The site many times dictate the design of the home. I do not know the specifics of your site, but I will offer up this review bearing that in mind.

I avoid:

1. Main entry directly into a living room.

2. Varied roof pitches.

3. Large expanses of windowless exterior wall.

4. Garage doors wider than ten feet on a traditional home.

5. Bathrooms at main entries.

5. Bathrooms opening to living spaces.

7. Double doors into bedrooms.

8. Fancy front elevations and mundane side and rear elevations.

9. Laundry rooms off living areas

10. Clothes closets accessible through a bathroom.

There's more, but I have to get to work.

Wow, those roofs are a thing. And I assume you either have a lot of people living there or you have a lot of people eating there? That's a lot of dining seating you got going on. Not sure why there's two stairs? Does one just go up and the other just go down?

Challenging sites require a lot of creativity. I appreciate the stretching out of the house. Not sure of your needs so it's hard to make too many comments. So I will limit to a few

1) the laundry room appears to be very poorly placed for noise considerations - esp if that is the main living area.

2) equally - why is the grill deck nowhere near the pool / kitchen or eating areas. It does appear to be convenient to the study...

3) is the pool going to be held in / up / back by the large retaining wall? I see a basement there, so there's a lower level, but then the covered patio and pool appear to be a main level elevation. That's some significant engineering of the wall and a LOT of water close to the basement level. Are you sure this works well? I'd want some SERIOUS 3D modeling there.

4) cut down on the double doors - no one uses them except movie entrances with a certain flourish. Mostly they are just a PITA when you are looking for the light switch.

I DO appreciate the courtyard and the windows and openness you are working to achieve - done well - it will be a home that wraps around a private outdoor space and is flooded with light. If your climate agrees - the Nano walls and floor to ceiling glass are wonderful options to create indoor / outdoor living and connectedness - just make sure the elevations support that.

It's a near perfect illustration of the Ten Rules above. But if it suits you, that's all that counts!

Deleted.

I appreciate the input. I didn’t like walking into living room, but this is a formal living room that we will not use much. So I kind of treating the whole space as a foyer with only minimal furniture. I’m hoping the focus when walking in will be the large windows overlooking the pool.

I don’t know how to handle the doors to the powder room though. Any thoughts?

I agree double doors are annoying but thought they looked more grand. Will get rid of them. Would you replace with just a standard size solid wood door?

The right side of house looks towards an unsightly yard hence the few windows there. The left side is lots of nice hardwood trees and faces east. Hopefully will provide sun.

I agree about placement of laundry room but we wanted one on the same floor as the pool. Any ideas where it could go?

Don’t think I can change the clothes closet access.

Someone mentioned the retaining wall for pool. Yes. There will be a large retaining wall on that side. It will be part of the poured foundation. And will be covered with brick. Should I be concerned about it’s ability to withstand the pool weight? Should I be concerned.

Thanks

Forgive me, I have never written anything here that could be perceived so negatively, but I looked at this and thought “grandeur won over function”. Others have captured specific concerns, which I won’t repeat. I can’t figure out what’s going on with the stairs at the far end-are they open or closed, which direction they go- but would think about flipping laundry and study. Or, when you change from double to single door into master you can narrow hallway to normal width and maybe gain enough space to be able to get laundry room in next to the bath adjacent to pool area. If it’s a secondary laundry area just designed to serve pool area I’d squeeze a stackable in a closet in that bath. I think it’s really worth doing an exercise where you imagine various scenarios and think about functionality. For example, you have a group over for a BBQ. How do supplies, people, and food move through the space? What’s it look like when someone out by the pool wants to grab a beverage from kitchen? I wish you all the best on your project- I know from experience how challenging and stressful the process is.

I would agree with the mantra points above. Some of those can be worked out in design development. Working in a vacuum as I know no site conditions or the other floor plans, budget, desires, etc. but just initial thoughts based on assumptions.

