Ask HN: Where to find open-source house plans? • Hacker News Board

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

#31

Post by 2rsf » Wed, Aug 23, 2023, 12:20 PM UTC

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…

Your last sentence is super important, having a sketch of a house is far from enough. Googling "construction detail drawings" will bring up endless drawings of all the small, but critical, things you need to take into account.

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

#32

Post by franole » Wed, Aug 23, 2023, 12:20 PM UTC

Here are plans from the argentinian governent.

https://www.argentina.gob.ar/habitat/modelos-de-vivienda

I don' know where are you from, but be advised that construction techniques that we use are mostly brick based with reinforced concrete structure.

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

#33

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Aug 23, 2023, 12:24 PM UTC

zemvpferreira wrote: post #21

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 neig…

[deleted]

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

#34

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Aug 23, 2023, 12:27 PM UTC

[deleted]

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

#35

Post by prawn » Wed, Aug 23, 2023, 12:28 PM UTC

HenryBemis wrote: post #12

May I assume that you want a DB so that you can see similarly sized houses/flats and get ideas on laytouts, balconies, etc? Someone already wrote: ads. Go to your house/flat hunting website of choice, use the appropriate filters (house/flat) floors, sqm/sqft, etc. Usually the photos and the layout are there, and if you put a price range you can also see the cheap ones vs the expensive ones.

Presumably they want detailed drawings that can be taken to a builder and bypass the cost of an architect and draftsperson.

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

#36

Post by fhk » Wed, Aug 23, 2023, 12:30 PM UTC

My plan for this was to learn how to frame…

https://onlinecourses.shelterinstitute.com/courses/free?utm_...

There’s also then a in person course to actually do it!

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

#37

Post by bombcar » Wed, Aug 23, 2023, 12:32 PM UTC

I want the plans for a bog-simple square house with boring peaked roof.

I want it to be designed to minimize cuts and make building simple. I want the roof to be two slabs with no fancy protrusions, angles, gables, etc.

I want something that is easy to build and maintain.

As far as I’ve been able to find out, bardominiums are the closest to what I want.

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

#38

Post by Zezima » Wed, Aug 23, 2023, 12:32 PM UTC

polonbike wrote: post #9

Not completely what you are looking for, but still open source plans of house: Wikihouse https://www.wikihouse.cc/ Earthships are also said to be open source, but the plans are (definitely) not free https://earthshipbiotecture.com/ You can also check Open Source Home, by Studiolada (those are free, but the plans are in french) https://www.countryliving.com/remodeling-renovation/news/g46... Open Source Ecology is now…

Wikihouse is awesome! Thanks for that introduction

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

#39

Post by regularfry » Wed, Aug 23, 2023, 12:34 PM UTC

The example I'm aware of is the Segal Method: https://www.designingbuildings.co.uk/wiki/Segal_Method

It's a modular design system based on the dimensions of commonly-available construction material, intended to be both cheap and easy to construct without (too much) assistance.

The gotcha is that it's based on dimensions of materials commonly available in the 1960's, so I have no idea if something you bought today would fit.

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

#40

Post by 0x53 » Wed, Aug 23, 2023, 12:34 PM UTC

bombcar wrote: post #37

I want the plans for a bog-simple square house with boring peaked roof. I want it to be designed to minimize cuts and make building simple. I want the roof to be two slabs with no fancy protrusions, angles, gables, etc. I want something that is easy to build and maintain. As far as I’ve been able to find out, bardominiums are the closest to what I want.

I have wanted to build something similar for a long time, but I would like it to be a passive house as well. I gave up on ever finding a premade plan. Instead I have been using fusion 360 and sweet home 3d to design it myself.