An In Depth Look At Single Family Houses In Miami

Posted on: May 20th, 2010 | 60 Comments

Today is Day 121 of the Slow Home Project, and we need you to join us in our quest to evaluate the design quality of houses in nine North American cities in nine months. This week we are analyzing single family houses in Miami and today we are going to be doing an indetail review of the interior living question on the Slow Home Test.

For today’s “In Detail” episode, we are going to take a closer look at some of the indoor living spaces in single family houses from the Miami area – as posted by the Slow Home viewers!

Remember, a good indoor living space has three primary characteristics:

1. Is organized around a focal point – like a fireplace, a television or a view.
2. Has a logical place for a furniture grouping and circulation.
3. Has a good connection with the outdoors.

This first example is of a larger single family house with two successful indoor living spaces. They both have well grounded furniture groupings located beside the view, but not directed at the view. They also have sufficient and logical circulation around the furniture.

The second example is a poorly designed indoor living space located in the center of the plan with no daylight. The family room at the back of the house is much better – you can imagine how this space would be furnished.

This is an example of an oddly shaped living space where there is a lot of wasted space and an odd geometry that connects to the kitchen. The front formal living space is awkwardly located next to the entry and a lot of the side will be taken up with necessary circulation.

In this example, the rear attached garage ruins the family room space. Any furniture groupings would have to work around the door to the garage, the stair case and the access to the service space. The front living room is not any better with the strange diagonal floor area and odd relationship to the front entry.

This side-yard living space in this plan will be dark as it has only one small window. Generally speaking, side-yard living spaces are almost always a problem because of lack of light and views of neighboring houses.

In this last example, the family room seems to make sense for furniture placement and circulation. The front living space still has the problem of being open directly to the entry.

We want to know what you think about interior living spaces! Please post images of floor plans that you think have both good and bad interior living spaces and tell us why.

Join us tomorrow where we will be reviewing all the design projects and announcing the Slow Homer of the Week!

  • DJS

    [img]centurygrandsinglefamilyhome.gif[/img]

    I think this has 2 good living spaces. The living room is large enough to have logical placement of furniture that can either focus on a tv or the outdoor view and still allow circulation from the foyer through to the dining room or kitchen. The Family room isn’t great because of the sliding door location, but there could be an ok placement of furniture that would still allow circulation out of the sliding doors and to the rest of the house, while having a focal point on the view outside or on a tv on the ‘bath2′ wall. Overall I think it would get the point because they both have good connection to outdoors (living room has several windows, family room has window and access outside) both have focal points and can have furniture arranged in a logical way while allowing circulation.

  • MollyK

    [img]modelafloorplanspage001.jpg[/img]

    When I posted the ‘Royal Poinciana’, I didn’t give the indoor living a point because the living room was supersized (IMO) and alot of space was devoted to circulation. However,the family room met the 3 criteria without argument.

    Taking a second look at the living room, it appears to meet the 3 criteria:

    –focal point–Although the plan has the furniture positioned toward the outside, the left-hand wall would work even better.
    –proper furniture grouping–The space allows for a “grounded” furniture arrangement…definitely not jammed into the large space.
    –outdoor connection–Large glass doors make a visual and physical connection to the outdoors.

    I offer this plan because the living room is a conundrum…is it too big with wasted space? or is it appropriate for the overall size of the house? Should indoor living get a point?

    Somebody else weigh in with a perspective…

  • Matt B

    Molly K,

    After looking at that plan, my gut feeling is that the living area has a fair bit of wasted space, which creates a gymnasium like effect. But compared with some of the other plans I’ve seen, I’d rather have a bit too much space for circulation than try to cram my furniture into a space that can’t support it. Since it does seem to meet the 3 criteria, I’d give it the point. I’m not sure how the den would factor into the indoor living space evaluation though. It seems rather tight.

  • Matt B

    [img]1274210968a341s72dpi.jpg[/img]

    After flipping randomly through the slow home files, I happend upon the Cortez at Monterra Cooper City. I think they did a reasonable job of the interior living space for a long, narrow plan with a rear garage. Both the dining and living areas have a connection through the large glass to the covered terrace and the front porch. there is a suitable wall for a focal point in the living room and reasonable space for circulation from the entry to the kitchen, while still allowing for a grounded furniture grouping in the space. The real challenge with this plan is the entry condition as it relates to the interior living space. It could probably be improved with a partition/closet extending into the living space.

