My attempt to design a "tasteful" Mega Mansion (bigpics)

[Scrib]

If you want total crazy though, the following is actually a slightly serious project though it has no mad buyer.
Streets of Monaco superyacht.

If a yacht costs a billion to make how much would it cost in upkeep? I'm pretty sure that it would pretty much fuck anyone actually capable of building it in the first place.

[Sea Skimmer]

It'd depend on how much you were underway, how often you actually tie up to dock (not bloody often is likely, saving immense amounts of money) and how many staff you actually had, a serious amount of the ship could be cleaned by robots if you designed it for that for example, this is already done on some of the newest cruise liners. It might be in the range of 50-75 million dollars a year for a pretty high end estimate. If you have a billion dollars to blow on a ship, put away another 1 billion for upkeep and you can play with it for thirteen years by which time it may well need a deep overhaul and be sold off to someone else. If the cost was half that you get 26 years, which is certainly going to be the useful life of the ship. That is a problem with the concept, while a property on land might be fairly stable in value a ship will loose value over time no matter what you do to maintain it. But money is meant to be enjoyed.

[Crossroads Inc.]

OK, so my 'Friend' found a new challenge for me...
Not so sure I should accept this time, so I decided to post the 'Before' shots first as well as my thoughts on the House.
This thing is in truth even BIGGER then the one before. Almost 30,000 square feet.




After discussing things, the two of us came to the following agreement about the layout.

Despite two huge 'Kitchens' on the ground floor, there appears to be no Walk in Pantry. Putting food just in huge cupboards I don't think would cut it. (unless the 'Servery' room is a pantry of some sort, but why have an extra hallway going from kitchen to dinning room?) Also in the 'Family' Kitchen there appears to be a bathroom right inside. I don't know about you, but I am not sure I want to hear a 'Flush' if I am right in the middle of cooking dinner. You would think it could be located elsewhere. Also both on the ground floor and others, there seems to be no 'Laundry Room'. Lots of rooms are labeled, but none just for laundry.

A note on the entrance. To the left there is a 'Cloak room' which is fine, if you have a lot of guests its good to have a place to hang up coats, especially during winter. But Why is there a bathroom through the cloak room? There is already a small bathroom to the right of the entrance. If anything that second bathroom should be 'flipped' to connect to the Library. Also a note on the Library, it has ONE tiny entrance that is through that bazaar circular ante-room. How hard would it have been to add doors like on the other side that go into the ‘Drawing room’ ?

Another problem is the Central staircase. Usually the central stair case is directly in front of the main entrance, so people come in and go 'Oo Ah!' and such, here, it is off to the side of the house. You almost wonder if it was originally supposed to be in the middle, but the someone decided to "Flip" the plans around or something.

A note on the second floor, the master bedroom is a MESS. You have this huge massive space, and a small tiny bathroom? The closet is also on the other end of the bedroom and bigger then the bathroom itself. The rest of the floor is a mess, you have huge bedrooms and you have to squeeze through tiny hallways to get inside most of them.

Those were the main things the two of us discussed, I am sure there are more issues. Curious what others think.

[Scrib]

It'd depend on how much you were underway, how often you actually tie up to dock (not bloody often is likely, saving immense amounts of money) and how many staff you actually had, a serious amount of the ship could be cleaned by robots if you designed it for that for example, this is already done on some of the newest cruise liners. It might be in the range of 50-75 million dollars a year for a pretty high end estimate. If you have a billion dollars to blow on a ship, put away another 1 billion for upkeep and you can play with it for thirteen years by which time it may well need a deep overhaul and be sold off to someone else. If the cost was half that you get 26 years, which is certainly going to be the useful life of the ship. That is a problem with the concept, while a property on land might be fairly stable in value a ship will loose value over time no matter what you do to maintain it. But money is meant to be enjoyed.

Hm, that's less than I expected. I was thinking 1 billion ->10 years. Well, if you're Abramovich or some other tycoon that might seem acceptable I guess. *shrugs*

It is sad that there are super rich out that wish to live like the super rich of old, without really knowing just WHY the old super rich lived they way they did.

Why did they live the way they did then? Not trying to be sarcastic or obtuse but I've always assumed that they did because they could.

[Grumman]

It is sad that there are super rich out that wish to live like the super rich of old, without really knowing just WHY the old super rich lived they way they did.

