puntloos

Well, do tell? What did you design?

@Thorfun heh, nice setup! And actually - in my previous home I had a 3m white wall and projector. We did still use the TV a lot, mainly during the day as 'wallpaper' though. (we like radio paradise android app, which gives peaceful pictures with peaceful music) @Reiver: no strong preference for a floor yet! We are tempted to go for amtico, we kinda like the 'parquet-ish' look, UFH needs to breathe, and I think it could also be fairly good for audio? Or am I wrong? Happy to hear suggestions! @Declan52 As you can see I kinda/mostly solved the whole projector issue by embedding it into my kitchen wall: (full floorplan here). FWIW my current projector choice is the JVC NX5

I've done that before too, a white wall is pretty nice. But we were thinking having a proper tv - for daytime viewing, and hey maybe wall lights etc. Also screens of course are better than just a wall, but one could argue the right paint will get it pretty close. It's worth considering. Ha, I ran into the same trouble once. You're very right that hdmi cables can be low quality, not fun.

Thank you for helping! All I currently know is that the house is likely to be timber frame, and aiming close to (or hitting) passivhaus levels of insulation. Very open to suggestions when it comes to wall fillings. Ceiling can be made as strong as needed at this point, I imagine, as long as we design it 'now' rather than finding out after we're already building that it's too wimpy

2m70 ceilings.. Not convinced I need them, honestly! If you're right and it has 3x more than normal.. I just 'filled the walls' for now, didnt give much thought to actual requirements. I'd like to be spacious but not excessively so. Only if they open wider than normal, no? Perhaps a bit of a 'trick' but my wife likes the layout with the oven right next to a surface, so anything hot can immediately be put down. Still I'd like to think through your suggestion, thank you very much. Do you perchance have some image of this 'sloping cill'? not sure why that would prevent light blocking..

3m50 4m Yep, see the image in my original post. Big speakers - this: is pretty accurate, a 350m, subwoofers tucked behind speakers. (rears not pictured) - it's a full 7.2.4 atmos sy I have 2 13.5" 1000W subs. Not pictured but they're there, it's a full 7.2.4 atmos system. Anything specific you have in mind? How would you design the ceiling for this? Which layers, how thick?

Ask an architect? At 80gbp/hour! This is why I have buildhub Seriously though, agreed the 'final say' should be arch..

Do you mean this? Not sure what you mean 'match opposite'

Ah yes, the render is my own on Chief Architect X12, but I didn't pay a lot of attention to lighting settings. But my architect - quite capable as far as we can tell - produced the same design, so she at least didn't consider the setup a 'disaster'. Thanks - perhaps the point here is more about 'expectations' - what is reasonable to expect for a house. My wife is adamant about having a "bright home" but does that mean a glass conservatory with 5 high yield airconditioners..... Maybe my real question is: "How can you make sure a house feels bright everywhere, all the time", noting that even if irrational, humans tend to equate electric lights as a "negative" in this context. Will this design *feel* dark?

Any suggestions where to find a light modeller? ? I assume you mean some program, not 'a person', I don't think mine (chief architect) has it, so I'd be happy to quickly throw together a copy of my house into e.g. Sketchup if that has it? As we're all aware every layout is a compromise somewhere.. but can you be more specific? Of course swapping kitchen with garden room will fix it! But then our dining is dark. Or we could remove 'garden room' and squeeze everything into the main space, but then everything is cramped. Punching a light tunnel straight through to the roof might improve things but would it even fix it? Etc.

Take a look at our Kitchen - as you can see it has only one external window, which is facing a hedge at 1m (so we might even leave it out). Both Living and Garden room are very bright as you can imagine, and we already figured we'd put a sun tunnel right next to the kitchen too. But using 3D renders the kitchen looks pretty dark: This render is supposed to be around 1pm. What gives? Is this a limitation of rendering? Or will we have to simply resort to turning on the lights? Or are there other options, is the design fundamentally flawed somehow?

Thanks @Conor, sounds pretty good! No TF? better for sound? I'm not sure what you mean, 400x600 as a side view? Or do you mean the full ceiling will be 400mm deep? https://www.bgelectrical.uk/ Basically you're saying simply making the ceiling 200mm taller than 'planned', yes?

