How Cool is it ?

How cool is it?
to live in a well designed house during these stinking hot days ?  Aren't we lucky?
But if your sitting there with sweat dripping from the hairs under your armpits and cursing under your breath, here's a few hints to help cool your house down a bit further:

1/.  Keep the north facing curtains drawn from first thing in the morning till midday or even all day.
I know you all have awnings over the windows to protect you from direct sun exposure but there's still a huge effect from the radiant heat especially if the north part of your house is close to the ground or exposed to the roof of your neighbour.

2/. Keep the north and east facing windows closed too, at least until it becomes stuffy, often around 11am or midday.  Usually by then the breeze has picked up and it'll cool your house naturally and dry up those droplets.

3/. Keep a few windows open to the south.  That'll help circulate the air and reduce the stuffiness.

4/. Open all windows in the late afternoon, say 4pm, if they aren't open already, and it'll cool your house down quicker getting rid of all the stored heat out of your walls.

5/. Keep that western sun out!  The best way is to have external blinds or screens so the sun doesn't get in at all.  If you don't have these, use internal blinds as the next best thing.

6/. Grab a cool drink and chill out on the day bed.

You can learn more about what we do and see samples of my designs on our website http://www.willcollinsdesign.com.au   and http://www.goldcoastbuildingdesigners.com.au

or our business facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/WillCollinsDesign   and  https://www.facebook.com/Goldcoastbuildingdesigners or follow us on Instagram  Gold Coast Building Designers.

https://www.youtube.com/user/willcollinsdesign/feed?activity_view=3  My You Tube channel.

#Designersofresidentialarchitecture#luxurysustainablehomes

#apartmentcomplex's#ecoresorts#spiritualresorts#wellnesscentres

#houseadditions#renovations#housealterations#duplex's#townhouses

#ecovillages#lightindustrial#commercial#industrialstyledwellings

#ruralstylehouses#resortstylehomes#steeplandspecialist#draftingservices#

pavilionhouses#slopingblockdesigns#openplan#ecodesigns#dreamhomedesigns

Does size really matter ?

Does size really matter ? What makes a luxury house design ?
How big is yours ?
Mine's not big I must admit, in fact it's relatively small compared to a lot around the place.
But it performs really well (or at least I think so :)
So what makes a luxury house?  Does it need to be huge?  It seems the majority of people think so, but it's not true.  A house can be very luxurious, yet small - or it can be medium or even huge.  But one things for sure, just because it's big doesn't mean it's a luxury house.  Take a look at this pile of dung below:  It's huge - but is it well designed? I know design is an objective thing, but to me this place is butt ugly.

And not only that, it's been done to death!  Is it a luxury to have a house that looks the same as a house down the road ?

NO - YOU want a house that says something about YOU.  A house that is individual, a house that reflects your personality not everyone else's.

I can also tell that this house design has lousy cross flow ventilation, doesn't get winter sunshine into the back rooms and it probably has very little natural light.  Yeah sure, they can always turn on the aircon you might say - but who wants to live with all the windows closed all the time? Is that the way to live?  I don't call that luxury house design, I call that a jail.  Anybody can design a house that resembles a jail, but it takes a very good house designer to design a house that's cool in summer, warm in winter, has natural daylight and looks really cool, individual - something that excites you.

There are other factors too.  Is it designed for the future? Does it allow for further family expansion ?Does it allow for reduction ? Is it disabled friendly, child friendly?  How far is it from the garage to the kitchen?  Do you need to lift weights to be fit enough to carry the groceries to the kitchen? Is there a place to hang the washing ?  Do you have to race from the lounge to the washing line every time it rains because there's no undercover washing line?  Or do you just flick the dryer on adding to that power bill?  Is it living in luxury if you have a massive power bill?  Or is it more luxurious to be receiving a cheque from the power company every quarter?

So a real luxury house design needs to look individual, have style, be comfortable to live in, have natural light and airflow and have a few mod con's maybe:  Power points in the right place, enough power points, TV located in the right spot, a decent oven, a durable and good looking kitchen counter top, a well designed kitchen that's comfortable for people to gather around, a house that takes advantage of the views, and the list goes on.....

Below is a sample of house design that I did that fits that bill.  Not everyone's taste of course, that's another thing, a good designer will be able to design to suit the owners taste in materials, colours and budget (not their own!).

