is concrete council pavers. concrete is the material of choice this time around...in case you didn't spot that...

in addition to that grey, grey exterior, the house will have some huge 'green screens', for privacy, shading and general sexiness. and a lovely green carport...for porting cars, i guess. the roof has access, up an exterior industrial staircase, to water the plants and sunbathe.

the interior is as yet unclarified, but the gist is that the house is sliced into thirds (3 panels each on the glass facade). the first three, closest to the r.o.w. and the green wall in pic 1, is the huge master bedroom and reading room. the middle is the ensuite/main bathroom (situated at the rear with a chimney-like skylight open to the sky), the small study and the kitchen. the last 3rd is the living and dining free-for-all area. this area can then be opened up to the deck to allow for al fresco something or other...

for those archiphiles out there, the little house is, to some extent, based on phillip johnson's first residence, which i hope bodes well for my future career. look it up, it's beautiful.

so that is that, until the concil tell me i can't have half of it. thanks to jamie for the lovely renders. comments and critiques are always welcome, but i'm pretty sure it's pretty awesome.