A few weeks after feeding back to the builders about the
first plans, we were called back to the office to have a look at version 2. We were
a little nervous given that the first set had been quite different to what we
had expected and we had suggested quite a lot of changes. Nevertheless, we
were pretty excited to see what they had come up with.
The new plans were revealed and the changes were instantly
apparent. The house overall was much more spacious and we could see at a glance
that it now contained all the elements that we had initially requested
(although of course the quotation had also increased by quite a lot!).
Perhaps the most striking difference was the remodeled parking
area, rotated 90 degrees and now big enough to accommodate two cars with a
large concrete retaining wall surrounding it in place of the original stone.
The previous space had been barely enough for one car and parking would have
been tricky. This particular modification came with an eye-watering price-tag
due, in part, to the very expensive cost of groundwork in Japan.
After some initial reluctance, we started to come around to the idea for two main reasons.
Firstly, the original stone wall was not in wonderful condition and would
likely be even more expensive to repair or replace at a later stage, until which point parking would be severely compromised. Secondly, and perhaps more
importantly, this was an opportunity to invest in the land itself as opposed to
the property that sits on top. We were pretty sure that one of the main reasons we got this land for
such a good price was the problems presented by this wall and so any money
invested in alleviating this problem would likely see at least a partial return
when/if we sell. The same cannot be said of money invested in the property
which, in Japan, will depreciate in value as it gets older.
The solution is kind of a half-way between leaving things
as they were and removing all of the stone retaining wall. It involves incorporating
this new concrete retaining wall into the foundations of the house in order to
leave the three-stepped stone part to the west untouched (and therefore to
reduce the cost). We were actually rather keen on keeping this anyway as we
like the character, if not the impractical nature, of the large stone steps.
Elsewhere downstairs, the kids’ bedroom has been expanded
and no longer has access to the outside which gives us some more garden/lawn
space. The entrance to this room is also better and it can easily be split into
two separate rooms in the future if needed using various configurations of
wardrobe and wall.
The laundry room, although open to the corridor, is now
much bigger with enough space for the washing machine, cabinets and an ironing
area. The small bathroom has been moved to the south-east corner to accommodate
this. The stairs have gone from a straight layout to a U-shaped alternative.
The master bedroom is similar to how it was before but the
attached walk-in-closet has almost doubled in size. Some of this increase has come
from an overall increase in the footprint of the building but some has also
been claimed back from the original large square storage area that was too
large for our needs. The adjacent study is a much more prominent room now with
easily enough space for two computers, bookshelves and a small sitting area
with coffee table.
Upstairs, the layout has changed just a little with the
introduction of a proper-sized pantry and the toilet moving to the north. I
think this is one of the reasons why the staircase has changed shape. The
Japanese room has been made considerably bigger and everything has moved outwards to give us more space. The new plans have generated about
another 25% more floor space upstairs.
Finally, the whole house has been raised to increase its overall
height so that the roof balcony views over the
house in front will be much better protected in the event that a new taller
house is built there. Raising the house also means that access to the roof balcony can be made much easier, although a full height door will probably remain out of reach. The ceilings throughout the house will be a little higher too, which
should add to the sense of space.
Overall, we were pretty delighted with these new plans. We
were seriously impressed with the speed and efficiency with which they were put
together and how closely the builders had listened to our revised brief. This was much,
much closer to the house we had in mind when we started out on this project.
There were and still are countless decisions and alterations to be made but we
felt as if we’d finally managed to draw together all the elements we wanted
into the design and could begin to focus on the detail.
Here are the plans!
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| The downstairs with new car parking space |
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| The larger upstairs space |
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| North/South skeleton aspect. Note the house is much taller and roof balcony access is better |
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| North/South on top, South/North on the bottom |
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| West/East on top, East/West on the bottom |