  • MollyK

    Matt B,
    Thanks for the feedback…
    I’m still torn about the living room (22’2″ X 21’3″ with the furniture placement measuring approximately 15’8″ X 15’3″), but I can see your point about furniture in a tight space.

    Don’t let the furniture placement in the family room fool you. The dimensions are 17′ X 19’4″ which is a good size. Plus, you don’t have circulation issues since the room is in a corner without a door to the outside. I think the breakfast area label interferes with the image, too.

  • MollyK

    Hey again Matt B,
    I realized I posted the Cortez…I did give the indoor living a point. It is a grounded space with focal point and good connection to the outdoors.
    But I think the circulation on the first floor is problematic. But that’s a different segment. ;)

  • Matt B

    Hi MollyK,

    I wasn’t refering to the Family Room, It is probably the best interior living space on the plan. The Den is abutting the garage and seems smaller and less open to the outdoors. Although it may be big enough given the scale of that plan.

  • MollyK

    Matt B,
    My apologizes for the screw-up on my end.

    Yeah, the den is 11’8″ X 9’10″ with circulation to a bathroom which reduced the size for furniture. I didn’t include that room with the indoor living category. I counted it as the study since it isn’t big enough for much more than a desk and one sitting chair.
    It’s use as a sleeping area is questinable too…maybe a single bed or fold-out couch.

  • MarisaM

    [img]sfalessandraflpn.gif[/img]

    This is the Alessandra from Century Gardens Village. I tend to look the open living spaces more as you can easily look over see from the kitchen into the living or dining room. After evaluating this floor plan of the indoor living I believe by arranging furniture within the family room you can make a focal point around a TV on the outside wall. The living room (if there was no TV present) the furniture could be arranged in a fashion so that the person opposite of you is more the focal point…I am not sure how to explain this but putting sofas on either sides of a table, technically making the table as a focal point, is that considered a focal point?

    My only concern about this floor plan is the rooms seem to be small and the furniture may be cramped into the areas for proper flow in the home. For example, the family room would have to be limited for furniture to allow flow from the entrance into the kitchen and to the patio. The dining and living room could functionally work with the properly sized furniture.

  • Kadoman

    [img]santorinifloorplan.gif[/img]

    I’ve decided to have a look at the Santorini from Century Grand at Doral.

    The home definitely loses some points due to the excessive space spent on circulation, specifically at the front of the house. The main living areas themselves seem to be fairly well organized though.

    The living room and dining room are in the middle of the house. Yet there is a large patio door, recessed into the house, that should provide some daylight from the side yard. Although it is a side yard view, and wouldn’t necessarily mean a great view, this provides the dining room with a focal point.

    Opposite the dining room sits the Living Room, which has a nice wall to focus on with a TV or piece of art. There is also still room between the Dining and Living areas for circulation. There doesn’t seem to be too much or too little space in this area, and may be just right.

    The informal (and most probably more used) areas are at the back of the house. This affords a great opportunity for a connection to an outdoor view. Unfortunately, the Master Bedroom is placed in such a way that it minimizes this opportunity.

    However, the informal dining space is situated near a large patio door view to the back yard. This provides a focus for daily living in the eating hours.

    The Family room overcomes the lack of a direct view to the outdoors by having a well placed corner position (mostly out of the way of foot traffic) and a solid tv/entertainment center view.

    Overall, I would give this home the points for Indoor Living. There doesn’t seem to be any major flaws here, and even some highlights.

  • orangeopolis

    Molly K,

    I think that the Poinciana plan’s main living space lacks focus. The classical axis of symmetry drawn through the plan is an appeal to rationality in plan only. At the level of your experience of that space, just because the two doors line up, doesn’t mean that the furniture nor the living space do too. I think that if symmetry was the goal, this living space is WAY off. The silly little wall for that sideboard is about a mile away from the rest of the furniture.
    The family room is much better. It would get better light, has a much nicer relation to the other spaces (kitchen and dining) and would likely be used more. If that’s the case, why does someone need a massive room that they don’t use? Conspicuous consumption? To amaze your party guests? In other words, I think you’re right to score this one as a 0. Too much needless dark living space that overwhelms the fact that the family room is actually quite nice.

