Angled wall: Pretty, but worth it?

[puntloos]

Angled walls - from a prettiness point of view, I like this design:

 

As can be (kinda) seen, there are 2 unusual angles, one, to the far left between the two awnings, and the corner in the center. 

 

Pro: Prettier?  More unusual design might add to resale value?

Pro: Catches slightly more sun (plot is southeast-facing)

Pro: Audio characteristics of an angled wall are better than straight

 

Con: ?

I can guess at the Con's, but I'm not sure:

Con: Costlier to build? (how much?)

Con: Harder to design properly (risk of e.g. leaks if done improperly?)

Con: furniture harder to fit in non-straight corners?

 

For what it's worth, a straight angle house would look like this: (please ignore the awning clash). I tried to make total floorspace about equal

 

What do you all think? Better to keep it straight? Better to angle? Am I missing, or wrong, about a few Pro/Con?

[Ferdinand]

it’s the angle of the dangle...

 

(No it isn’t.)

 

For value, you need crude floor area. Only 1 in 250 would notice that wall angle difference,  few of those would give you an extra 10k for it. But an extra 10 sqm would breeze into the numbers.

For sun, I would stick a tall thin window in the end. Much easier.

Audio .. why do you need the better audio characteristics?

 

Roof resolution and complexity is the curse of angled walls imo.

 

In this, I would say play with interesting integration of the inside / outside spaces, perhaps with things like flowerbeds, landscaping, water features and bar b cues or an outdoor kitchen.

 

Pleached lime pergola or similar, to be like the dream sequences from Gladiator?

 

Does this proposal shade your evening light on the terrace?

 

Edited October 21, 2019 by Ferdinand

[Russell griffiths]

Our last house was shaped like a Z so lots of angles

but it cannot be random they where specific parts of a 90degree corner, so two 45 opposite each other and a couple of 22.5. 

You will have real dramas with internal corner beads and external corner beads if you just pick some weird angle. 

 

It worked very very well in a long hall with an off set door at the end, took a fair bit of sorting out on paper first. 

 

Cost, allow a lot of extra dosh for that roof. 

Edited October 21, 2019 by Russell griffiths

[Mr Punter]

If there is no reason to do it (like boundary or physical geographical feature) then I am not at all keen.  Don't waste your money there is no WOW factor in this.

 

The top window is clashing with the roof btw.

[mvincentd]

Whilst I’m quite anti going to the trouble of building an aesthetically bog standard house I do think that if this is the only ‘divergent’ angle it may prove visually awkward/pleasing in equal measure.

You could look at flipping to a contemporary bay window there, possibly even at a ‘cheese wedge’ angle thereby maintaining the constructionally simpler oblong at floor and roof intersections.

 

[scottishjohn]

13 hours ago, puntloos said:

Angled walls - from a prettiness point of view, I like this design:

 

As can be (kinda) seen, there are 2 unusual angles, one, to the far left between the two awnings, and the corner in the center. 

 

Pro: Prettier?  More unusual design might add to resale value?

Pro: Catches slightly more sun (plot is southeast-facing)

Pro: Audio characteristics of an angled wall are better than straight

 

Con: ?

I can guess at the Con's, but I'm not sure:

Con: Costlier to build? (how much?)

Con: Harder to design properly (risk of e.g. leaks if done improperly?)

Con: furniture harder to fit in non-straight corners?

 

For what it's worth, a straight angle house would look like this: (please ignore the awning clash). I tried to make total floorspace about equal

 

What do you all think? Better to keep it straight? Better to angle? Am I missing, or wrong, about a few Pro/Con?

to me looks like you have added extensions to an exsisiting box shaped  house --not part of an actual design 

[puntloos]

8 hours ago, Ferdinand said:

 

For value, you need crude floor area. Only 1 in 250 would notice that wall angle difference,  few of those would give you an extra 10k for it.

 

This could turn into quite the philosophical discussion..

 

and why not

 

 

In my town, there's a clear distinction between cookie-cutter houses - nothing wrong with them, but indeed very much optimized for space usage, so usually a 'cube' with some minor variations, and 'signature houses'. Doubly so for newbuilds. I am not wealthy enough to go anywhere near a signature house, but I do have some breathing room to not ultra-optimize for space and/or price.

 

At some point, a certain fun psychological fact comes into play, which is "showing that you can.."

 

As an example, a peacock is very poorly designed, to be able to get away from predators, it's probably better to be a small grey bird, not a massive blue thing with a super heavy tail. People (not just females) are impressed with the ability to do something non-standard.