Call Will Collins Design on 07 55987337 to design your next luxury house on the Gold Coast, in Brisbane or anywhere for that matter.  We will fly anywhere in Australia for an interesting project.

You can learn more about what we do and see samples of my designs on our website http://www.willcollinsdesign.com.au   and http://www.goldcoastbuildingdesigners.com.au

or our business facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/WillCollinsDesign   and  https://www.facebook.com/Goldcoastbuildingdesigners or follow us on Instagram  Gold Coast Building Designers.

https://www.youtube.com/user/willcollinsdesign/feed?activity_view=3  My You Tube channel.

#Designersofresidentialarchitecture#luxurysustainablehomes

#apartmentcomplex's#ecoresorts#spiritualresorts#wellnesscentres

#houseadditions#renovations#housealterations#duplex's#townhouses

#ecovillages#lightindustrial#commercial#industrialstyledwellings

#ruralstylehouses#resortstylehomes#steeplandspecialist#draftingservices#

pavilionhouses#slopingblockdesigns#openplan#ecodesigns#dreamhomedesigns

Warmer house tips

Hi All,
just doing an intermediate blog as winter has now struck and a few of you might be wondering how to get their houses to be a bit warmer without churning through the gas.

Get as much sunshine to enter your house as possible all day. The best sunshine is from midday to late arvo as it's effects will last into the night.  It's great if this sunshine can hit some Thermal Mass ie dense dark material like concrete, rammed earth, bricks. If you don't have the sun hitting these materials, that's ok, a dark coloured thick rug in the afternoon sun works well or dark furniture like a lounge or thick timber dining table. Be careful of the fading effects of UV though, you can add films to the inside of the window to counter this.

Once the sun goes down or the outside air is no longer very warm, close up the house and trap that warm air in. If you have curtains close most of them especially if they are on the south and east sides of the house. Those areas get cold quicker and won't let much light in after 4.30 anyway.  Tight fitting thick curtains are best, insulated or cellular blinds are better. Once it's getting dark close all curtains and seal all gaps under doors with the old door sausages.

If the kids are out, don't let them in, as any draft will drop the temp. Unless they have been running around, if that's the case their body temp will be useful to help warm the house.

Once you've closed up the house have a shower, chuck on a jumper, and you may not need to put on a heater all night !

Call Will Collins Design on 07 55987337 to design your next luxury house on the Gold Coast, in Brisbane or anywhere for that matter.  We will fly anywhere in Australia for an interesting project.

You can learn more about what we do and see samples of my designs on our website http://www.willcollinsdesign.com.au   and http://www.goldcoastbuildingdesigners.com.au

or our business facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/WillCollinsDesign   and  https://www.facebook.com/Goldcoastbuildingdesigners or follow us on Instagram  Gold Coast Building Designers.

https://www.youtube.com/user/willcollinsdesign/feed?activity_view=3  My You Tube channel.

#Designersofresidentialarchitecture#luxurysustainablehomes

#apartmentcomplex's#ecoresorts#spiritualresorts#wellnesscentres

#houseadditions#renovations#housealterations#duplex's#townhouses

#ecovillages#lightindustrial#commercial#industrialstyledwellings

#ruralstylehouses#resortstylehomes#steeplandspecialist#draftingservices#

pavilionhouses#slopingblockdesigns#openplan#ecodesigns#dreamhomedesigns

South Pavilion House Design

07 55987337  0418 747630

Hi everyone,

In my most previous blog I posted about the house design stage of putting the sketch plans into the computer and a bit about why a pavilion house design was chosen over other forms of housing.

Today I'm going to talk about some of the special designer features in our house:

I'll start with the carport as that is where the house design started.  I often start locating the garage first in a bubble sketch as the position is usually dictated by physical constraints or the developers covenants.  In this case it was both.  The carport is in the sth west corner which is the least desirable aspect in this region leaving the better aspects of north and east for the habitable rooms.
The 2nd photo is a picture of the finished carport.  The first thing you might notice is the pitch of the roof which is a bit steeper than the front pavilion as I am locating the solar photo voltaic panels directly to it.
I have given it a rusty red trim to fit in with the rest of the colour scheme which has been designed to sit well with nature and not fight against the surrounding bush.  Supporting the roof structure you will see wide pillars of Corten steel.  Part of the covenants here was to have a minimum of 6 sq.m of storage space around the carport vicinity so that people wouldn't junk up the visible part of the house to public.
So I decided to use cupd's for the structure support instead of plain posts.
Below is a photo of the structure so you can see the stud frame which makes up the cupd's:

I used corten for cladding as they are exposed and would need maintenance otherwise, it also blends in with nature and I have used the material elsewhere in the house and it's good design to carry a theme around a house rather than just one spot.  For the doors I used old recycled cypress pine doors with a natural stain finish also blending with nature.