  • orangeopolis

    Oh, and as another point about appropriate scale, the main living room is BIGGER that the 2 car garage.

  • Kadoman

    The Royal Poinciana is rediculous! The Master Closet and Bathroom are bigger than the Master bedroom itself.

  • JPHH

    [img]antigua.jpg[/img]

    I am looking at the Antigua F from Blue coast homes. First thing I noticed on this plan was the living room is the front entry. I don’t think this works. They has the focal point as the front door or dining room. It also cuts off the flow when entering the house you aren’t sure where to put a coat or shoes. The family room isn’t to much better. I think they could have used some of the room in the master to create a larger family room. This would improve the circulation through the family room and provide more room for seating. It does have the connection to the outdoors with the patio doors to the terrace which would provide some nice natural light.

  • Matthew North

    JPHH – thanks for posting the plan of the “Antigua F”. I think that all Slow Homers should have a look at this and have a good laugh! What a terrible thing to do – not only is the entry into a principal room, but it is right into the center of the furniture grouping. The family room at the back of the house has the scale of a bedroom and has very little connection to the rest of the home.

  • MollyK

    Orangeopolis,
    Thanks for your input…the living room reminded me of a rotunda at your local bank or office building.

    I know we’re not discussing entire plans today, but I must say this floorplan is a excellent example of a fast home with good environmental features.

    The house is in a development situated on a 32-acre farm donated to the Univ. of Miami. Last year it was awarded the Urban Land Institute’s (ULI) Woolbright Dream Green Reality Award.

    I didn’t post all the floorplans, just 2. Unfortunately, none of them would make the “slow” list, and the “moderately slow” category is also questionable.

  • MollyK

    JPHH,
    The Antigua gets my “stinker” award. What can I say…a picture is worth a thousand words.

    That floorplan would have been better with one living area and a more modest Master. Maybe this plan should be a Miami redesign project like we did in Denver.

  • MollyK

    Kadoman,
    Those 2 indoor living spaces are just sad to look at…pitiful.

    The living room is in the circulation path to the rear of the house; it has no connection to the outdoors; and it’s focal point is the wall with your back to the dining area. Who would want to sit in that space?
    The family room also suffers from circulation issues with regards to the master bedroom’s accessibility. If the breakfast table was removed the usable space might improve, but the focal point of the wall allows a clear view into the master bedroom. I would hesitate to turn the furniture to face the outside since the view is partly obstructed by the wall on the left-hand side of the door into the master suite.

    You offer a perfect example of poor design…great work.;)

  • MollyK

    Red Alert!

    It’s Thursday and Miami has no single family homes in the Slow category. (There are some in the mod. slow, but they won’t cut the mustard to receive a Slow Home Award.)
    Could this be a repeat of Toronto…no single family winner?

  • PeterB

    [img]1_getimage.gif[/img]

    I thought I’d post the Tropical Isles – St. Maartens house for a few reasons. The rear living space at the family room really flows well with the rest of the home and has good circulation and light. Where this home fails for me is the placement of both the family room and the living room. The family room comes straight off the garage door which would make for an awkward experience. Meanwhile when you walk straight in the front door, you are confronted with the living room which is problematic to an extent but the room does flow with the rest of the house and has some sunlight from the front window. This house could benefit from switching the family room with the dining room and this becomes greatly improved.

  • Terri

    So far, most of the plans posted haven’t seemed great to me. Some are terrible, such as the undersized Antigua with its outdoor entry or cut off family room (love that funnel into the kitchen/family room area!), and then there’s the oversized Royal Poinciana (the pretentious name offers a pretentious space). As a couple of others noted, there is way too much circulation space along the right-hand side of this room. And the Santorini is depressing. They show a couch and a chair crammed into the corner, but really…this space is absurdly small (family room at back), and the living room is a long way from that side courtyard to say it has any connection to the outdoors.