 

Now before you think I'm trying to attract new mates(m/f) with my house, lots of research also seems to back up that even if the origins are evolutionary, having things in your life that play with the variables, challenge ideas is actually related to happiness. See: art.

 

So the question indeed becomes, how much of a peacock's plumage am I saddling myself with. 

 

 

8 hours ago, Ferdinand said:

But an extra 10 sqm would breeze into the numbers.

 

Note that having that angle will actually add floorspace to the house too  - as you can see the house is slightly "hugging" the curves, so it's actually quite an optimal way of adding a bit of it.

 

8 hours ago, Ferdinand said:

For sun, I would stick a tall thin window in the end. Much easier.

 

Well, those windows are already there, no? ?

To be clear, the orientation of this house means that we lose the last ray of light from the livingroom at about 3:30pm. Having the angled design without the extra 'room' makes that only slightly later, but the room at the end, especially with a white reflective wall, will catch a LOT of extra brightness. (but indeed a 90% angle will do just as well as a fancier angle)

 

8 hours ago, Ferdinand said:

Audio .. why do you need the better audio characteristics?

 

Uh. The question answers itself, no? ? I want better audio characteristics! 

To be fair it's possibly not a major return.

 

8 hours ago, Ferdinand said:

 

Roof resolution and complexity is the curse of angled walls imo.

 

What is 'resolution' here? But yes, it clearly adds complexity. That said, I was intending to go timber frame, which - I assume? - will make it work more easily?

 

8 hours ago, Ferdinand said:

In this, I would say play with interesting integration of the inside / outside spaces, perhaps with things like flowerbeds, landscaping, water features and bar b cues or an outdoor kitchen.

 

Pleached lime pergola or similar, to be like the dream sequences from Gladiator?

 

Well, that's the plan regardless of whether or not I do the strange angle thing  (I'll have to find those dream sequences.. but it's a good idea.

 

8 hours ago, Ferdinand said:

 

Does this proposal shade your evening light on the terrace?

 

 

No, the house is SE facing, so loses light at 3:30 but the main house bulk is the thing that'll start to throw shade.

 

5 hours ago, Russell griffiths said:

Our last house was shaped like a Z so lots of angles

but it cannot be random they where specific parts of a 90degree corner, so two 45 opposite each other and a couple of 22.5. 

You will have real dramas with internal corner beads and external corner beads if you just pick some weird angle. 

 

Useful call, I think currently my angles are arbitrary but I can see how 22.5 looks.

 

5 hours ago, Russell griffiths said:

 

It worked very very well in a long hall with an off set door at the end, took a fair bit of sorting out on paper first. 

 

Cost, allow a lot of extra dosh for that roof. 

 

Can you be more specific? If say the 'dry' design is 500,000 how much would adding the 'weird' angle to it be?

 

1 hour ago, Mr Punter said:

If there is no reason to do it (like boundary or physical geographical feature) then I am not at all keen.  Don't waste your money there is no WOW factor in this.

 

How does one determine the wow factor? Serious question, upgrading the quality(price) of materials, fittings, devices doesn't really add major 'wow' either. Of course just having a larger plot (and therefore house) works.. but if you actually want to stay compact, what type of things would make a difference?

 

Frankly I can imagine that subtle design features might give a more subdued show of taste and refinement rather than stuff that jumps up and down screaming 'fancy' like e.g. a swimming pool.

 

1 hour ago, Mr Punter said:

The top window is clashing with the roof btw.

 

Yeah I did this real quick just to give a small idea of difference, not intended to be 'solidly built' ?

[puntloos]

 

4 hours ago, scottishjohn said:

to me looks like you have added extensions to an exsisiting box shaped  house --not part of an actual design 

 

Not the case though, which - ha - is worrying. 

 

That said this design is not my architect's - it's her job to do it 'properly' - my stuff is just playing around with what's possible.

 

Can you elaborate though? Here's the full overview picture:

 

 

Granted, if you think away the single-story bits and the small dual-story 'tower' I guess you're close to a 'box' design, but uh, at some point you have to have a functional house. What would you do to create something that looks 'built from scratch' then? 

 

@mvincentd your comments are a bit tough to parse for me, let me respond inline"

 

9 hours ago, mvincentd said:

Whilst I’m quite anti going to the trouble of building an aesthetically bog standard house

OK agreed - what's the point if you do something bog standard.

