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Ask HN: Where to find open-source house plans?

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Re: Ask HN: Where to find open-source house plans?

#21

Post by zemvpferreira »

Here's the thing: The idea of planning a house without taking into account the site where it will sit will never produce a good house.

Would a pre-existing plan account for the sun exposure of your land? Would it have a roof that makes sense for how much it rains or snows? Would getting sunlight in the bedroom also mean facing traffic? Would it take advantage of elevation for views or make sure to block a nearby neighbour? Would it deal well with moisture, or fires, or access roads? Would you build a porch where you can laze away late summer afternoons and feel everything's just right with the world, or a place to dry laundry where nobody goes?

If you really want to design your own house (a great idea), look up materials around A Pattern Language instead. Learn what makes a great house, then design a plan incorporating those ideas but customised towards your plot and your needs.

Re: Ask HN: Where to find open-source house plans?

#24

Post by PeterisP »

deusebio wrote: post #4

It'd be really cool if people who used a plan could go back and add pull requests for ways they'd enhance the plan after real world use.

This.

There are so many things you notice while living in a particular house which would have been trivial to fix in planning stage, but impractical after it's built.

Re: Ask HN: Where to find open-source house plans?

#25

Post by dfworks »

Planning applications in the UK are publicly available and many have architectural drawings/site plans attached with varying degrees of detail.

There are millions of applications and each local authority has a different database so it may take a bit of digging to find what you are searching for.

Application example - https://publicaccess.tewkesbury.gov.uk/online-applications/a...

Drawings example - https://publicaccess.tewkesbury.gov.uk/online-applications/f...

Re: Ask HN: Where to find open-source house plans?

#26

Post by NKosmatos »

You can find some plans over here: https://www.sweethome3d.com/gallery.jsp

Check also their forum for many member submitted plans: https://www.sweethome3d.com/support/forum/listthreads?forum=...

Did I mention that the free/open source software Sweet Home 3D is great :-) It’s been posted a few times on HN.

Re: Ask HN: Where to find open-source house plans?

#29

Post by wiredfool »

hnbad wrote: post #19
twelvechairs wrote: post #7

Consider: - buying some architectural books. Many (good ones) have plans in them from excellent architects. A sample from a good one is at [0]. If your tastes are not so 'architecture school' there are others. - looking at the development approvals in your local area. Plans are often open to all. And they will (assumedly) be up to code in your area today. Imo the concept of 'open source' doesn't translate to houses a…

> Imo the concept of 'open source' doesn't translate to houses as well because regulation, construction approaches and tastes can be so locally specific and also change over time. I think that's the biggest problem. You can draw up a house in free apps in a couple of minutes or hours but that doesn't mean it's structurally sound or that the walls will have the right dimensions for the pipes and cables that need to ru…

Otoh, if your house was built by a developer, the plans on file may have only a vague relation to the as built.

My first house was a Seattle skinny, garage off the alley. The plans on file were for a garage in front, different upper floor layout, and a different roof shape.

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