Why did they live the way they did then? Not trying to be sarcastic or obtuse but I've always assumed that they did because they could.

I imagine that the increased speed of transportation makes such an "all in one" approach less necessary. You're far more likely to have good hotels and restaurants in your sphere of influence, especially if you're rich enough that flying is a practical option.

[Crossroads Inc.]

Exactly Grumman!

Many "Super Mansions" of old were so large because many rich people wanted all the comforts of the world at their finger tips. Sure they had the money to travel, but at the turn of the century it took weeks to go on a world cruise.
And of course there are the parties. Back then if you wanted to make 'Business connections' the only way to do so was to invite over 50 to 100 other rich people and hope to get along with them. For that you needed vast ballrooms, extra kitchen, hotel like houses to hold so many extra guests.
These days we have the internet...
At its core, a house should be a place to live. Most of the bluster and hugeness was done to impress others. But those were specfic examples. There are a great deal of "Super Rich" of the turn of the century who lived in quite small and rather modest homes.

[PeZook]

Plus, when someone came over to visit, it was unlikely he'd stay for a few hours and then leave: staying as a guest for months wasn't uncommon, because travel took a really long time. Then, if we go far enough into the past, you had the fact that a manor was often an administrative center of your estate as well as a house, thus it needed all the facilities to allow it to function as such: stables to provide transportation, an office, quarters for the middle managers (who were sometimes noblemen themselves!) etc.

[Scrib]

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense, thanks for explaining. Funny, you'd think that some of those things would occur to me given that I've been watching Downton Abbey all week. But in my defense they were going with the old "job creators" argument.

[Sea Skimmer]

Plus, when someone came over to visit, it was unlikely he'd stay for a few hours and then leave: staying as a guest for months wasn't uncommon, because travel took a really long time. Then, if we go far enough into the past, you had the fact that a manor was often an administrative center of your estate as well as a house, thus it needed all the facilities to allow it to function as such: stables to provide transportation, an office, quarters for the middle managers (who were sometimes noblemen themselves!) etc.

Yeah the classic estate manor really was just a small castle in concept that progressively evolved to have less and less fortification value. Into the early 19th century 'tower houses' were still being built in certain parts of the European world, more or less a castle down scaled to be only a keep. I believe they lasted the longest, in terms of new construction, in Scotland. Once all pretext of fortification went away the structures could become larger and larger without excessive increase in cost.

[fgalkin]

Despite two huge 'Kitchens' on the ground floor, there appears to be no Walk in Pantry. Putting food just in huge cupboards I don't think would cut it. (unless the 'Servery' room is a pantry of some sort, but why have an extra hallway going from kitchen to dinning room?)

You know those long tables with food caterers bring? A servery basically has that set up permanently. If you had a banquet there, people would go up there for the food, then walk back out into the hall. As for pantry? Have you seen the size of that kitchen? What's wrong with storing things in a giant cupboard? Plus, how much preserved food are you expecting to store, exactly?

Also in the 'Family' Kitchen there appears to be a bathroom right inside. I don't know about you, but I am not sure I want to hear a 'Flush' if I am right in the middle of cooking dinner.

Less focus on the kitchen, more focus on the breakfast room. It's basically a room for the family to eat in private, and for the owners to cook if they want it. Bathroom is for washing of hands, and perhaps a quick bathroom break. No different than running to the bathroom in you own apartment, I am sure.

You would think it could be located elsewhere. Also both on the ground floor and others, there seems to be no 'Laundry Room'. Lots of rooms are labeled, but none just for laundry.

True. Maybe in the service wing/basement?

A note on the entrance. To the left there is a 'Cloak room' which is fine, if you have a lot of guests its good to have a place to hang up coats, especially during winter. But Why is there a bathroom through the cloak room?

...for the staff member who has to spend hours in that tiny room? Seriously, have you given this any thought at all?

There is already a small bathroom to the right of the entrance.

That one is for the guests.

If anything that second bathroom should be 'flipped' to connect to the Library. Also a note on the Library, it has ONE tiny entrance that is through that bazaar circular ante-room. How hard would it have been to add doors like on the other side that go into the ‘Drawing room’ ?

Very hard. Because cases and cases of books. Also, a bazaar anteroom? Huh?