 Another most unusual feature in this house is that I used cypress pine mulch in the driveway and also as the carport surface.  How many people do you know have a mulch floor in their carport?
The main reason for this is to keep the use of concrete to a minimum.  Concrete is high in embodied energy ie it takes a lot of the earth's resources to make - especially electricity. Another reason is that you can just rake it over the oil spills and once again it looks more natural.  The only negative is that when it's windy your car can get a bit dusty.  Fortunately we are sheltered here.
Next in line is my office:
I have used a long skinny horizontal window from my office to the carport, this is so I can see when clients or visitors are pulling up but without my focus being straight onto the cars, and I have a view out to the pine forest (not my only view from my office). My office is located here so that I don't have clients passing by the rest of the house to visit me, it's first cab off the rank.  As discussed earlier it has a polished concrete floor and a rammed earth wall for thermal mass and design aesthetics.  It looks awesome and always gets comments from first time visitors.
Below is a photo of me in my office with my latest award for a steep house design near the beachfront in Currumbin on the Gold Coast.  Can't pass up an opportunity to brag.

Below is a shot of the rammed earth and polished concrete in my home office:

 

Next is the 3rd bedroom which shares the rammed earth wall.  This has a sliding door of obscure pearl glass to the north for privacy and same coloured louvre windows to the south for cross flow ventilation.

I have used curved plywood wall lights which pick up all the features of the rammed earth and keeps the lighting soft.  

This bedroom has a shared access to a bathroom behind the massage room and laundry which features another rammed earth wall.

The vanity bench top is made from recycled hwd from a company in Burleigh Heads called Hwd Heaven.  Ring Matt 5522 0531 if you need something made up.  He planes it and glues the pieces together to suit your design.

I have kept the colours light here as it is on the south side of house.  Travertine floor tiles will stay in fashion for ever and are easy on the eye.  Same with the rammed earth wall by Matt Steele from Rammed Earth National 0427 381567.  It's a product that will last for ever, never need maintenance, is easy on the eye and wont go out of fashion.  Those sort of attributes can save the home owner a lot of $ over the years...

The bathroom doesn't quit look the same now that the girls have moved in.  Lucky I got a before shot.

Next in line is the 2nd bedroom. It's now got a double bed in it and all decked out so looks much better, but the main feature here is the windows.  I have used double sliding windows which open right up to the Hoop Pine forest views which are awesome.  I'm often jealous when I visit this room as the feeling is so peaceful.  Great crossflow ventilation is achieved with the double action sliders, the louvres and the entry sliding door.  She also has a study nook with a small casement window which catches the breezes and view of the pond.

In front of the shared bathroom and to the north is the massage room and laundry.  Featuring the same rammed earth wall that features in the bathroom.  It has 2 double glazed obscure glass windows which transfer northern light into the bathroom framed in recycled timber of course.  I recycled hwd ladder takes you to a loft which is an extra sleeping spot for guests and provides a bit more storage.

The side walls are of bamboo ply to give that spa like feel, recycled shutters for cross flow vent.

Recycled glass tiles as the splashback for the laundry. Combine this atmosphere with the best Kahuna massage on the Gold Coast and you are in heaven...

That completes the internals of the south pavilion, now I explain the external.

Below to the right you see 2 recycled cedar doors which have clear plastic roll up covers enabling cross flow vent. That is the entry to the massage room.  To the left of that is a recycled shutter window. This area was designed as a semi outdoor area and sports the same timber deck flooring as the access balcony. The main wall covering is Weathertex Exterior Board with a paint finish in a pale green to blend in with nature. I have selectively used recycled weatherboards as feature panelling.  The 3rd bedroom access is through a pearl coloured sliding door.

The balcony balustrading I built myself, made from a curved stainless steel tube threaded through the shaped cypress pine supports and stainless steel wire.  It gives a bit of a yachty feel to it.  Galvanised gutter and roofing also blend in to the colour scheme.

You can see the pine tree which I had to bend my house design around on the north pavilion.

