How To Tell A Good Layout From A Bad One: The Secrets Of A Professional

How to divide the space into functional zones, what is axial symmetry and what is the principle of "going for the beautiful" - we understand the nuances of the correct layout of large apartments

On the Internet, it is easy to find tips on how to make a kopeck piece from a one-room apartment, and a three-ruble note from a two-room apartment, but there is practically no information on how to correctly plan a spacious apartment for a small family. But it is precisely the competent layout of the living space that is the guarantee of the owners' comfort.

Having conceived a renovation, the owners of large and very large apartments, almost without exception, turn to designers - a person who is not familiar to me with the basics of design, it is not so easy to dispose of square meters.

There are very few rules for competent planning - division into functional zones, axial symmetry and the principle of "going for beauty" - and their work can only be demonstrated with a large area in stock. So how do you make a competent layout of a large living space?

Tip # 1: make sure the layout is legal

Put the layout and plan of the BTI next to it, and do a little analysis.

There are SNiPs (building codes and regulations) that must not be violated by apartment owners in apartment buildings. Analyze your layout: what happened to the kitchen and bathrooms? So, it is forbidden:

• to expand bathrooms at the expense of living rooms (their area can be increased at the expense of non-residential ones - for example, corridors, storage rooms);
• move the kitchen to the territory of the bathroom and vice versa, you cannot transfer the bathroom to the kitchen (the exception is two-story apartments where the kitchen and / or the bathroom are on the second floor, as well as apartments under which there is a non-residential premises, for example, on the first floor);
• transfer the kitchen to the territory of the living room (but you can combine the kitchen with the living room if you have an electric stove and the kitchen part remains where it should be according to the BTI plans).

In our case, we see that the bathroom to the right of the entrance has expanded due to the corridor, the kitchen has narrowed a little, and the rest of the bathrooms have remained in their places. Pay attention to how the bathroom doors are located. By law, it is allowed to make entrances to the bathrooms directly from the rooms, if there is at least one bathroom, which can be entered from the corridor.

Tip # 2: control the division of space into functional zones

Now pay attention to how the functional areas are allocated. All premises can be divided into public and private. Public or daytime area - a space where you spend time during the day and intended for receiving guests: living room, kitchen (front, if there are several kitchens), study, library. The private area usually includes bedrooms and bathrooms with them, dressing rooms, gyms - in a word, those rooms where you usually do not invite guests. However, everything is individual: therefore, for very large apartments, it is better to say in advance which rooms are intended, including for guests.

Ideally, the premises of the day and night zones should be located in different parts of the apartment. Make sure that the entrance to the office is not from the bedroom, but to the bathroom (even for children) is not in the middle of the living area. Play in your head several scenarios for the arrival of guests. Can a business partner go to the bathroom and accidentally end up in the wrong room? Or maybe you and your guests stay up late in the living room, and a sleepy child is forced to go through it to get to the toilet? Or maybe the dressing room is not next to the bedroom, and you have to go through the whole apartment to get clothes? I know a real story, how in a house with an area of 2000 square meters, a dressing room was designed in the basement, and the owner has to call the maid every morning and ask them to bring him clothes.

A large apartment is an opportunity to organize life so that everything is convenient for you and your loved ones. In the apartment I am considering, the left half is given over to the night zone (bedroom and children's bedroom, dressing rooms and bathrooms). The right one is for a day room with a kitchen, a living room, an office and a guest bathroom. The space is logically divided into zones - let's move on.

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Tip # 3: analyze the planning literacy

Two simple principles based on common sense will help you with this: “go for the beautiful” and “control the situation”. The first, “go to the beautiful,” suggests that when you open the door to the room, you should see something pleasant in front of you.

So, in the bathroom it is better to see a mirror than a toilet …

… or a console with a mirror instead of a corner of a cabinet or bath.

And in the bedroom it is better to see the head of the bed than the side.

What does the principle of "control the situation" mean? It's simple: a person in the room must control all entry points. Feng shui lovers will say that this is a strengthening of the position of power, but in my opinion this is just common sense.

If a person works at a computer in an office, it is much better when his desk is oriented so that he sees the door (and the window, if necessary). In this position, entering the room does not create discomfort for the owner. For the latter, it is enough just to raise his eyes to greet the person who has entered, and not to turn around nervously.

The same principle applies to the layouts of bedrooms, children's rooms and living rooms: it is uncomfortable to be with your back to the entrance. The person unconsciously turns around to slam the door - the more control, the calmer you will be in the apartment. Take a look at the location of the sofa and armchairs in the living room. Is the entrance to the room visible from all places?

Tip # 4: check the consistency of the furniture arrangement in the room

When you have made sure that the principles of "go for beauty" and "control the situation" are observed, you can analyze the layout in more detail. The main criteria will help you distinguish good from bad: ergonomics, proportionality, symmetry and balance.

The main rule can be formulated as follows: if you don’t like the layout on paper, then life will only get worse. Sharp corners, a double bed sideways to the wall, too long corridors - this is inconvenient. In an ergonomic apartment, nothing prevents you from going with heavy bags to the kitchen to the refrigerator; you don't have to bend around the bed every time to get into the dressing room; and you don't have to "spank" across the bathroom to grab a dry towel from the heated towel rail on the opposite wall.

Look at two options for the layout of the kitchen: one (Fig. Left) - with wide aisles, but with a table resting against a load-bearing column; and the other (Fig. right) - with a narrow kitchen, but a separate dining area. It would seem that both there and there fit six people, but agree, how much more spacious the first option looks!

Now about proportionality: it is uncomfortable to be in rooms that are too elongated in length - it creates the feeling of a corridor. Therefore, it is believed that the optimal shape of the room for perception is a square: a regular-shaped hall looks better than a long corridor; and an elongated room, divided into a bedroom and a dressing room, feels more comfortable than a “long” bedroom with wardrobes. Simply put, a square room creates a sense of proportionality and completeness, and therefore is so positively perceived by a person.

Finally, what are symmetry and balance? Compare 3 pictures of the living room: 2 consoles on both sides of the sofa, 2 armchairs on the sides of the table, the wall with the TV opposite the sofa - this is symmetry. However, it is not always possible to build axial symmetry, so balance comes to the rescue. So, the corner sofa located in the room needs to be supplemented with an armchair or a coffee table. And remember: guests should not sit with their backs to the entrance!

Also, regardless of whether the composition is symmetrical or not, it should look stable: distribute furniture around the room so that there is neither emptiness nor too much crowding.

The optimal solutions, as a rule, are simple and logical, but their search often takes a lot of time and effort, because you need to sort out all the possible options and choose the one that is most suitable for these owners and their lifestyle. There are almost no ideal apartments. There will always be a supporting column in the middle of the room, inconveniently spaced windows, or something else. The task of the designer is to find a compromise, a solution that satisfies the maximum number of requirements. In turn, it is the owners' job to make sure that the proposed layout meets all of their needs and wants.