Another problem is the Central staircase. Usually the central stair case is directly in front of the main entrance, so people come in and go 'Oo Ah!' and such, here, it is off to the side of the house. You almost wonder if it was originally supposed to be in the middle, but the someone decided to "Flip" the plans around or something.

This is true.

A note on the second floor, the master bedroom is a MESS. You have this huge massive space, and a small tiny bathroom? The closet is also on the other end of the bedroom and bigger then the bathroom itself. The rest of the floor is a mess, you have huge bedrooms and you have to squeeze through tiny hallways to get inside most of them.

....what are you smoking? That bathroom is ENORMOUS. Large enough for a massive jacuzzi. I mean, look at it. It's the size of TWO full-sized bathrooms on the left put together. Also, dressing room =/= closet. Also, "tiny" hallways? You have no sense of scale, my friend. Those are your standard apartment hallway. It's the rooms that are oversized.

Those were the main things the two of us discussed, I am sure there are more issues. Curious what others think.

Most of your issues are not really problems.

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

[Crossroads Inc.]

Plus, when someone came over to visit, it was unlikely he'd stay for a few hours and then leave: staying as a guest for months wasn't uncommon, because travel took a really long time. Then, if we go far enough into the past, you had the fact that a manor was often an administrative center of your estate as well as a house, thus it needed all the facilities to allow it to function as such: stables to provide transportation, an office, quarters for the middle managers (who were sometimes noblemen themselves!) etc.

Yeah the classic estate manor really was just a small castle in concept that progressively evolved to have less and less fortification value. Into the early 19th century 'tower houses' were still being built in certain parts of the European world, more or less a castle down scaled to be only a keep. I believe they lasted the longest, in terms of new construction, in Scotland. Once all pretext of fortification went away the structures could become larger and larger without excessive increase in cost.

I recently found a blog online that has the floorplans of a great deal of mansions from the turn of the century and the 'Gilded Age'
One of the most memorable I have found so far are floorplans of the Vanderbilt's New York city 'Mega Mansion' the biggest residence at the time in the whole city. The basement and attic levels are missing, but those were mostly used for storage and servants... Of the three I found, you can really see just how the 'house' was set up as equal parts Office space and Hotel space. The third floor for instance is almost entirely made up of guest rooms.

Vanderbilt Mansion 1st Floor


Vanderbilt Mansion 2nd Floor


Vanderbilt Mansion 3rd Floor


To Fgalkin, I have to laugh.. almost all the comments you agreed with were ones she made, and all the ones you disagreed with were ones I mad
Maybe I just don't have as good as eye for such things as I thought

[Crossroads Inc.]

RISE FROM THE GRAVE!
Yes it is a necro, but it is bumping with content...

After my first (and not very successful) attempt to make a "bad" modern floorplan more appealing, I recently decided to take a historical mansion, mainly the floor plans of "Bishops Palace" in Galveston, and to try and "modernize" them.

Bishops Palace is a mansion that I'd fallen in love with since a kid, and just recently discovered the the original floor plans. (you can see them HERE along with many other photos of the mansion).
While a work of art from a historic stand point, the mansion suffers from many "issues" when compared to modern megamansions.
Few if any closet space in the bedrooms.
Few private bathrooms (most are shared)
Only one very tiny stair case to get to the basement and 3rd floors.
Basement area cramped and almost totally unfinished (was mostly concrete slabs)
No elevator.

With these things in mind, I decided to try and "modernize it. Also... I have revamped it with a specific goal in mind, of creating a "Upscale Bed And Breakfast". Most floor plans I draw or edit are done for fun, or as a challenge, and are places I'd never ever wish to live in. This one I decided to do differently.
It's always been a bit of a fantasy of mine to run a Bed and Breakfast out of some historic mansion. So, I decided to use the opportunity to design my ideal setting. As such, I've tried to maximize bedrooms for guests, as well as expanding space for amenities, entertainment rooms and extra office space guests might need.
Also I've added a "live in" guest room for extra onsite staff to supplement any temporary staff such a place would need.

So, without further adieu, I give you "The Crossroads Inc"

OUTSIDE VIEW


BASEMENT


FIRST FLOOR


SECOND FLOOR


THIRD FLOOR


FORTH FLOOR/ATTIC


CROSS SECTION