That's it for the south pavilion.  Started with the carport, next my office, 3rd bedroom/meeting room, share bathroom and massage room, then last is the 2nd bedroom.  All connected by doors internally and externally by the curved balcony.

I hope you enjoyed reading about this part of the house design.

Next blog I will talk about the front (north pavilion).

You can learn more about what we do and see samples of my designs on our website http://www.willcollinsdesign.com.au   and http://www.goldcoastbuildingdesigners.com.au

or our business facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/WillCollinsDesign   and  https://www.facebook.com/Goldcoastbuildingdesigners or follow us on Instagram  Gold Coast Building Designers.

https://www.youtube.com/user/willcollinsdesign/feed?activity_view=3  My You Tube channel.

#Designersofresidentialarchitecture#luxurysustainablehomes

#apartmentcomplex's#ecoresorts#spiritualresorts#wellnesscentres

#houseadditions#renovations#housealterations#duplex's#townhouses

#ecovillages#lightindustrial#commercial#industrialstyledwellings

#ruralstylehouses#resortstylehomes#steeplandspecialist#draftingservices#

pavilionhouses#slopingblockdesigns#openplan#ecodesigns#dreamhomedesigns

Computer drawings

07 55987337  0418 747630

Hi everyone,
thanks for tuning in.  In my posts so far I have been explaining the process of designing a house.
I showed several stages of bubble sketch diagrams and how a house evolves and changes in the designers mind and on paper as the thought process evolves.
But now it's time to formulate it and get the house floor plan into the computer to see where we are at accurately.
I use what I feel is the best software for this purpose Archicad which I started using in version 5.  I'm now on version 17 with 18 about to be released.  I didn't step in on the ground floor but it was pretty close.
It's probably the highest rated 3D software internationally, every wall we place has a height a colour a texture and a thickness.  And then we can place windows, doors, slabs roofs etc. It's all 3d and can be visualised by us and the client in many different ways for many different reasons.
The main and best reason for me is that it helps me visualise and experiment with different shapes, and because we are virtually building the house design it helps reduce mistakes on site as problem areas are always highlighted and easily rectified.

Anyway, down to the design business.  Above is the floor plan. Now if you remember the last blog I showed how I was sketching over the computer drawing certain changes.  Above those changes have been put into place.  I straightened up the south pavilion to simplify the structure and help it sit on the block better taking up less garden space and keeping it closer to south boundary.  I also added a Rammed Earth wall between my office and Bed 3 to increase the thermal mass for comfort.
My office is now the coolest spot to be in summer as I also have a polished concrete floor increasing the thermal mass and louvre windows behind me for cross flow ventilation.

As explained previously the house is in two pavilions.  There are several benefits to this:

1/. Possibly the most enjoyable benefit has been the zoning.  We call certain areas of buildings, zones.  In this case we have 2 distinct zones: The adult wing to the top of page (north) and the teenagers wing to the south separated by a covered open boardwalk with courtyard in between.
This was great for all of us.  The adults get their privacy and quiet time away from the kids music etc.
and the kids get a bit of independence and are away from our music.
Between the kids bedrooms is a share bathroom.  They are responsible for their keeping their rooms and keeping the bathroom clean.

2/.  The next major comfort benefit is solar aspect.  Often the usual practice would be to have the extra bedrooms jammed up against the rest of the house depriving those rooms of sunlight (or they get shoved to the east and west).  This way however, all rooms get winter sunlight which makes for happy rooms. Both our kids are very happy.  I wonder if there has ever been a study done on the effects of sunlight in psychology of children?

3/. Cross flow ventilation: The building is basically 1 room wide which means all rooms have great cross flow ventilation.  Our room has a robe behind it but we use a shutter door to the ensuite allowing breezes to pass through. Cross flow ventilation is very important for us in queensland and if done right you rarely have to switch on the fan.  This summer we put our bedroom fan on twice only.  We have enhanced our cross flow by using certain types of windows and doors but that's another subject for a later blog.

4/. Another cool advantage of having a pavilion design is being able to have a courtyard in between.
As my design and life experience increased I have become a big fan of resort style living.  We spend a lot of time in our homes and most of us love holidays right ?  Well I think we should all try to feel like we are on permanent holiday and I do this by designing houses to have that resort feel.  There are certain techniques to do this which I will explain in a later blog and I am also covering this topic in you-tubes.  Subscribe to my You tube channel as I am creating a series on how to blend a house with nature and soon I will have a video about ponds and boardwalks etc. https://www.youtube.com/user/willcollinsdesign/feed?activity_view=3

Having a courtyard in amongst your house helps blur the boundaries between inside and out and gives the opportunity to plant rainforest species which normally don't do well here in full exposure.
We now have an outdoor bath and shower in our courtyard which adds to that resort feel.