 

9 hours ago, mvincentd said:

I do think that if this is the only ‘divergent’ angle it may prove visually awkward/pleasing in equal measure.

 

Do you perhaps have an example of a modest house with more consistent divergent angles? My main purpose of the divergent angle was indeed to have the house 'hug the corners' a little and back away to give maximum garden space while retaining decent floorspace.

 

9 hours ago, mvincentd said:

You could look at flipping to a contemporary bay window there

You mean replace the 'box' to the far right with a large bay window? Sure, that could work fairly well, the idea of actually sitting in that 'box' to catch the last light was quite appealing.

 

9 hours ago, mvincentd said:

, possibly even at a ‘cheese wedge’ angle

Not sure I understand, are you suggesting to turn the 'box' into a 'cheese wedge'? Perhaps not a bad idea but of course the tip of the wedge would be next to useless, no? Also mind that we have some local regulations that disallow facing windows to be closer than 27m. The side of the box can be a blind window in my design, preventing overlook windows looking inside.

 

9 hours ago, mvincentd said:

thereby maintaining the constructionally simpler oblong at floor and roof intersections.

 

 

Given that I don't see how a cheese wedge shape can be rectangular oblong I think I lost your meaning somewhere  - do you have a sample picture to illustrate?

[scottishjohn]

can we have a front view

you seem to be cramming a very large house on that plot --

no garage or space to come round side of house 

how many bedrooms 

 are they other houses in drawing real and factual ?

Main roof shape looks odd to me and why have sloped roof at rear right up to upper windows,maybe making the rear roof flat and making it a walk on sun area from large upstairs window ,glass barrier  balcony etc would add some style ?

 and in that location will such a size house be over developing the plot -which means it will not get best resale price ,cos of its location 

how much is the plot --how much budget for build --what is average house price on that street

less than that  should be your target price to build it

Edited October 21, 2019 by scottishjohn

[puntloos]

1 hour ago, scottishjohn said:

can we have a front view

This is a rough version, but see here:

Again, the roof is auto-generated, I don't know why there's a hump above the front door.

1 hour ago, scottishjohn said:

you seem to be cramming a very large house on that plot --

"eh" - the plot is 15*27m, and the target house size is 225sqm. It's reasonably 'fair' for this area - a town center.

1 hour ago, scottishjohn said:

no garage or space to come round side of house 

Well, there is a garage, as you can see. And there is about 1m on both sides to come round.

1 hour ago, scottishjohn said:

how many bedrooms 

4

 

1 hour ago, scottishjohn said:

 are they other houses in drawing real and factual ?

Yes, they're accurate (the foot print is very accurate, the actual shape is accurate-ish for sure, the colors, ornaments, window types etc, are all not accurate, I only used the program's defaults). Of course (?) I only drew the houses that are directly relevant to me, I didn't model the entire street further out than direct neighbours.

 

1 hour ago, scottishjohn said:

Main roof shape looks odd to me

Frankly this is mostly the product auto-drawing the roof. 

 

1 hour ago, scottishjohn said:

and why have sloped roof at rear right up to upper windows

"eh" - it seemed like a good idea at the time, else the roof would have to be a lot flatter.. 

 

1 hour ago, scottishjohn said:

maybe making the rear roof flat and making it a walk on sun area from large upstairs window ,

 

We considered this but it feels like extra maintenance, it would catch water, harder to keep clean.. but maybe i'm wrong? (also- I'm not too convinced we would be allowed to have such an area, privacy of the neighbours etc.)

 

1 hour ago, scottishjohn said:

glass barrier  balcony etc would add some style ?

 

Something like this:?

 

1 hour ago, scottishjohn said:

 and in that location will such a size house be over developing the plot -which means it will not get best resale price ,cos of its location 

 

Well, I think most houses in that area are indeed exactly our target ratio- 200-odd sqm on 400-odd size plots.

1 hour ago, scottishjohn said:

how much is the plot

--how much budget for build --what is average house price on that street

less than that  should be your target price to build it

Yep, that's roughly what we're aiming for, places near us at 225sqm with similar gardens went for a little more than what we hope to pay after all is said and done.

To be clear, resale value is only a secondary motivation for us. We intend to live there for a long time. Of course we don't want to financially shoot ourselves in the foot either, but we'd favor something that works very well for ourselves rather than something that 'the generic buyer' would want.

 

 

By the way thanks for the detailed responses! Keep em coming

 

 

[Russell griffiths]

I suppose the big question is do you have planning in place ?

what do you think will get passed and what won’t. 

