where are you building, describe your climate and where do all the different stairs lead to and what is the purpose of the internal gardens?

Ditch the last option. How do you get to the garden to maintain it? Can you see trphrough from reading area into en-suite?

Hi Kate, so the garden on the 2nd floor, the purpose is to light the area on the 2nd floor. Above it, it's gonna be skylight. Probably gonna have an access through the window to go in. But inside, it's gonna be a simple zen garden or only 1 small tree. and no i cant see through the ensuite, the first idea is to have a see through glass behind the sink area. But then it's gonna be hassle to put down the blind everytime im going to to toilet, So no, I wont put any window to the garden from ensuite.

@oklouise, this is going to be located in Indonesia, so the climate is gonna be warm. The idea to have a garden inside is to light the common area on the 2nd floor. In Indonesia, most of the houses are attached to the neighbors. It's a bit different to Australia where you will have nice light from all sides of the house (I currently live in Australia, planning to move to Indonesia in 2 years to be closer to my wife's family)

the land is 10x25m.

1.2m on the left side is void, so it gives good lighting to most of the space inside the house.

so the stair in the house is the main stair.

the stair on the first floor in the middle will go into the 2nd floor, and the other will lead to ground floor which I'm attaching below.

the stair on the 1st floor at the back is like service area where the housekeeper can come and have access to laundry area.

the round stair at the back of 2nd floor will lead to rooftop area.

Ok Indonesia, so hot, rugs not carpet. Entry I assume is from carport. Why is mud room so far from entry stair? Powder room could be swapped or combined with mudroom. Consider Putting the dressing table in front of the garden. You could provide some angled Louvres or some clever design to stop view from reading into the wir. It would also give some light into the wir. Include a high window into en-suite for same reason. The original master opt gives room for a chair in master I don’t mind the offset tv. But all will work

Oklouise asked for location, as the type of building that is appropriate in a hot humid climate isn't appropriate in a cold climate.

I'd normally also ask your orientation, as in most of Australia, where the sun is in the north, it's important to orientate a home correctly.

But way up north, things are different. Not only is it warm all year, but the sun spends the entire summer in the southern sky, the entire winter in the northern sky, passing directly overhead some time around the equinoxes.

Although it's still important to consider orientation. But more so for capturing cooling breezes. So your local climate is very important. Which way does the building face? Which direction do local breezes come from?

That's assuming at your location the climate will be pleasant enough to open the home to capture these breezes for some of the year at least. Much more pleasant to have the home opened up to cool & ventilate, than have it shut up, running the AC constantly. This is even more true at night time. It's lovely to open the home to cooling breezes, purging heat that has entered the home in the day time.

Although there is an issue with your lack of access to windows in 2 sides of the home. Usually you want to use cross-ventilation, where you have windows in opposite sides of the home. The wind flow in on one side of the building & out on the other.

But you won't be able to do this. So instead of using cross-ventilation you've got to look for other ideas, to get cooling breezes flowing through the home.

One good idea may be too use the "stack effect". A fancy way of saying hot air rises. Pretty much design parts of you home, like the staircase & voids, to act as giant chimneys. Hot air rises from the lower level, & exits out from high in the upper level. New, cooler air enters from outside on the lower level.

So I'd be also be reconsidering to functions of your interior gardens. Designing them over two levels, to not only give you access to light, but also access to cooling night time breezes. I'd make sure the windows have large openable areas (louvres are best), & a door to access the gardens. You want to be able to use that outdoor space! You could also look at solar chimneys, to purge the building of hot air, though these won't give you access to light.

Are there local websites (particularly ones offered by the government), that advise about how to build a comfortable, energy efficient home in Indonesia.

Here in Australia we have the Your Home site. A brilliant government website, with a wealth of useful information.

https://www.yourhome.gov.au/

This may still be very useful to you. I'd be starting with the passive design section, concentrating on passive cooling. I'm the 'Design for Climate' section, use recommendations for Zone 1: Hot humid summer, warm winter, of you feel this accurately represented your climate.

But also you've got to look at the local vernacular architecture. What do local homes look like? Why do they look this way? Is it just for fashion, or cost cutting, or are there other reasons? Such as very large eaves to shade the home, roof structures to ventilate the home, solar chimneys to do the same thing. So have a look at the local homes, to see if you can capture any useful inspiration, any tips on building a comfortable home.

As for your floor plan. Personally, I think it's too big, spaces are too generous. I'll admit, I'm not a fan of flashy, large homes. I'd rather adequately sized, functional spaces. They are not only cheaper to build, heat & cool. But also cheaper to maintain, & easier to clean.

They're also far better for the environment! The cost to the environment is much higher for larger homes. An important factor is the embodied energy of a home. This is the energy (& greenhouse emissions or takes to build a home). From digging up the minerals in places like Australia, shipping them to China. Manufacturing these into the products needed, shipping them back home. Then installing them in the home. Thus energy use is very large. Adding up to the energy used in the home over a 15 year period.