    The Alessandro may have the best potential, though it seems that the furniture would fit the front living room best by facing the front door, which is not a focal point; the family room has room for a focal point along either side wall with view out. But it seems that there’s a lot of “traffic” going on here. It seems that there should be a limit on the number of doorways entering a space.

  • Terri

    Matthew,

    I cringed more than chuckled to look at the Antigua plan. I have a question for you: Do you feel that having three or more major doorways entering a living space will automatically remove its potential as a comfortable place? It may depend on the places these doors come from, but in the Alessandro, posted above, the front living room has only the front entry to contend with, whereas the family room has the kitchen, the master bedroom, the main hallway, plus it’s the room where the access to outdoors is located. It seems that the living room, by comparison, would be more comfortable, even though it’s not ideal next to the front door.

  • Terri

    MollyK,

    I have been searching for slow houses in Miami and I have not found one. In fact, there’s nothing but fast houses, IMO. Yet, in Toronto, I found two that were moderately slow, by a developer trying to tailor the grand home for a more environmentally aware future (BradW said he was making a name for himself as a community-minded developer).

    I don’t see anything like this in Miami, except for that architect in the YouTube feature posted earlier in the week. It’s no wonder there was a PBS documentary devoted to urban sprawl in Florida.

  • Terri

    Something else I see in the Miami postings that we didn’t see in Toronto: ranchers. More often than not, the homes are sprawling ranchers, whereas in Toronto, almost everything was at least two-storey.

  • Tara

    [img]yeden.gif[/img]

    After randomly clicking on the plans posted, I came across Century Gardens Eden plan originally posted by Andrew.

    Though there are some things wrong with this house, I don’t think that the living areas are that bad. I really like how they have maximized windows and connections to the outdoors by placing the two living areas at the front and back of the house. Though this means the dining room now has a sideyard view, they have created a mini courtyard indent on the side of the house with patio doors to allow light to penetrate that area as well.
    I think that both living areas have a focal point and can be simply furnished without interrupting the main circulation of the house.

    I find it fascinating that all of the house plans I’ve seen in Miami have dual living areas. Though I wasn’t around for some of the earlier analyses of the other cities, this is something that is not all that common in Calgary single family houses so I’m left wondering what the cause of this trend is?

  • Terri

    Tara,
    We discussed the formal living/dining issue a bit in the Toronto analysis. It was suggested by a someone from the area that many of the suburbs where these houses were being built were filling up with newcomers that would want to show their wealth here in Canada. There’s a similar situation happening in Florida, but I’m not sure it’s as simple as that. I first saw the trend thirty years ago in Edmonton, so it’s been kicking around for a while. Perhaps it’s a conspiracy by the furniture manufacturers? ;)

  • cnick

    [img]3sfppkmstxrefunitamo.gif[/img]

    The Mykonos at Century Grand has a very poor interior living space as it has no central focal point and can instead be divided into two seperate sections. One half is the bedroom wing and the other is a mish mash of dining and living rooms. The family room is not organized around a view as it is only sliding doors that lead to the backyard and not windows. This makes the placement of furniture much harder since a couch will be blocking the doorway if you place it in front of that. It is very difficult to organize furniture in that family room because another couch would be awkwardly blocking the small cut-out window between that room and the kitchen. The living room in the front of the house is another awkward place for furniture and you have to walk through it from the foyer to the kitchen and main part of the house. Furniture makes that an obstacle course as there is an entrance coming into that room from the garage, the front door and the dining room.

    The kitchen is small and isolated in the dark center of the house so there will be little natural light and it is not well-connected with the outdoors. This will decrease usage of any potential deck there might be. In a hot climate like Miami, outdoor eating is frequently possible so this is a strong downside of this house.

    There is plenty of wasted space in the long hallway to the back and the bedrooms are very isolated with windows facing the neighboring house. This house has very weak interior potential

  • cnick

    Tara, I think the formal living/dining room area used to be common in Calgary until the past decade or so when lot sizes have become dramatically narrower and it is simply not possible to include the living/dining room area. Space must be used more efficiently. I just remember my old house in McKenzie Lake in Calgary had the formal living/dining room on the side because the lots could be much wider back then.