Here's a couple of photo's showing the courtyard:

Courtyard from West Balcony (Deck 1) showing the entry boardwalk and then a bridge over our pond to the left which accesses the main living area, and to the right my office and the kids pavilion.

Boardwalk design from my home office to the main entry to main living area featuring all recycled timbers and roofing.  Even the old rope balustrade has come from my dads yacht. 

Our outdoor bath and shower area made from 95% recycled material a lot of it left overs from the build.

 Recycled glass louvres tainted with calcium which looks like clouds from below if you have a vivid imagination. Recycled bath, decking, all timbers.  Soon to be featured on my You Tube channel.

 Recycled weatherboards placed vertically on spindles to open up to view.  Camouflage netting for a privacy screen.  Have also used this on our western deck to blend the house in with nature.

So you now have a good understanding of why I designed a pavilion style house. In the next blog I will discuss other key aspects of the design.  It is intricate and there are a lot of special details about the house design so I hope you will join me on this journey.

You can learn more about what we do and see samples of my designs on our website http://www.willcollinsdesign.com.au   and http://www.goldcoastbuildingdesigners.com.au

or our business facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/WillCollinsDesign   and  https://www.facebook.com/Goldcoastbuildingdesigners or follow us on Instagram  Gold Coast Building Designers.

https://www.youtube.com/user/willcollinsdesign/feed?activity_view=3  My You Tube channel.

#Designersofresidentialarchitecture#luxurysustainablehomes

#apartmentcomplex's#ecoresorts#spiritualresorts#wellnesscentres

#houseadditions#renovations#housealterations#duplex's#townhouses

#ecovillages#lightindustrial#commercial#industrialstyledwellings

#ruralstylehouses#resortstylehomes#steeplandspecialist#draftingservices#

pavilionhouses#slopingblockdesigns#openplan#ecodesigns#dreamhomedesigns

Bubble sketch stage

07 55987337  0418 747630

Hi All,
in my previous post, I explained a bit about my business and a lot about the procedure of
getting houses designed, or duplex, apartments, eco resorts, ecovillages, additions and alterations etc.
I also wanted to explain how I go about designing a house as I know many of you will find this process interesting.  So I started with a case study of our own residence which is located in "The Currumbin Ecovillage"  http://theecovillage.com.au

Our home has been finished for over  5 years now and has been featured on TV and in documentaries - 7.30 Report, Totally Wild, Green Homes and Bacon and a German Doco.  It has also featured in Best Abodes Book No.4, Panache Magazine, Gold Coast Bulletin Best 50 Homes (9th place) and various trade literature.  It won 2009 BDAQ Regional Winner of Custom Designed Homes.

The ecovillage is a Multi Award winning world leading sustainable development.  It has won over 32 International, National, State and Local awards including "The World's best Environmental Development" the FIABCI Prix D'Excellence Award 2008 and also the Australian Institute of Architects 2013 QLD Presidents Prize.  Having designed over 30 homes here I like to think I had something to do with winning those awards....
I have been on the Architectural Review panel since it's inception, been chairman and have only recently resigned late 2013 after 6 years.

We purchased our block of land here in 2006, a moderately sloping block of land facing north with great views over a lot of the village and views of a pond to the west and a pond to the east, we have a hill protecting us to the rear which has a native hoop pine forest growing on it.
Basically it's an ideal orientation and is 760 sq.m size, with no fences and we have extra land all around us for growing fruit trees on.  Some of which is Mango, Avocado, Banana, Paw paw, Lychee, Finger Lime, Mandarin and many more yet to plant (early days)...

So as explained briefly in the procedure part of my first blog we start off with a bubble sketch diagram of where we want the rooms roughly located.  When we purchased the land we are given a Lot Evaluation which points out a few of the mandatory requirements, like where the garage is expected to go, the driveway, the setbacks from boundary, where we are expected to grow the vegies etc and where our more private garden areas might be.  These are mainly guidelines but if you want to have the garage or driveway in a different spot you need to ask for a relaxation, same if you want to build over the setback lines.

