Selecting an ideal house is always a major decision in Life. Few aspects what people see and which are of course important are Locality, in which you select to live, Amenities, Children’s play areas & facilities like Parking, convenient shops nearby, or availability of public transport systems etc. People who believe will look deeply into ‘Vastushastra’ or any of the spiritual science pertaining to their own castes or sects. Principles of Directionality, giving the location of Rooms according to Vastushastra can give you Health & Wealth as per your belief, but there is very Big Question you should ask yourself:
Does your Home , (the apartment according to its plan) suit your Needs & lifestyle?
In reality the Apartments in India are designed & developed as ‘Salable Commodity’ by the developer. Thus the maximum available FSI (Floor space Index – A legal term giving the maximum amount of Built area you can build on a given area of plot) is consumed to fit in as many number of apartments as possible. Even though certain principles of Vastushastra like East West entrance may be followed, in larger projects there may be huge number of flat which may not be ‘Vastu compliant’. Also while planning Apartments are stacked together to save a lot of Cost price , for e.g- saving on shuttering used for slab casting or the length of drainage piping etc as the Developer has already invested huge funds in buying the expensive land ,where he goes on to build the scheme. The design of all flats has to be same to achieve an economy & speed of construction. Hence in reality only few variations are made & it is up to you & your family to adjust in the purchased apartment.
Instead of running from project to project or from agent to agent , if we can judge the Apartment based upon its plan (available in brochures) we can very well shortlist few houses & select one of them.
Hence, all we need to look at “What are the few common patterns of apartment designs generally available” & chose one of them in which you can stay as per your lifestyle after making minor modifications if required.
Given below are few types along with their Diagrams which represent their planning patterns.
One Bedroom Hall Kitchen house – 1 BHK flat
a) Generally Designed as a compact unit with an area somewhere between 450 -600 sq ft.
b) A General Design diagram is as given along. It will have a sequential layout of rooms placed along one another –Living – Kitchen Dinning– Bedroom. Space for a small dinning table may be available in the Kitchen. Room sizes may vary but in general you will have Living room as the largest, Bedroom without an attached toilet, & then the smaller Kitchen
c) Toilets will be generally divided into separate WC & Bath area. In some smaller size flats this division is not made & there is a common toilet with a small lobby. Wash basin is generally placed in the toilet lobby.
d) It may have a single Terrace or a balcony of around 35 -50 sq ft accessed either from Living room or from Bedroom. You can decide which to take but remember one thing, that very rarely 1BHK flats have a Dry Balcony, so ultimately your clothes line or even a washing machine will be seen on this terrace
The biggest challenge in owning a 1BHK flat is that, how can you make the maximum use of the small area available & accommodate maximum facilities according to your needs of a Growing family. Another challenge is figuring out how the various rooms can change functions as per their requirement , like many a time, the Living room will have to function as a Bedroom in the night if the family is large or if guests come to stay.
2BHK TYPE A: 850 to 1200 sq ft area
a) This is the most common type of plan, where rooms are sequentially arranged. So you enter in the Living room which should be large to accommodate a sofa set, TV unit & may be an Indian sitting area. Living may or may not have an entrance lobby, though it is great if you have a lobby as it ads into more privacy. Then you access the kitchen. From kitchen you can access the bedroom areas , toilet & dry balcony.
b) This kind of layout is beneficial for people who like to have a certain privacy for Kitchen, Dining & Bedroom areas.
c) There is also a possibility of having an open kitchen by making low height walls or by dividing using a pantry serving counter. Many times kitchen comes with an L shape kitchen plat form or two parallel platforms. An area for Fridge should be clearly defined so as to make the minimum movement triangle between Fridge, Sink & Cooking flame .
d) There are usually two toilets. A set of WC & Batch (sometimes as common toilet) with a lobby & one attached to the Master bedroom
e) Master bedroom is usually larger to accommodate, a large wardrobe, Bed, Bedside table, Study table & may be a blank wall to have a Television. The other Bedroom can be planned as Kid’s bedroom
f) The terrace is attached to Living room or Bedroom and can be well maintained as washing clothes & drying can go in the Dry balcony.
This kind of layout is Best for a Family of four with two kids and because there is a Designated space for each activity, the Interiors can be planned with furniture elements which are rather ‘Stable’ & with a Designer brand & Character to suit your lifestyle.
There is a variant which come as 2.5 BHK, where an additional room of minimum size (10’ x 10’) is added which can double up as a Study or Puja room or which can be merged with Kitchen is placed alongside.
2BHK Type B: With Non -Sequential Room arrangement
a) In this kind of a planning pattern , you will have the Kitchen right at the Entrance of the Apartment & may be accessible from outside or soon as you enter. Thus you can enter the kitchen without disturbing the activity in Living room
b) In this case dining area may be integrated with the Living room or may be separately provided
c) Bedroom area with two bedrooms will be similar to Type 1
This kind of layout will be useful to people who would like to have a Kitchen area approachable from outside especially where you have Maids or Domestic help to work separately in Kitchen without disturbing your life in Living area & Bedrooms.
3BHK Type A: 1000 sq ft to 1700 sq ft area with Sequential Room arrangement
a) Sequential arrangement of Rooms starting from Living to Kitchen dining then three bedrooms.Living is a large room similar to the living in any 2 BHK apartment , where one can accommodate range of sitting arrangements. It may have a separate Dining area attached to either living room or kitchen .
b) Usually two bedrooms will have an attached toilet. One bedroom will function as Parents bedroom, the other two being children’s bedroom & master bedroom
c) It may not have a separate set of Bath & WC . It will be replaced by a common toilet with a lobby.
d) Rest all facilities like kitchen , dry balcony etc will be similar to a 2BHK apartment.
e) There may be two terraces, one large & one small.
A traditional type of 3BHK apartment, will be very useful for a large family with parents, two kids & grandparents living in the same home. Or separate rooms can be given to kids Though the investment in terms of total price may be high as area is more, it is worthwhile to buy a 3BHK apartment when you family size is bound to be large.
3 BHK Type B: With Additional Bedroom arrangement
a) This type of 3BHK apartment will be actually a sequential 2BHK flat but with an additional Bedroom added along with an attached toilet
b) A characteristic of this type of room arrangement is that the 3rd room is right after you enter the house or directly accessible from outside.
This kind of apartment is best buy for people who envisage a ‘Work from home’ office or a segregated study area or have frequent guests coming who need to be occasionally accommodated.
With a large 3BHK apartment, a Duplex or a 3.5 BHK variant may also be available,though they may have their advantages & Disadvantages.
- Hrishikesh
