# Apartment layout — the 1-bed above the garage

How to plan (and keep iterating) the ~480 sf apartment on level 2 of the
20 × 24 ADU. Six worked schemes live here as full sheets (garage level +
apartment level, furnished, annotated):

| sheet | stair | bedroom | living | headline trade |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| **[`option-f-recommended-development`](option-f-recommended-development.png)** | **exterior**, south face from alley | west (alley) | center + east | **REVISION 2:** clear circulation, northwest wet core, peninsula kitchen, explicit garden-room trade |
| [`option-e-primary-design-basis`](option-e-primary-design-basis.png) | **exterior**, south face from alley | west (alley) | center + east | **OWNER-SKETCH BASELINE:** corrected roof-aware kitchen, programmed lower level |
| [`option-a-living-east`](option-a-living-east.png) | interior, north wall | west (alley) | east + south | living gets the yard view; bedroom sits over the garage door |
| [`option-b-bedroom-east`](option-b-bedroom-east.png) | interior, north wall | east (yard) | center + south | quiet bright bedroom; living loses the yard view |
| [`option-c-exterior-stair`](option-c-exterior-stair.png) | **exterior**, east face | west (alley) | east + south | ~46 sf more apartment *and* garage; you arrive outside |
| [`option-d-south-stair-roof-aware`](option-d-south-stair-roof-aware.png) | **exterior**, south face from alley | west (alley) | center + east | direct alley stair; kitchen moves to full-height gable zone; smaller shed required |

Regenerate after editing: `uv run python3 apartment/generate_floorplans.py`
(pure-stdlib Python → SVG; PNGs render via the local headless chromium,
or `rsvg-convert` if present).

## Current design - Option F revision 2

Revision 2 is an owner design study with coordinated drawings and model geometry.
The alternatives are choices for review; the current layout has not been approved
for construction or demonstrated to satisfy finished headroom requirements.

- [Level 1](option-f-level-1.svg): 23 ft clear garage depth, 39 in clear protected
  hall, northwest powder room, mechanical/storage room, 70 sf northeast owner room.
- [Level 2](option-f-level-2.svg): northwest bath with pocket door, direct laundry
  access, L kitchen with peninsula, west-facing sofa and partition-mounted TV.
- Measured routes: 53.6 in west of peninsula, 38.4 in beside sofa to east slider,
  39.6 in between dining chairs and kitchen. These are planning clearances;
  appliance-door envelopes and actual furniture still require verification.
- [Garden-room alternative](option-f-alternative-garden.svg): approximately 121 sf combined
  owner/garden room, trading garage depth from 23 ft to 18 ft. This is an exploratory
  floor plan only; no corresponding CAD model or structural solution is claimed.
- Exterior walls, openings, south stair and connected 4 ft patios retain the same basis.

The shared contract is [`model/option_f_geometry.py`](../model/option_f_geometry.py).
Partitions, exterior openings and furniture feed the floor-plan generator; its
per-floor output also appears in the PDF. Geometry version is
`2026-09-30-option-f-basis-v2`. Project Z: lower slab +0.5 ft, upper subfloor
+9.25 ft, eave +16 ft, ridge +19.833 ft. Roof slope follows those heights
(approximately 4.6:12). A provisional 0.85 ft roof allowance illustrates headroom;
it is not a selected assembly or a compliance determination.

Generate current assets without changing historical A-E outputs:

```sh
uv run python apartment/generate_floorplans.py --option-f
uv run python plan/generate_site_plan.py --option F
uv run python plan/generate_construction_basis_set.py
```

The previous F sheet is retained in [archive/option-f-v1.svg](archive/option-f-v1.svg).
The [concept PDF](../output/pdf/adu-option-f-concept-plan-set.pdf) includes the site,
each revised floor, and the garden alternative. The 11-sheet
[basis PDF](../output/pdf/adu-option-f-construction-engineering-basis.pdf) retains
engineering/code assumptions for professional reconfirmation.

## The fixed constraints (get these in your head first)

The following are inherited working assumptions. Final zoning, code and survey
confirmation remains outside this design revision:

1. **Envelope: 24' E-W × 20' N-S.** With 2×6 exterior walls the interior is
   ~23' × 19' = **437 sf net** (480 sf gross — under the 500 sf R-5 cap, so
   there is no bonus square footage to find; only better arrangements).
2. **The north wall is 5' off the property line.** This meets the working R-5
   setback. Keep the north wall **blank** at concept stage for privacy and a
   simple fire-separation strategy until the architect confirms projections and openings.
   This is a gift, not a problem:
   every apartment needs one blank wall for the stair, bath, kitchen run,
   and closets. Put all of them there and you lose nothing.
3. **Light and view: south + east.** South face looks over the selected low-profile 18 × 6 shed and
   gets all-day sun; east faces your yard and the back of the main house
   (morning sun, and the "who's home" sightline). West = alley, fine for
   secondary windows. So **living spaces want the SE corner**.
4. **The garage door is on the west (alley) face, below.** Whatever room is
   above it hears it. A bedroom there wants a quiet side-mount opener.
5. **≤ 20 ft total height** (R-5 accessory cap) means the upper floor will
   likely have a low-ish plate or some sloped ceiling. Put low-headroom
   zones over things that don't need standing height at the edges: the bed,
   the tub, closets — not the kitchen counter.