So I'd be building smaller, & smarter. Instead of investing your funds in SIZE, I'd be investing them in good design. To produce a comfortable, energy efficient home. Invest funds in building materials, like good insulation levels & quality windows, to keep your home comfortable. Invest in a large solar system, a great investment. Which will save you a tonne of money, & hello out the environment at the same time.

A smaller home will also leave more room for outdoor spaces, including a much larger internal courtyard. Plant cool down the natural environment, substantially. Having well planned gardens will keep your home significantly cooler.

Apologies if this post contains typos. It's very difficult to re-read on my phone before it's submitted, & neither the Houzz app or website will let me edit the post properly.

Best of luck with the build.

in order to understand your plans i've been attempting to reproduce the three levels but the sizes of the upstairs are not the same size as the downstairs rooms and one floor is metres shorter than the others without a corresponding deep balcony, stairwell, back or front yard ..the plans also don't make any allowances for the thickness of walls and the hallways seems extra wider than needed...do you have a site plan showing how the new house will fit on the block, does the house use the whole 25m x 20m without a front parking area or rear garden, where is the front door with a sheltering front porch for visitors, what is the purpose of the upstairs mudroom, is the bedroom, toilet and kitchenette on the ground floor intended for staff, will there be an outdoor clothes drying area, how will you use the roof space and what building materials will be used for floors, walls and roof?

@Kate

Mud room is actually a room specialized for shoes. In Asian countries, they don't wear shoes inside house, so most walk in wardrobe avoid having shoes in their closet. Thank you for the input!

@ddarroch

Thank you for the input, it's a good insight, will definitely take this into consideration.

Are the staff live-in staff? If so, they live in the basement, with no access to sunshine or ventilation?

I know it's not Australia, & building regulations are different. But personally I'd there are people living in the basement I think they should have access to light & fresh air. It's important for their health. So I'd be extending part of the light well to the lower level.

@ddarroch

the culture is female staff lives in the house as well. But these days, younger families tend to have helper to come in for couple of hours every other day.

The room is designed to accommodate for "just in case" situation. If not used, probably going to be redisegined as storage or other room.

Saying that, there are fresh air and light coming from the open of the back of the house. This part is an open part through the top

also the garage area, on the left side the void is all the way through from ground to the top

unless needed for fire escape or similar i would lose the external front stairs in favour of a more sheltered entry and mudroom at ground level..other suggestions include an external window and more spacious bathroom and kitchenette/laundry for the ground floor bedroom, more spacious screened porch, office, bath and powder room and an alternate plan for the master suite and upstairs bedrooms...the internal gardens are more spacious and frosted louvre windows would aid privacy where needed

Thanks for the reply Ron O. In Australia "habitable" rooms, whether bedrooms or others, require windows that are no smaller than 10% floor area (a minimum of 5% must be ventilated).

So if there is going to be a habitable room down there, whether a bedroom or anything else, I'd be swapping it's location with the storage room. So anybody down there has access to light & fresh air. The storage room doesn't require a window.

The same goes for the home theatre. I'd have a window to the stairs.

@oklouise wow, thank you so much for the recommended layout. I'll have a look what I can incorporate into my current layout. There are reasons behind some of layout decision due to some personal requirements and general rules in the area.

I like most of the recommended ideas there.

With internal Garden on the first floor, seems like, it will be enclosed in the middle of the house without no light and fresh air.

And on the 2nd floor, my wife would like to have a reading nook like a picture I attached before.

I'll try to play around with my layout.

@ddarroch

I like the idea of switching storage area and toilet. Does Home Theater needs windows?

Yep, I believe the BCA classifies the home theatre as a habitable room, so here in Australia it would need light & ventilation. I could be wrong though.

There's no windows near the kitchen, right? Hard to read the plans on my tiny phone.

I'd be looking at having a central courtyard, over the top 2 storeys. Between the dining, bedroom & kitchen. I really think the kitchen needs more light & ventilation. Who wants cooking odours with no windows to get rid of them. You'd have to rejig the top level to achieve this.

i've added an external window to the garden room and the upstairs reading room is called "lounge" in the plan

I'm trying to figure out the optimal configuration for master ensuite.

Dimension is 2.85 x 4.15m (gross).

Minus the wall, usable space is 2.7 x 4m

Your post asked for feedback regarding planning of your main bedroom suite, I believe the original plan to be the most functional use of the space. Access through the bedroom to robe and ensuite is most direct, and makes a pleasant space.

Hi guys after tweaking the layout many times, I''m almost there. Now the only issue, master bedroom is only 4 x 5m . I think it's a bit small. I'm trying to make it at least 5x5. or even 5.55 if needed.

Previously, the layout is from master bedroom go through walking wardrobe, then bathroom as the original picture. I doodle a possible new layout with red pen. I've never thought of this layout before. make master bath on the left side and wardrobe on the right side. I'm just a bit confused how to configure the bath setting & the door.

And also the sizing can be tweaker, whether giving more space for bedroom or wic.

Thank you

do you still want the indoor garden and what is the total length and width of the space available for the ens, wiw, bedroom and garden

There are 2 alternative.

1 as the first picture without garden, can use skylight in the WIC.