[scottishjohn]

so 4 bedrooms --you have got or are going to have kids ,which will become teenaagers with cars --where they going put them >you staying there along time you say 

Me I would build it deeper less wide and give enough space to drive to  the back to  a  garage, that is a real one that you can actually get a car+junk in /man cave ,at the back of garden?

 which could also be convertible to a granny flat / student at some point ,

your  garage now will be like most, just a junk room cos its  too small to get a car in and open the doors to get in and out of it easywith shopping bags  ,etc --guessing by the proportions of the door .

 Is this going to be self build?if so an even better reason to build garage at back FIRST with a bog etc .as site office and lockable tool shed

minimum2 1/2p off street parking spaces required- by our local planning

 you look short on that

 

[mvincentd]

9 hours ago, puntloos said:

You mean replace the 'box' to the far right with a large bay window? Sure, that could work fairly well, the idea of actually sitting in that 'box' to catch the last light was quite appealing.

No, keep oblong  box room but make its big window a bay in a cheese wedge shape....bad example here but 1st I could find in a hurry; 

[Ferdinand]

12 hours ago, puntloos said:

This could turn into quite the philosophical discussion..

 

and why not

 

Philosophical discussions are fun.

 

Mine tend to end with either Roobarb and Custard, or Paddington Bear.

 

Here is Roobarb demonstrating by analogy why it is possible to overdo following the crowd. Not particularly a comment on angled walls.

 

 

Edited October 22, 2019 by Ferdinand

[puntloos]

5 hours ago, Russell griffiths said:

I suppose the big question is do you have planning in place ?

what do you think will get passed and what won’t. 

 

We have planning approval for an extension of similar dimensions, but without the 'fancy angles'. No permission applied for yet with the current new build design. I assume some minor angles (that are not *too* ugly) are not a factor in such a decision?

[puntloos]

5 hours ago, Ferdinand said:

 

Philosophical discussions are fun.

 

Mine tend to end with either Roobarb and Custard, or Paddington Bear.

 

Here is Roobarb demonstrating by analogy why it is possible to overdo following the crowd. Not particularly a comment on angled walls.

 

 

 

I'm not sure Modern UK Health and Safety will approve of the message that you can fly like that, if you are only determined enough..

[puntloos]

8 hours ago, scottishjohn said:

so 4 bedrooms --you have got or are going to have kids ,which will become teenaagers with cars --where they going put them

1 Kid. Car.. well, the location is strongly tuned towards public transport commuting, and walking but by local ordinance we probably need to have 3 parking spots (sigh), which we catered for

 

8 hours ago, scottishjohn said:

>you staying there along time you say 

Me I would build it deeper less wide and give enough space to drive to  the back to  a  garage, that is a real one that you can actually get a car+junk in /man cave ,at the back of garden?

Interesting idea but not allowed I'm afraid! (we have both a minimum of 120sqm rear garden as well as min 10m from back of the house, back of the garden. So assuming I'd want to roughly keep the same footprint I'd have to cross into that 10m treshold.. (also, this plan would sacrifice quite a bit of garden that kids might enjoy running around in..)

 

8 hours ago, scottishjohn said:

 which could also be convertible to a granny flat / student at some point ,

your  garage now will be like most, just a junk room cos its  too small to get a car in and open the doors to get in and out of it easywith shopping bags  ,etc --guessing by the proportions of the door .

 

The current design is 3m30 wide, so yes it's tight but a car should fit. That said frankly most people here (and we are definitely included) mostly see garages as 'storage' with cars outside.

 

8 hours ago, scottishjohn said:

 Is this going to be self build?if so an even better reason to build garage at back FIRST with a bog etc .as site office and lockable tool shed

Yes, self build. Indeed I heard of the idea of using it as a shed! But my idea was more to put said shedgarage right at the front.. 

 

8 hours ago, scottishjohn said:

minimum2 1/2p off street parking spaces required- by our local planning

 you look short on that

 

 

Nope, we've hit the minimums. 

[puntloos]

8 hours ago, mvincentd said:

No, keep oblong  box room but make its big window a bay in a cheese wedge shape....bad example here but 1st I could find in a hurry; 

 

 

Ah - I do think I catch your drift, so a square roof, but the window angled towards the light (which would come roughly from the picture's camera position at 1pm, and then moves towards the left of the picture..)

 

Interesting idea, i'll mention it, thanks!