Our garage was expected to be located at the rear of the block and that was a sensible position so we left it there and that's where I started the base design from.
The reason it's sensible is that the least desirable aspects for house design in australia is the south west,
because it's the hottest location in summer and the coldest location in winter.  Typically us house designers try to locate the garages and services in that area.  Garages, laundry and bathrooms
make a good buffer, or insulator for the more habitable rooms like living areas and bedrooms.

The design is now starting to take shape.  I have the rooms in the right spot, but they aren't yet to scale and may need shifting once I have located the exact position of trees and setbacks etc.
In the top pavilion (north) I have a balcony to the left which capitalises on great views over a pond, our greenway that we share with our 4 neighbours in this hamlet, the creek and then over the village. This balcony blocks the summer western sun from our living room but still allows the winter sun in as the angle is lower.  The living room also gets views over the village.  Next we have the dining and kitchen, then a wall separating our main bedroom.  You could say this pavilion is the main adult area and the kids are in the south pavilion.

Below it is roughly to scale.  You will notice the red lines to each side which shows the boundaries and curved red lines show the half metre contours which shows the slope of the land.

Below is the north pavilion which contains the main living areas and master bedroom.

Below is the south pavilion which has the garage to the west and bedroom 2 to the east.  Bed 3 only has a view over the courtyard and south to bush.  Oh well, she had the best view in the last house. 

It's still early on in the design development stage and many changes are yet to occur.

                            

Excuse the angle of writing, but it's the same house design, starting to harden up.

Solid lines are drawn, contours and levels shown.  Garage has turned into a carport and angle of access has changed.  Using cupboards as columns to hold the roof up.  Office layout has changed.  Dining room has become round with a curved wall separating the entry.  A concrete water tank has become the dining room floor.  A day bed has been added in front of the dining room, and a small balcony.

Now for the section.  This is a cross section taken through the land and building to show that it sits on the block with minimal excavation and to make sure the design works thermally.  I need to ensure that the summer sun doesn't penetrate the windows and the midday winter sun does.  If the midday winter sun gets in then it will the rest of the day as it is a lower angle.  This will warm the house all day, hitting the thermal mass walls (shall explain in another blog) and then releasing that warmth at night.  Notice the winter sun hitting the sides of the concrete water tank which is our dining room floor.

Next I have proceeded to put all the walls into the computer.  BUT I am still not happy with it.

back onto the drawing board to work out some more changes.  I have placed some tracing paper over the computer drawing and have started to straighten the south pavilion up as it was too complex and would be expensive.  Am starting to design the landscaping also.

Have removed the laundry from my office (that was never going to work) and it is now in the study which is now actually a massage room where my wife does amazing Kahuna massages.  Which was by the way going to be the kids hang out area (sorry kids, they'll have to hang out with us :)

There are still more changes to come but the rest are done in the computer and that is for the next blog.

So for now, thanks for reading and I hope you have gleaned something from it.

You can learn more about what we do and see samples of my designs on our website http://www.willcollinsdesign.com.au   and http://www.goldcoastbuildingdesigners.com.au

or our business facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/WillCollinsDesign   and  https://www.facebook.com/Goldcoastbuildingdesigners or follow us on Instagram  Gold Coast Building Designers.

https://www.youtube.com/user/willcollinsdesign/feed?activity_view=3  My You Tube channel.

#Designersofresidentialarchitecture#luxurysustainablehomes

#apartmentcomplex's#ecoresorts#spiritualresorts#wellnesscentres

#houseadditions#renovations#housealterations#duplex's#townhouses

#ecovillages#lightindustrial#commercial#industrialstyledwellings

#ruralstylehouses#resortstylehomes#steeplandspecialist#draftingservices#

pavilionhouses#slopingblockdesigns#openplan#ecodesigns#dreamhomedesigns

Introduction to Will Collins Design

07 55987337  0418 747630

Hi everyone,

I'm very excited to be creating my first blog about residential design.
I now have over 30 years experience in the building industry having designed my first home
approximately 34 years ago and I'm keen to share my experience with you whether you are a student,
a couple wanting me to design your home or somebody who just finds Australian architecture interesting.
I have had my own business since 1993 which is now almost exactly 21 years ago.  So you could say this blog, and my recent foray into business facebook and instagram is the 21st birthday celebration of my building design business. We are located on the Gold Coast and have had my designs widely published with various media and also seen on TV in such shows as 60 Minutes, 7.30 Report, Totally Wild and Green Homes and Bacon.  I design anything residential, as far apart as Victoria to Mackay, Fiji and China.  You can learn more about what we do and see samples of my designs on our website http://www.willcollinsdesign.com.au/   or my business facebook page https://www.facebook.com/WillCollinsDesign   or follow me on Instagram  Will Collins Design.
Better yet, check out my introductory You Tube clip, it's only 90 sec long:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PK7NQX3bq6w

