Rant about unit design...

Apartment design is one of my pet whinging topics. It just gets me so AAAAANGRY when I see such poorly designed unlivable dwellings! Don't bring this up when I'm feeling a bit passionate and have had beer or two, as I probably won't shut up. No doubt designed by someone who never lives in an apartment, built by someone who never lives in an apartment, sold by someone who never lives in an apartment, and owned by someone who either never lives in an apartment, or lives in it for 6 months before moving back in with Mum and Dad once the 1st home owner's grant can be claimed. I know everyone involved is trying to eke out the biggest profit possible, but there has to be some point where places with solid walls that can actually be lived in get built and are affordable for people to buy.

I am just astounded at how badly places are designed. Bear in mind that for a 2 bedroom unit, many tennants will either be 2 housemates sharing, or parents with a kid, or a couple with the spare room as a guest room/study. For this to be liveable, the living area needs to be big enough for a dining table, lounge area. If the 2nd bedroom is occupied, the living area needs to be also big enough. Don't even get me started obout the lack of 3br units around. So here are my issues with just about every unit that I've seen that has been built in the past 10 years:

- No laundry cupboard. When I looked at one apartment to rent a few years back, I mentioned that there wouldn't be anywhere to put a vacuum cleaner. "Wardrobe?" was Real Estate agents' reply. "Well that would be full of our clothes, as it would barely fit 2 people's clothes," I said, thinking out loud. "Well," said RE Agent, showing how out of touch with reality she was, "most people have cleaners these days!". (Der - you still need a vacuum cleaner). Aside from the vacuum cleaner, you need somewhere to put a laundry basket, clothes airer, and those of us who iron (not me if possible!) need somewhere to put an ironing board and iron.

- No linen cupboard. Every household has sheets, towels, blankets, and often medicines, odds and ends, tablecloths. Therefore, why isn't it standard to have a general use cupboard built into the living area??

- Bedrooms too small or badly shaped. We have one massive bedroom but it can only be laid out one way. We could perhaps fit more stuff in our bedroom if we had a double bed instead of a queen, but we don't, and neither do many couples. The main bedroom has an ensuite (which we could easily do without - a pointless luxury as far as we're concerned), yet the 2nd bedroom is so puny it would barely have room for a single bed, a wardrobe and a chest of drawers.

- Bathrooms from mars. Apparently the plumbing in our main bathroom/laundry has an experimental plumbing set-up unknown to any trained or accredited plumber, which leaked into the kitchen below us. That's all fixed now, and the problem was all down to shoddy workmanship apparently. However, it's great to have a bath, enough room to air clothes inside on a tiled floor, and a place for a washing machine, as many units don't. In addition, check out this picture:


Our washing machine is medium sized, and is in the only place it can be - under the washing machine taps. Now look at the toilet. My not terribly large bum presses up against our washing machine every time I sit on it. And I often wonder why the toilet roll dispenser (which I might also add is cheap and frequently falls off the wall) needs so much room??






- small living room spaces with not enough walls to put your furniture along. Most furniture and audio visual equipment needs to go against a wall. Our living area isn't bad in this respect, as we can separate it into living, dining and computing. Many other places I've seen are small rectangles. When they are open for inspection, they only have the bare minimum furniture on display, to make it look roomier than it is.

- Common/outdoor areas that are useable. No echo-ey outdoor areas where people are tempted to drink late and keep everyone else awake. Our common area is not used as much as it could be as it's bright, tiled, unshaded, and half the units look down off their balconies onto you. Not very relaxing. Oh and it'd be wonderful to put my compostable waste somewhere other than the garbage bin...

- Somewhere to hang your washing outside where it won't get stolen. Some councils in Sydney have the most ridiculous and environmentally unfriendly LAW that if someone complains about your washing/bedding being aired from outside the building, you can get a warning, and a fine if you do it again. And the unit comes with a energy inefficient clothes dryer that you are supposed to use instead.

- No stairway option. Lifts are necessary in multistory apartment buildings for prams and wheelchairs. But able-bodied people should also have an option to use stairs. That's right, some of us like using our legs!! We have a fire escape that we can use to leave the building, but not to enter.