  • Matthew North

    Terri – I think that your comment about the doorways entering onto a living space and making it feel less”comfortable” is very intuitive. I do think that no one want to face a door way with a furniture grouping as it feel awkward (a common problem in a lot of condos where the door to the master bedroom is on the living room feature wall). I think you are correct that the living spaces that are best have the tendency to be “destination” spaces in the plan – where they are not marred by circulation routes or doorways – thinking about this as I am sitting here, I think this is an important observation that you have made.

  • Alison G

    I also submitted the Santorini plan from Century Grand – like Kadoman above – to the Slow Home project. I think the living room’s location is terrible, with no direct access to daylight and the main circulation cutting directly through the space. I doubt anyone would want to spend time in a room with these characteristics.

    Miami houses seem to be fond of this central cave labeled “living room”, perhaps not as much time is spent designing interior living when outdoor living is available year round.

  • Matthew North

    Molly K – I think that we are seeing a really bad trend in Miami – the floor plans for single family homes feel to be the worse designed out of the five cities we have visited. I am interested to see the statistics from John in tomorrow’s episode. After a scan of the houses the group have posted, there are very significant organizational issue with most of the plans. In addition, there seems to be real problems with location and environmental performance. I also sense a “pretentious” element to the plans – there seems to be a lot of focus on lifestyle – which would make sense as South Florida is a resort and retirement mecca. I also – for lack of a better word – feel that the plans are “dated” they seem to look like they are from the 1980′s – just looking at how the furniture is arranged and some of the design elements that I am seeing over and over again – enclosed kitchens – a lot of partition walls in the living spaces – etc. This Miami trend deserves some more discussion as to why it is like this.

  • MollyK

    Terri,
    We’re on the wrong side of Florida for sustainable developments according to the Florida Green Building Coalition. I’ve been searching their certified projects in the “home” category and the majority are along the I-75 corridor and north of I-4. After almost 2 hours of searching I’m giving up.

  • bbhorner

    heres the link: http://www.drhorton.com/Where-We-Build/Florida/South-East-Florida/Division—Southeast-Florida/Coconut-Cay/Plans/Golden-Sand/Floorplan.aspx

    The Golden Sands at Coconut Cay has to living areas one pretty good the other not so good. The Main family room located at the back of the house follow the guidelines to a great living space to the tea. There is a focal point being the television mostly likely to be placed between the two windows on the side of the house, it has a good connection to the outside with a large window facing the back yard and to my eye there is a logical grouping arrangement for furniture. The other living spacing in the house is alright but the entry entires directly into the space and their is no real focal point to ground the furniture grouping.

    The size of the family room is also really nice, what is the best size for a living room? cause if it is too small you are cramped and too big you lose the intimacy?

  • Kadoman

    I think you may have hit the nail on the head Matthew. Seeing as Florida is a retirement capital, and it tends to attract money, that over exuberant 80′s money feel might be exactly what the people buying houses are looking for. After all, surprisingly, the 80′s happened 30 years ago, and that could mean they were the career and financial prime of many retiree’s lives.

    But then again, I wouldn’t exactly say the homes are “designed” either, so I’m not sure the planners would have had any sense of 80′s design, even in the 80′s. I dunno.

  • MollyK

    Hey Matthew,
    I’m in agreement with you. I can’t find any “green” developments. I have nothing against Miami, but I had a bad feeling about this location (primarily for single family plans) when I saw it on the list.
    Organization was poor in a majority of plans, yes. And siting was no better. Then when you factor in the lack of environmental performance and location all you’re left with is the room-by-room scoring. Unfortunately, these floorplans feel like they’re in a time-warp so they doomed.

  • Deng

    [img]2_untitled.bmp[/img]

    The house I posted is called The Miami Upslope design. I really like the design of this house. From previous posts, I noticed the big no-no for front entrances opening into living rooms. This house does not have that problem.
    The Family room located in the NE corner of the house, in my opinion, is in a good location. More windowns coudl be added or a patio sliding door rather than a door as the back door. I like the straight spacious access to the living and kitchen but it does seem quite far though.
    I am not too keen on the location and the use of a theatre room. I would almost switch this room with the front study and convert it into a living room. The wall between the front entrance the proposed living would have to be taken down though.