I want to start by describing the procedure that's involved in getting a house, duplex, apartment building, or renovations and alterations up and running.  It usually begins with either a call or email from you, the client who has already made the purchase of a block of land or an existing house.  But I am happy to do pre- inspections of land or existing homes that might need renovation or additions.
Below is a sample of how the procedure works, but to make it more interesting I am going to do a case study using my own block of land and show how it's done step by step showing photo's of the land,
initial bubble sketch's showing rough room locations, proper pencil sketch's, then computer drawings of plans, elevations etc, then 3D's, then photo's of the house being constructed and the various materials used and then photo's of the completed work.

Initial meeting:

Usually have at our office to ascertain the brief and get a feel for your residential project. This entails discussions on proposed ideas, problem areas, council restrictions and general practical advice.

This design consultation is charged at an hourly rate.

If you decide you like what we offer, a fee submission is prepared and emailed to you. This

fee submission sets out whatʼs included, whatʼs not included and the stages of the design and documentation process.

If the fee submission is met with approval, an “authority to start” form will need to be signed

and the process of designing your project can come to fruition. This “authority to start” is a

working contract for both parties so that have assurance that you know what you are getting.

A site investigation is organised. Measurements and photos are taken. If necessary a contour survey plan is organised. 

All information gathered so far is utilised to create a great design.

Sketch plans are produced in pencil format for your perusal. We discuss in great detail,

positions of rooms, windows, kitchen layout ... All information gathered is utilised to enable a

quality workable design for your individual requirements. You then take the plans home and live with them for awhile, trying to imagine yourself living in these new exciting spaces. 

When you feel ready, weʼll discuss any changes that maybe required.

Once you have approved the sketch plans we move on to building the residence in the

computer. This results in a 3d model that can be viewed & analysed from any angle. This

visual software can enable any details of the plan to be fine tuned with great clarity showing materials and colours and special features.

We also produce solar penetration 3dʼs. This shows where the sun is hitting the house or

penetrating the windows at different times of year. This is very handy for pointing out potential hot spots in summer. The last thing you want is the sun penetrating your living room at 3pm in summer.

Once your happy with the 3D model, documentation for council purposes can proceed. This is where plans are thoroughly dimensioned and includes detailed notation explaining any unusual features. Building Code, Council regʼs and Engineers requirements are also incorporated.

A site plan is produced showing where the building sits in relation to the survey contour plan,

northpoint, services, sewer and storm water.

All floor plans, elevations, sections and details are produced ready for the builder to quote on.

Any extra details of individual features can be documented at this stage. One copy of the

plans are produced in colour for clarity and presentation purposes. The finished plans are then ready to submit to the certifier for building approval.

Our service doesʼnt necessarily end there. We can also provide a full package including Interior design & cabinetry details, Landscape design, Lighting & Electrical Layouts.

This is a brief explanation of the process, a lot more goes on behind the scenes of course.

So below is some photo's of the block of land that we purchased back in about 2005, wow time flies....

Our house now sits in front of the pine trees but behind the 3 little trees to the left

This shot shows the 3 little trees that were removed before we bought.  There is now a beautiful pond to the left near the white pegs.

The below photo shows the view from standing in the position where our western balcony now is looking over the ecovillage.  I can't wait to show you what it looks like now, but that will have to wait for later blogs as we are going to do this stage by stage and we can't jump to a finished house without going through the proper preparations first.  See you in my next blog and thank you spending the time with me.  I hope you enjoy this journey as much as I did.

You can learn more about what we do and see samples of my designs on our website http://www.willcollinsdesign.com.au   and http://www.goldcoastbuildingdesigners.com.au

or our business facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/WillCollinsDesign   and  https://www.facebook.com/Goldcoastbuildingdesigners or follow us on Instagram  Gold Coast Building Designers.

https://www.youtube.com/user/willcollinsdesign/feed?activity_view=3  My You Tube channel.

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