DARK BLUE: There should be a Foyer that feels like a space. Shift it away from the Living, and that will also allow the Powder entry (not marked up) to be secluded. The Garage is tucked too close to the Entry, it will be all pavement in a corner. The single car, assuming less used, can be placed inward as that is difficult to maneuver daily. The double should be differentiated in massing if stick with a 2+1 format. However, a house of this size should have a 4 car garage. The dormer above can be set back to not accentuate the garage, and not compete with the massing on the middle (Dining Rm) gable. The Dining Rm interferes with the circulation. If formal, it should be closed off a bit more from the Kitchen side. All of these spaces sliding further out coincide.

ORANGE: Fireplaces next to pianos wreak havoc on the wood, but they do look beautiful together. Shown is a fireplace for the Living Rm, which fits that formality better. It can be 2-sided for the Music Rm. Move the piano to see it through the front window, also which allows a juliet balcony opening up the pool (more later). The extended outside wall is shown aligned, which looks odd in elevation. It was extended to balance the height of the fireplace. In my scheme the fireplace is moved, which eliminates that need, but the extended wall can continue but it should flow with the roof being in the same front wall plane. I would investigate a clerestory dormer with a vaulted/tray ceiling here as well to offer elevation balance.

GREENS/YELLOW: There should be a Butler Pantry, not developed in this scheme though. The Laundry/Pantry buffer with the Garage, Laundry close to Pool changing makes sense, but I think the typical use matches the utility of the Kitchen backhouse better. The Grilling station, if not put in the Pool area, can be put near the Kitchen. The Kitchen can be bumped out which helps break up that elevation, and also help to make it more rectangular vs galley. It could have 2 islands, 1 for prep and 1 for seating.

MAROON: FamilyRm am torn on moving the fireplace. Nice to 2-side for outdoor living, but circulation past it would be odd.

BEIGE: Office, have it be an arrival point at the end of circulation.

RED: Master needs a sitting area as buffer for outdoor living, and fits the house size. Reworking Office allows the Master closets and bath to be reworked in a better layout tighter to the Master Bedroom (don't know how affects upstairs though).

LIGHT BLUE/AQUA: Outdoor living is not big enough or dynamic enough, based on how many dining seats are indicated. The pool layout can help this. Not deveioped in this scheme, but I envision the space stepping down, which allows a more dynamic view from inside, can be utilized to break up the outside into more intimate spaces (and allow "courtyard" plantings), and allows the MusicRm juliet balcony. Also helps reduce the retaining wall height.

Even though there might be an unsightly yard to the right today, that house may go on the market one day. You want someone who appreciates a view, and hence might maintain that yard better. We joke that one of our favorite things about our house is looking at the beautiful house across the street! Add some windows to your laundry room, garage, maybe high windows on either side of the family room fireplace. Cross-lighting is nice, and it will help beak up that long, blank barrier wall.

Which way will you typically approach the house from on your cul-de-sac? What will the view be like from that direction, will you see the blank walls of the garage until you pull in up the driveway? Or will you approach from the left, so you see all garage door until you get to the driveway?

Make sure you have a VERY GOOD structural engineer. That's a lot of lateral load on that retaining wall. And make DAMN SURE you have an excellent water management plan / drainage.

I'd want laundry to be closer to the business area of the house (kitchen, garage, etc) and perhaps incorporated into the mudroom - but then it also pushed it closer to the formal dining room. Now - you SHOULD be able to manage the laundry time if you have having a formal dinner party. ;) so that might not be a concern.

Agree that there are a lot of eating seating area! (and I like to eat!)

The elevations don't appear to match the plan or perhaps you din't bother to show the whole plan. What level is the plan? It's a mind bender.

Don't scrimp on design services for a house this large and complicated. Find a professional who can produce a 3D computer model before you get into serious trouble. The additional fee will save you money, time and stress during construction and perhaps provide you with someone to observe the work and represent your interests rather than the contractor's.