  • Deng
  • Deng
  • Allie G

    http://www.centurygardens.net/mod-sf2.htm

    I took a look at the floor plan for the Brookside model from Century Gardens. I do actually believe that although there are flaws, overall the interior living spaces aren’t too bad.

    The living room, dining room, and family room are all almost the same size and allow appropriate space for a furniture design. The family room looks out onto the patio with large doors which would permit the flow of light and the dining room has a view of the courtyard. The living room doesn’t have much outside connections, only having one or two smaller windows. This would need to be improved for sure.

    Although the rooms might waste a little space depending on the design of the furniture, overall I think they’re an okay design. Compared to some of the floor plans which we’ve seen in Miami thus far, I think I could find much, much worse!

  • Catherine Taney

    Deng,
    After a bit of sleuthing, I found The Miami Upslope design from Tullipan homes. Unfortunately, the builder and site are in Sydney, Australia – not exactly Miami! It’s indeed a decent plan, but oh well!

  • Andrew

    I think since this is Miami, and the climate is quite hospitable, there is a tremendous potential for an interior living space to have a good connection with an outdoor living space. It’s unfortunate that this potential is wasted in some of plans posted above that have the indoor living space right in the middle of the plan and in isolation from the exterior of the house. And I don’t think think this would add to the cost of a house since it is not necessary to have something like a pool in order to make a connection with the outdoors – even a simple patio can work well.

  • SangeetaG

    [img]1_fp2.jpg[/img]

    Here is an interesting plan. The living room is located in the center although there is no focal point to the furniture arrangement. the family room is much better, however, the furniture arrangement should have been centered around the back wall around a TV or fireplace.

  • SangeetaG

    [img]1_oakwood1.jpg[/img]

    Again, similar problem of foyer meets so called living room. The entire space it taken over by the circulation zones as indicated, leaving behind space for probably a love seat and table. The family room can be a much more functional living space with seating centered around the left wall, with enough space left over for circulation around the furniture.

  • MollyK

    Allie G.,
    If you will permit me to critique your submission…I think on the surface (and at a glance) the indoor living spaces look fairly accomodating with respect to the 3 criteria. But if you stop and look closer you might be surprised at a few sneeky problems.

    Take the family room…the dimensions alone would support a furniture grouping; there is a connection to the outdoors; and the wall is the focal point. However, the sneeky problem is the circulation path in the room. The family room has circulation into 3 areas…a path to the patio door, one leading to the master suite and to a lesser degree a quick turn into the kitchen. What that does is dramatically reduce the amount of usable space for furniture as well as circulating in and around the chairs, sofa, etc. This is not something we always catch when reviewing a plan…I’m still learning to recognize it.

    As for the living room…the circulation is at least to one side. But it still reduces the dimensions for placing furniture. Side yard windows are always iffy, but the connection to the outdoors is there though it is questionable how “good” it is.

    I’m not totally against the living room, but I think the family room is beyond help.

    I want to thank you for submitting that plan and allowing me to critique it…it is really a great example for dissecting the indoor living space. :)

  • SangeetaG

    [img]1_oakwood1.jpg[/img][img]fp3.jpg[/img]

    Here is yet another disorganized indoor living area. Firstly, the entrance is right into the living room without a designated foyer. Secondly, the dining room is right on the way into the family room. And lastly, the family room itself is narrow and long. I’m not sure how proper seating arrangements can be made in this home. There is a lot of wasted space, and what’s supposed to be circulation areas are taken over by the dining and partly the living room.

    Terri – you seem to have found one of the decent plans with good living space.

    I am quite disappointed with the floor plan designs I’ve come across so far. Hoping I can find some good sized plans with some sustainable thought put into it in my next search session.

  • Bell604

    [img]5585031.gif[/img]

    Here is a floor plan that I think has two poorly designed living spaces. The Living Room has a window in the middle of the exterior wall, negating its ability to be a real focus. One of the side walls could possible act as a focus, but with the furniture in the area, the 12′ x 11′ room would be very small. The family room has nice access to the backyard area, but is also invaded by the hallway access, kitchen access, exterior access and master suite door area. The focal point would have to be the the west exterior wall. there would be good sunlight from the large window. However, the space would also have to share a dinning table which would make the room almost un-useable as a family room due to size constraints.