TL;DR: how would you design a noise-insulating ceiling that can carry a recessed projection screen and speakers? Ideally would love to see an actual design of a ceiling - which layers did you use, thicknesses? Longer: Building a house from scratch. Timberframe. Passivhaus-ish insulation levels. Underfloor heating. Above the cinemaliving, there are bathrooms and bedrooms. Sadly I know very little about how a timberframe ceiling looks, and how much space for 'equipment' there is. Projector screen: Spec sheet for projection screen: https://www.jp-uk.co.uk/media/product_pdfs/major-tensioned-datasheet.pdf - The cassette+bracket is 139mm but I'd like the 'dangling part' to be recessed as well, if I can. Not sure if it fully retracts so I should probably aim for 150mm - A wooden beam to screw the screen into is ideal? Needs to carry 36kg with 4 brackets, 4 screws per bracket, and of course needs to be in a spot where projector screen would be! Like so: - Do you guys think I could use "wall mounting" setup and screw it to the side of a beam? What should I tell my architect/builder/TimberFrameCompany? Just a randon pic, but the joists seem to be as deep as the beams so no way to fit a screen cassette to the side of a beam, just directly under it? Or? Spec sheet for in-ceiling speakers: https://mksound.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/IC95_intro_A4_rev3_feb20195b15d.pdf - MK IC95 - IC95 In-Wall/In-Ceiling - the can (pictured) seems to be 212mm: They can probably partially fit between joists? Any thoughts much appreciated...

Nice to hear! Clearly i've just 'thrown it together' in a free moment so do have a pro check it through, but I've been playing with various room designs for a while so it's not absolutely crazy I think Quick note: I'm probably going to go for a telescoping pocket door which give you even more gap space. https://www.eclisse.co.uk/telescopic-sliding-pocket-door-system-double/ is on my shortlist. Also do make sure you have enough storage in the kitchen. Not that I changed anything to yours but it seems a bit thin on shelf space? I would probably try to use the side wall too.

Modern.

Well the question perhaps is more "if it would help"? Or would it basically be ignored if the council doesn't require it?

Especially for the architects and planning people here.. I believe I have a 'fair' house design as it stands, not doing anything deeply outrageous, but as with all designs I'm sure there's a few choices that 'push the goodwill' I suppose (my gable sticks forward somewhat from the house line). Does anyone have good practices around creating a DAS (Design and Access Statement)? Do planners care about greenness? Elegance of design? Maximizing space utilization? Large gardens? What type of wording helps "you, check out this rad stuff man!" vs "dear sirs and madams of high standing..".. Obv if only I knew the actual case handler I could tailor to his to him/her, but as it stands does anyone have opinions on stuff that often helps or hurts your case?

I guess that settles it then

Sorry it's actually Chief Architect Premier X12 already - time flies huh. Slight update to the video here while I'm at it. (not worth a rewatch unless you're bored, the neighbours now have a front door, a few bushes in their actual place)

Welcome indeed. Very few people know exactly what will happen with the lockdown but 'most' trade is getting back on its feet. I'm very worried we're going too fast and we will have to go into proper hiding when cases spike again. But perhaps I'm wrong. Regardless, if anything I think Brexit will impact you more than Covid. Have you considered rebuilding from scratch?

Chief architect x11

A quick update - as you might've seen before, I like to use the free(ish) tool Focusky since you can tell a story, or let people browse around the design by themselves. For our Architect and Neighbours I've prepared the following: http://focusky.com/uqqn/nldz It contrasts the architect's latest design and my own updates, and there's a bunch of renders A flythrough is here: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1VePB0LlI72zITLYDAQEPcUYv5Jkwdsem (the player seems wonky, but you can download the file to view it) Just the floorplans attached.

Something like this. Clearly the table is a bit of a squeeze - perhaps it can fit somewhere better with some movement. Just something to think about.

If I understand you correctly, right at the top of the picture, above the sink? There is a house above the kitchen though - not sure if there is side-catching sun catchers? (ha, I guess they are called 'windows' but unless we do something clever I'm not sure they will actually reach into the house very well (not a sun-facing side)