This layout gives the master suite good light and access to the rooftop deck, but we disliked the layout of the other bedrooms. They did did not feel connected, and we felt that this pattern lacked a Children's Realm (a pattern which Erika is going to write about soon). We discussed adding a play loft over the stairs to connect the rooms. It would be a cool and unique feature, but it would negatively impact the view out of the stair tower on the upper floor, where we would have the longest views. Markus gave us a diagram with sight lines to show the impact. The dotted lines in the upper left represent the play loft. As you can see from the sight lines, there would be no view from the stairs on the upper floor if we had a play loft.
We considered the alternative of moving the master suite to the north and the other bedrooms to the south. This puts the bathroom for the secondary bedrooms right between those rooms and adds a bit of circulation space which strongly connects them into a children's realm.
This layout has some disadvantages. Going through the utility room to the deck is a bit awkward. The second bathroom is slightly smaller. The master dressing room is a bit smaller, and we have a bit more unnecessary circulation space in the master bedroom. The master suite also has less eastern light (although it will have more light throughout the day).
However, we decided that having a cohesive space for the children and preserving the western views out the stair tower were important. We can shift the deck to give access both from the utility room and the master bathroom. We hope that with access to the deck though the less private laundry room, it will get more use, since children and guests might feel strange going through our room to get to the deck.
The layout of the main floor has not changed much from the first sketches with western stairs. This level contains the main social spaces and our office. We are starting to flesh out the details left out of that initial sketch.
The exterior entry porch lies several steps below the garage and ground level (a couple feet). It has benches on both sides to increase the sense of enclosure and make the entry feel like an outdoor room. The fireplace is going to be open on three sides so that it can act as a visual connection between all of the social spaces on this level.
Downstairs is mainly the media room. We are aiming for the full home theater experience: raised platform to support two rows of seating, acoustic isolation, and few to no windows. We will install the plumbing for a future downstairs bathroom, but for now we will leave that as storage space. The lower level has access to the backyard, although you have to descend another half level to access it.
The total size is about 2700 sqft. It's a bit bigger than the 2500 sqft we had settled on (and much bigger than our initial goal of 2000 sqft), but we like the way everything came out, and feel that it is still an efficient layout with a lot of functionality packed into the space.
Our next steps, other than the already mentioned roof form and fenestrations, are working on mechanical systems, especially HVAC, looking at and choosing materials, and kitchen design. This will be the point where Yuval's expertise will go from useful to invaluable. We hope to have everything needed for permitting finalized within the next four to six weeks. Permitting will take another six weeks (during that time, we will work on design aspects which don't effect the permitting process). Hopefully, we will start construction in mid-May!
