Sketchup

Another Sketchup model, this one taking the gatehouse from one of my previous models. This one's not too bad as far as construction difficulty, mostly straight walls, not too many corners, and a lower pitched roof where it isn't flat. I just threw in the gatehouse because I needed an attractive way to close off the courtyard, but it's unfortunate that the gatehouse is standalone which will limit traffic to it. Overall the building is a little on the large side (5,000 sq.ft. minus garage and gatehouse) without any internal structures such as walls or stairs. Add walls, counters/cabinets and the like and it will be mid- to upper 4,000 sq. ft. The courtyard would hopefully be able to be used for a wedding or event venue if this were to be used as a bed and breakfast type setup. The model in this picture is essentially hollow (no floors, walls, etc...) because the free version of Sketchup only allows 10MB uploads to 3D warehouse I had to remove all excess materials to allow for the extra detail and coloring. As always, this and my other models can be downloaded and played with if you have Sketchup, just please don't claim it as your own or use them unless you give credit.

I'm starting to discover one of the additional difficulties of home design; you can arrange the rooms however you want, but the traffic flow through the building may prevent rooms from being used due to the misfortune of being "out of the way", or more difficult to use i.e. separating the kitchen from the dining room with a hallway, nobody wants to carry dinner plates or pots through the house just to get them to the dining room. Other rooms that are cut off from a functional traffic flow may sit relatively unused and become wasted unpractical space. In old castles that have all of those very interesting architectural details, hallways and rooms, the first practicality was defense, practical arrangment of living space was a second priority. The trouble then for me is to design a building with the castle details and modern practicality. Not so easy!