A Greek-styled house in stages

A Greek-styled house in stages
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Dear Jonno
I plan to build my first home, a bachelorette pad, in three phases and would appreciate your help with its design.

Phase 1
A ground floor consisting of a bedroom with a kitchenette, and a separate toilet and bathtub.

Phase 2
A living room, dining room, kitchen, bed-nook and guest shower/toilet.

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Phase 3
An en suite bedroom with a small balcony.

I want to model my home on the simple style of the houses on the Greek Cyclades island group. I’ve included a design for the ground floor, but don’t know how to proceed with the first floor design. I’ve also struggled to fit in a little bed-nook for a guest bed.
I want the living room, dining room and kitchen to be open-plan, separated only by big arches. I intend to have brick built-in seats in the living room and built-in cabinets for the kitchen.

I want to add a second storey as the plot is quite small and I value my gardening space. I’d also like an outdoor living area with a 25m x 2m lap pool. The plot is on a slope and has lovely views all around.

I’ve attached photographs to give you a clearer idea of what I want.
Regards
Bessie

 

Dear Bessie
I am eager to help, especially as this is an uncommon design for a modern-day South African home. Thank you for the sketches and photos showing this Greek style. I’ve improvised with larger windows and other aesthetic features. The furnishings shown are to scale. Building in stages, as you are envisaging, will certainly make it easier financially, but I do suggest that you build the entire footprint of the house to floor slab level.

Doing so will prevent latent settlement of the stage-built sections. This is especially important as the roof will be constructed from heavy concrete slabs. The house faces south-east, which is not the ideal direction for letting in sunshine, but I appreciate that the views take precedence in this case.

Other than that, it is a compact and functional abode.

I’ll wait to hear from you.

Regards
Jonno