   **Roof warning:** A–C are plan studies, not section-verified layouts. Current
   massing uses an E–W ridge with 16' eaves and a 19'-10" ridge, so ceiling height
   falls toward the north and south walls. At the working 9'-3" upper-subfloor
   datum, the roof exterior is only about 6'-9" above the upper floor at
   the eaves before subtracting roof structure and finishes, so a full-height
   refrigerator cannot sit against those walls. Option D responds by moving the tall
   kitchen to the east gable-end wall near the ridge and pulling standing bath
   fixtures into the central high-headroom band. Options E and F adopt the same roof
   logic while preserving the owner's preferred two-level organization. Final floor/roof section still
   controls; changing roof overhang alone does not create interior headroom.

## Owner-sketch baseline — Option E

Option E starts from the [owner's preferred two-level sketch](../images/12-handdrawn-two-level-design-basis.jpg),
not from Option D. It preserves the sketch's core ideas:

- garage left, bathroom north-center, office northeast, sunroom directly below it,
  and an exterior east patio on level 1;
- west bedroom, west bath/laundry, open living room, central TV wall, and balcony on level 2;
- exterior stair beginning at the west alley, rising east along the south wall,
  then wrapping around the southeast corner in a 3'-6"-wide open connection to
  an upper east patio stacked directly above the level-1 patio;
- a 16' × 4' covered level-1 south patio below the raised landing after the stair
  flight, connecting around the southeast corner to the east patio;
- sliding-glass apartment entrance from that upper east patio.

One deliberate correction: kitchen is no longer a tall cabinet run under the sloping north eave.
Refrigerator and pantry move to the full-height east gable wall; sink and range move to an island
beneath the E–W ridge. This is a design basis, not a construction plan. Architect must verify roof
section/headroom, structure, egress, stair geometry, plumbing, fire separation, and whether enclosed
level-1 office/sunroom area changes zoning treatment or the 500 sf ADU living-area calculation.
The sketch's room proportions also leave only about 13'-6" of clear garage depth inside the current
20 × 24 footprint; architect must rebalance garage/sunroom widths or enlarge/reorient the footprint
to fit a typical 16' vehicle.

## The three decisions that ARE the layout

Iterating a plan this small is really just re-answering three questions.

**Decision 1 — stair inside or outside?** This is the big one: a straight
interior stair costs ~46 sf on *each* floor (a 3'×13' slot plus landing).
Inside (A/B): one weather-tight entry, feels like a house, easier
aging-in-place; costs you a chunk of the garage and the apartment.
Outside (C/D/E/F): the apartment keeps all 437 sf; C leaves the garage open,
while D/E/F place the stair on the south face and E/F program the lower level.
Exterior access means you carry groceries up in the rain, and the stair adds
bulk to the yard facade. If inside, the stair goes on the north wall,
full stop — it's the only room-sized thing that never needs a window.

**Decision 2 — where's the wet core?** Bath + laundry + kitchen want to
share plumbing drops, and the drops land in the garage (easy to box out —
another reason this is cheap to get right). A–C stack one **NW bath
(6'-4" × 5'-8" with shower + stacked W/D)** over a garage mech/workbench
corner. D/E explored fixture placement toward the ridge. Revised F locates the bath
northwest, above the lower powder room, and gives laundry direct circulation access.
Its peninsula replaces the island. Fixture headroom remains an explicit section hold.

**Decision 3 — bedroom west or east?** Whoever gets east gets the morning
sun and the yard; the other room gets the alley side. A gives the yard to
the sofa and dining table (where you spend waking hours — the conventional
answer). B gives it to the bed (quieter, not over the garage door, and the
wardrobe band buffers stair noise — the better answer if you're
noise-sensitive or a morning person). There is no free lunch; pick whose
daylight matters more.

## Sanity numbers to check every iteration against

- Bedroom: ≥ 70 sf, no dimension under 7' (IRC R304); needs an egress
  window (≥ 5.7 sf clear opening, R310) — fine on the west or south.
- Queen bed = 5'-0" × 6'-8"; want ~2' walkway on each open side. A 9'-8"
  wide bedroom holds a queen + nightstands with room to spare.
- Stair: 3'-0" wide min; Virginia allows 8¼" risers / 9" treads, so the
  8'-9" rise from the +0.5 ft lower slab to the +9.25 ft upper floor
  uses 14 risers at 7.5 in and 13 treads at about 10.15 in plus the landing.
- Kitchen: 36" aisle min (42" nicer); a 10' run + short return comfortably
  holds fridge / sink / range / dishwasher.
- Bath: 36" × 36" shower, 30" width at the toilet, ~22" clear in front of
  the vanity. The 36 sf bath here is tight-but-normal ADU scale.
- Ceilings: habitable rooms want 7'-0"+ (sloped-ceiling allowances exist,
  R305) — this is where the 20 ft height cap bites; resolve it with the
  architect early.

*(Code cites are Virginia Residential Code / IRC as research pointers, not
legal advice — confirm with Richmond building review.)*

## How to iterate

1. Look at a sheet and argue with it ("dining should be by the south
   window", "swap the sofa and table"). For Option F, change shared walls, openings and furniture in
   `model/option_f_geometry.py`; drawing symbols live in `generate_floorplans.py` —
   coordinates are in feet from the SW corner, X east, Y north.
2. Edit, re-run, re-look. The furniture is the test: if the queen bed,
   sofa, and a 4-seat table don't fit with walkways, the scheme fails no
   matter how nice the diagram looks.
3. For current coordination, use the Option F sheet plus
   `plan/site-plan-option-f.dxf` and the construction/engineering basis set.
   Historical studies can still frame trade-offs, but they do not govern the handoff.

Open questions to resolve next: floor-to-floor height vs the 20 ft cap
(drives stair length and ceiling slopes); mini-split head locations;
whether the flex/office corner of the garage gets conditioned from day one.