LESSON 01 – INTRO TO FLOOR PLANS

HOUSE TYPES

There are many types of houses including bungalows, side-splits, back-splits and multi-level homes. The type of house will influence the floor plan considerably. For example, in a two-level house, the top level will likely be used for bedrooms while the main level will have the service and living areas.

For our purpose, we will consider a single level home with no basement.

SECTIONS

Houses can generally be separated into three areas:

· Living space

· Sleeping space

· Service space

Living space includes any room where you will spend free time. It is the most public part of the home and will often have guests in it. This also includes the front foyer and any outdoor space such as a deck.

Sleeping space includes bedrooms. A bathroom should also be in the sleeping space. However, if it is the only bathroom in the house, it also has to be easily accessible from the living space.

Service space includes areas of work in the home. The kitchen, laundry room and garage are general service spaces.

SECTION “TOGETHERNESS”

The rooms that make up the living space are usually adjacent to each other to allow for easy movement from one to another.

The bedrooms (and a washroom) are usually located in one area. This helps families with small children. It also helps to keep the most private section of the home away from guests.

The service area is often found together but is separated at times. Notably, the kitchen and garage are not always together. Also, the laundry room is sometimes embedded into the sleeping area as a convenience.

LOCATION OF SECTIONS

The living space is usually centered in the house.

The garage is never centered in the house because it does not allow for a basement underneath it (not cost effectively anyways). It would therefore lead to a weird basement going around the garage area.

The sleeping space is often together and to one side so that guests do not need to continuously wonder into it. It also helps for privacy for those going to bed early.

BUBBLE DIAGRAMS

Bubble diagrams allow you to quickly design a floor plan and work around important problems. Shuffling rooms around is fairly easy.

And if you discover a major problem, you won’t have wasted a major amount of time.

Here is an example of a bubble diagram of a house: