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Design Your Own Dream House

Module 4 -- Needs Analysis

In this tutorial module to design your own dream house, you'll consider all the needs that you want your home to meet. Before you can begin to draw your own floor plan, it's important to create worksheets for each household member and for all the functional spaces of the home.

This is Module 4 of the design your own house plan tutorial. These modules are best read in order. If you are just starting out, go to the:
Introduction of the designing a house tutorial.

This module (Home Needs Analysis) assumes you have already completed the previous three tutorial modules, have finished your site map have considered your local zoning laws and have completed your bubble diagrams for outdoor spaces .






Now it's time to move on to designing a house needs analysis.

The worksheets you are about to create will be your guide when you begin to design your own house plan.

Household Members Needs

On a piece of paper, list who this home is for, include:

  • Family members,
  • Friends,
  • Frequent guests.

    For each member in the above list, make a list of their requirements. For instance, the list for Marie may say:

  • Quiet place for reading,
  • Bedroom facing morning sun,
  • Play room near kitchen.

    For a frequent elderly guest it may have:

  • Sleeping room on main floor,
  • Easily accessible washroom with grab bars in bath
  • Warm, cozy bright area for reading.

    Do not use room names at this point since it may very well turn out that a room could serve double- or even triple-duty. For instance, the sleeping room for the elderly guest may also be used at other times as a den or a crafts room. It does not matter what the room labels are on the house plans, it is their spaces and location that matter.

    Below these descriptions, project forward and consider how long you are hoping to live in this home. How may the above descriptions and their needs change over this time period? Make guesses at future needs for each person on your list.

    Functional Spaces - Design Your Own Dream House Areas

    Next, on another page, turn the page sideways and create a table with room for seven headings across the top.Label these headings:
  • Use
  • Who
  • Approximate Space
  • Light
  • Sound
  • Proximity
  • Features

    In the first column of this table, list all the different uses your home will need to fulfill. Again do not think in terms of rooms but simply uses. Room definitions will come later. Some uses you may list could be: sleeping, cooking, eating, bathing, games, reading, music practice, entertaining, TV/video watching, computer use, work, homework, woodworking, sewing and exercise.

    Then, fill in all the other columns of the table.

  • For “Who”, list all the people who will use this space.
  • Under the “Approximate Space” column, list the rough dimensions you think you may need for that use.
  • For "Light", list the amount or quality of light required. For many of the visual arts you'll most likely want a more diffused northerly light than a glaring sunny southern light. For entertaining, you may want dimmable lights.
  • Under the “Sound” column, list any specific sound requirements. For instance, you may want the play area to be within earshot of certain other spaces, you may or may not want the music practice area to be within earshot of certain other areas, likewise with TV/video viewing spaces.
  • In the “Proximity” column, list which other spaces should be nearby. For instance, you'll probably want the family washroom to be near the bedrooms. Maybe you would like the playroom near the food preparation space or perhaps your work area depending on your family situation.
  • Under “Features”, make any special notes for each use. For instance, list storage requirements, view, whether the space should be cozy, confined, open, high or low ceilinged, etc.

    Once again, look back to your home members list and consider the forward projections. List any extra uses required for the future in a different colored pen and also list any future changes to existing uses. For instance, you may want your young child's sleeping space near your own and the sleeping space for the teenager he or she will become at the opposite end of the house. This may or may not be something that is easy to accommodate but list it anyway. When designing house plans, you could plan for a bedroom turning into an office and the old office becoming a bedroom.

    Next Module - Designing Indoor Spaces with Bubble Diagrams

    You are one step closer to being able to draw your own floor plan. Now it is time to Design Indoor Spaces .



    Jump from Design Your Own Dream House Part 4 to the Tutorial Introduction

    Jump to The House Plans Guide Home Page


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