  • SangeetaG

    Please ignore the floor plan on the left of my previous post, that was already analyzed. The colored one is the right one.

  • BradW

    The Courtyard House by Terence Riley is a wonderful Miami example interior living space in a Slow Home context – enjoy the video – http://construction.com/video/?fr_story=10ef50df72f206cfa6bbd9940a7e8984bcfaf2ef&rf=bm

  • Jessica

    http://www.drhorton.com/Where-We-Build/Florida/South-East-Florida/Division—Southeast-Florida/Coconut-Cay/Plans/Bondi/Floorplan.asp

    DR Horton’s Coconut-Cay BONDI floorplan’s indoor living space challenged by the fact that principal living space is segmented. Again, we see dining/living-family room divided by an midway kitchen. While circulation through the dining/living room is adequate, it culminates in a constricted archway leading to kitchen-family room.

    Though I appreciate the distinction made between bedroom quarters and main living space, I feel the main living space is weakened via this segmentation–a plan which will no doubt result in only occasional use of the dining/living space. Furthermore, the bedroom quarters’ form is dominating and feels disproportionate in comparison to the long, linear form of the main living space which, as a result, feels somewhat on the periphery.

  • BradW

    If you enjoyed The Courtyard House you may also appreciate Villa Allegra – http://construction.com/video/?fr_story=b37db42dd704f966d413b67c1047343876c9f1d5&rf=bm

  • Tiffany

    I really agree with Matthew’s comments about the plans all being dated. I noticed this right away when I started looking at thing earlier this week. It reminds me of my Grandma’s house, where she had the formal Living room with the white couch that we were never allowed to sit on.
    There are so many great examples of bad and okay plans, that I set out to find a really good one, but I am still looking and am starting to lose hope that one really exists. I guess I will have to settle for adequate!

  • nicole

    [img]indetail2.jpg[/img]

    Isles At Oasis – Aruba

    Family room (back of house)
    Focal point – yes, but in the way of the circulation path
    furniture grouping – pretty good layout (with the exception of the circulation to the back yard
    connection to outdoors – yes (feel that it could be a bit stronger)

    The smaller ‘living room’
    Focal point – none
    furniture grouping – small group allowed, (feels like this room is not really needed)
    connection to outdoors – has a small connection to the side yard – not the best.

  • Athena

    [img]jadem.gif[/img][img]1_jadem.gif[/img]

    Royal Pine Homes- “Jade” located in Toronto.

    I found this house was an interesting design for Indoor Living. I relly like the entry way to this house. There’s a formal Living Room to your left when you walk in and a formal Dining Room to your right. Further in the house there’s a great family room with a fire place as the focus. Even though it’s more of a traditional design (and I enjoy more contemporary designs) I still find it to be quite sophisticated.

  • Hawerchuk#10

    Being a novice observer of housing plans I have caught myself over the last couple days analyzing every house I step into because of the work this week. And in some there seems to be a recurring theme of lacking organization throughout in the design.

    I had a thought about the housing plans in the Miami area while working through these exercises this week. I wondered why the lack of the number of windows. One would like that with the constant sunshine numerous windows would be a attractive selling feature.
    I guess the challenge for all the slow home users to find a layout design in the Miami area that would be considered a slow home.

  • Hilda

    Hey All,

    I decided to try my hand at taking a look at a two-floor house, here’s the link: http://www.centurygardens.net/mod-sf7.htm

    It’s another Century Gardens house, Huntington. Love the windows, more light opportunities. The layout sort of works I guess, but I don’t really like how the arches are used. Seems like there’s too many of them, make me feel the space is very detached from one another, no flow at all.

    For the second floor, I believe there’s too much room given to the master bedroom, some of it can be used for the two bedrooms, as the for the retreat space, maybe a study works out better. A lot of wasted space there and on the first floor.

    I would have to agree with most people, it seems as if these house are only designed to show the lavious and richness of its owners. In turn it seem to sacrafice the efficiency and comfort of indoor living. If given a choice, no matter how rich I am, efficiency and comfort always get my vote.