But we try to fit garden in, and it can become source of light as well for WIC. That's picture no2

Total Lenth & Width for Bath + WIC = 4.55 x 6.15

at the moment it's divided into 3.45 for bath & 2.7 for WIC. but it's quite flexible.

shower size is 1.2x1.8. Toilet 1.2x1.5. I think shower size can do 1.1x1.5/1.6. and toilet 1.1xnot sure

Master Bedroom is 5x5. There are 2 options as well.

First Bed positioned facing the door in the middle of the room.

Second, Bed next to door, leaving 2m on one side, and 1m on the other side with 2m bed size. So bed is not positioned in the middle.

Children Room is

3.5 x 4.5 and 3.2 x 4

also the balcony on the left side is longer now. I think it has to be L shape from my understanding talking with the designer, as he wants to achieve certain looks for the house facade. But I feel that the balcony on the left side do not need to be 5m, can shorten in a bit and make it into 'maybe a cabinet/secret wall'. But not sure how it will look on the design. as a the moment, the master bedroom left and bottom is all using glass.

rotating one of the childrens' bedroom will allow more space for the garden lightwell and also makes a better location for the bed 2 wardrobe to be a soundproofing wall between bedroom and there's still plenty of space for a super generous wiw, ens with space for easy access walls for towel rails, biggest bath, double vanity and enclosed toilet but you need to consider windows size into the garden to maintain privacy in the wiw ... the 5 x 5m bedroom is as requested but the bed is much better on the wall opposite the entry so there's more comfortable walking space all around the room

Hi, apa kabar.
I'm Indonesian and I can understand the context of this.
As much as I know the crampiness of the sites, going all the way to boundary is not a good idea. Dampness and water problem is the main issue, as well as airflow. I suggest going 3 levels but keep the building detached. Another thing to consider is how to eliminate the bugs and mosquitoes. Remember that mozzies can't fly in where its windy. Creating wind tunnels can assist in reducing these annoying insects.

sorry I meant 4 levels. not 3

Hi guys, thank you for the responses. I haven't replied as things been busy due to covid. But I finally "finalise" the layout for upper story.

I think I like the overall flow of the layout, I still get 5x5m master bedroom.

I still get garden (though I have to remove the reading nook there, to maximise the garden space, as with the reading nook incoporated as previous layout, it can be a bit small and make the garden not elegant.

From here, it's all about maximising spaces. I guess what I can alter if needed, is the proportion of bathroom and walk in closet. Currently, it's 3.415 x 4.55 for bathroom. WIC is 2.7 x 4.55.

If its already good, wondering if the layout of the master bath is the most optimum.

Just a small suggestion

moving the garden, is nice to make a little alley there. But we like the garden centered there, so we can have this kind of design. a long narrow window at the end

yep definitely a centered window if the bathtub is in that location.

another option that we're thinking is for the sink to be in that location. its not exactly like picture below, but featuring the sink as the centerpiece instead of bathtub with window

regardless of the swapping sink and bathtub, my concern for the master bath is, its a bit empty in the middle section.

one other thing, is initially my home office/pc room, is 3m x 1.8m. My last revision, I asked for the office to be bigger 3x3m. what do you guys think, and I think the office layout can be adjusted and maximised for this bigger space.

also with the masterbedroom, is it better for the wall behind bed to be glass all the way like picture below or just the section I circle?

1. Office. Bigger looks more functional. Can you get any breeze into space?
2. If your plants look as good as the photo go for it. That is spectacular. Why is our bed not centered?
   3.the bedroom next to office has not natural night and is at risk of getting cooking smells trapped. Moving the en-suite window out of the shower so it is opposite the door may get a little bit of natural light into bedroom and airflow opportunity, if relevant for your climate.

for your hot humid climate i hope the wall behind the bed is made up of stacking glass with bug/security screens and/or louvres with screens

1&3 Definitely, the red circle is where I can get fresh air and natural light into the space.

2.I'm still discussing whether to make the bed centered or slightly towards the right like the picture, so I can put a small reading corner there. Both are fine with me, what do you think is better?

and if we do put glass behind bed, I don't think its openable? cause the access to balcony is from the circle on the bottom, thats going out towards the front of the house

Actually are they real plants?
Reading nook would be lovely if you have the space. Consider moving bedroom door to other side of tv unit as this will open up space in front of window

the picture I shown is from internet haha. In real application, not sure hhow to achieve that. But I'm 100% sure I can get identical plant in Indonesia.

The bedroom door can't be moved due to 'fengshui' reason. Othewise there are so many things that I can change to my original inspiration.

Hey! Figuring out the layout can be a bit tricky, but don't worry, I've been there too. It's all about finding what works best for you and your lifestyle. Personally, I'm a fan of open floor plans because they create a spacious and connected vibe. It's great for entertaining and keeping an eye on things, especially if you have little ones. As for the bedrooms, it depends on your needs. If you're thinking of a home office or a guest room, that's always handy. For those planning to purchase a condo in the near future, I recommend looking at the options that Hillock Green has to offer. They are considered to be one of the best real estate developers.

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