Ditto on the structural engineer... If you don't currently have one, you need to get one on board before you start digging so they can approve the plans. Designers and architects are good, but they aren't structural engineers and you need one.

I'm still trying to figure out the two separate stairwells.

The stair by the garage is for 2nd floor only. The stair by the Master is up & down. Perfectly acceptable to have 2 stairs in a long linear plan.

The elevations have some missing windows and other issues probably from changes not carried over. It does give a sense of the 2nd floor though. The important part for the OP is this is still in schematic design (IMO) and you shouldn't feel rushed to chisel it in stone.

Thanks 3onthetree.. I know sometimes more than one stair is a thing, I just wasn't getting it which one was supposed to be whating there without the other floors floor plans to match up with.

Yes. 3onthetree. You are correct about the stairs. Thanks for your input and your insight. I can’t make all those changes but you have definitely given fodder for thought. I am running it by the builder tomorrow.

Here are the previous plans before we made changes. This probably makes a little more sense. But the kitchen was way off in this version. I can share the upstairs but thought I was already giving too much info. Builder says I can’t really move the foyer out much more because of the driveway. Thanks for suggesting structural engineer. If the pool can’t go in the courtyard the whole houseplan is useless.

Are you saying the pool is on the east side of the house? And your kitchen is on the west side of the house?

If so that means the pool will only have light in the early morning and be shaded the rest of the day. And it will mean right at the time you want to start cooking dinner, the kitchen will be at its hottest.

I also think it's poor design to create a formal living room you only expect to walk through. Why build space that won't be used?

BTW: Don't be in a rush to start. Get it right on paper first. I use my own experience. We were in permitting and pulled back because the house wasn't right. We redid much of the plans and now almost 3 years in are very happy with our U shaped house.

Ahh, I reread and see you will begin excavation soon. Apparently design/build, a little less focus on design perhaps. Some houses can be drawn on the back of a napkin, not this 3 level one. Personally I couldn't spend a cool million rushing into building this house and have the issues here and there it does - it's not wrong, just undeveloped and unopportunized (if that's a word). I'd prepare for min 5% extra (beyond contingency) to fix MEP conflicts and changes you want because you couldn't tell what would happen from the drawings. It'll get there though and you'll enjoy the home.

The reason I suggested a 3D model is the third gable seems crowded and the oddly placed garage dormer adds to that feeling. Perhaps the garage dormer could be on the other side of the garage.

You should at least hire someone to draw a simple 3D massing model that you can rotate on your own computer before going forward with such an expensive project.

Actually, everyone will use the living room as foyer, and the dining room as well. The kids getting picked up or dropped off, the kids’ friends, the plumber, the cleaning service, the furnace guy, you’ll carry your Amazon and grocery deliveries through it.

So, you might consider adding a service door to the right, next to the garage door, in front of the back stairs, leading directly into the house. Yes, you could have people come through the overhead garage door, but then it has to stay up the whole time the painter or whoever is there. A service door is better.

I would give yourself a view of the pool from the bed. involves moving the window/door.

I hate french doors. They are expensive, they leak air and sound more than single doors. Where do you suspect your bedroom light switch will be - the doors will block most reasonable locations.

Door into master bathroom - same issue.

Have you lived with opening and closing french doors all day long? They look good for a month and then you are just annoyed for the next 10 years.

Most people choose to isolate the toilet a bit better also for sound.

Who doesn't grill out by the pool? - I would really question an outdoor space away from the pool.

What do the plans of the other levels look like?

@RES2 how do you get a 3D model made? What program do you use to build those?

@Nexa Group that is his drawing on graph paper. I only dream I could draw like that!

Look for someone (not me) that can create a lifelike model of the house and lot, and deliver it to you in a form that you can navigate around and into it.

Short video of such a model just spinning.

http://youtu.be/qQefu3ZzUws?hd=1

Omg I love the wall! I'm doing a very similar parapet wall

I use SketchUp