    Cheers!

  • Dan M

    Hi all, my first posting of many, just joining the conversation tail end this week so I’ll just leave a comment (hopefully constructive) on what I am seeing in all these plans that you are bringing up. I’ve noticed that there seems to be a general problem with continuity in almost all of these plans, it tends, for me at least, to occur primarily with the circulation. While the ‘designers’ may have thought they were providing a logical connection and progression often it is confusing and results in rooms which seem bounded and boring, not open to possibilities. Of particular note is the plan JPHH posted where the entry dumps into the living room, this creates the initial confusion, which is then compounded by the necessity to zig-zag around the furnishings to get anywhere, which other then the dining room, the other rooms are obscured by walls and no clear direction is emphasized.

    In the plan Peter B posted, the Tropical Isles one, I agree with his comments and would like to also point out that the bedroom adjacent to the family room is really disjointed, and would be better off, and more successful, with removing the wall separating the family room and the bedrooma dn making it into a flex space, or office space, possibly adding a dual sided fireplace that runs half the current length of the wall with a niche above for the televison (to allow it to be recessed). This change would likely make the space used rather than a clutter and/or storage (or guest) space.

  • Grace Coulter

    SangeetaG
    What a strange layout. Just a few modifications in space layout and its an its got some potential to be slow. At least it has a relatively small footprint.
    I originally gave this plan a 4/20 and thought it was an example of pretty akward living. Such as waste of space to have the two living spaces with the ones in the front having such poor views in addition to the two entrances jsut spilling in without definition or near by storage. The back part of the plan is much better. I wish I could have cut the front of this house off and just kept the back.

    http://www.newhomesource.com/YAHOOREALESTATE/homedetail/view-floorplan/planid-788778/?TRACK=YAHOOFL

  • Neogi

    [img]018631f01.gif[/img]

    I decided to look at a custom built home by Regency homes in Cooper city florida. As you see the home offers tons of space and the i love the living room and how its centered around the view through the back of the house. Since the room is so large it offers good circulation around the room. and it also has a wall on the left that is the perfect focal point in the room. I also love how the grad foyer spill into the living room and the steps help to separate the space with out loosing the view and natural light from the glass wall at the back of the house. The family room in the plan also works great, its off the kitchen but it also has tons of natural light and even has a wall to group the furniture around. Both living spaces have good connection with the outdoor space and even the master has its own access to the outdoor space. This house scores high in the slow home test. The various levels in the home helps to distinguish the different functions of the home. If it was one big open space, it runs the rick of being to massive and one may feel lost when it some time to furnish a large open space.

  • cnick

    [img]enclaveseamist1.ashx.gif[/img]

    Here is the Enclave plan with a very poor interior living space. There is a very crowded, claustrophobic foyer only accessible by a narrow long hallway. Not exactly inviting. The living room is very small and inaccessible behind the dining room area which is cut off with the slanted entry seperating it from the family room. This could make placing a larger dining table more difficult. Also, it is far away from the kitchen so it is totally impractical to serve meals in this dining room as it would involve carrying all the food through the family room area.

    The laundry room is a small room accessible from the garage. This leaves no room for a closet from the garage where coats could go. This house has no main focal point and could be divided into three seperate segments. The living/dining, then the family room and finally the kitchen. They are all haphazardly side by side with no real flow between the spaces.

  • cnick

    [img]ventanasgrandezzafp.jpg[/img]

    The Ventanas plan would also score as a fast home due to its poor interior space. Of the uploaded home projects I have looked through, none struck me as well planned from Miami. I found some large homes with better interior spaces, but I feel that smaller plans do not need to sacrifice good flow simply because they are smaller. It just involves more planning.

    Anyways, this plan has no real foyer and opens up into the living room. That makes a couch arrangement impossible and this can be seen even though the developer tried to cover it up by placing furniture in the picture. It only shows a sectional couch on one wall and it would look ridiculous to add any more furniture. Secondly, the dining room is shut away from the rest of the house. The family room is also ridiculously small and can only fit a couch on one wall because the sliding doors are in the way. This destroys using the backyard as any form of a focal point with a large window. It also shows how it is odd to have two small living rooms versus one practical larger one.