DaViper

I think I got some good advice here before but wasn't sure if there were better forums to discuss more of the design ideas rather than software use? In any case, I will pitch a couple things. I'm working on our own business building again. We planned to do this years ago but just got too busy. We do many things, but the design here will not change our bottom line at all so I can't go nuts as some architects like to do with a blank check....lol the designed space is minimal as the main shop is where things get done. For the office area, my plan is stained concrete to keep it simple and cheap. 10ft black 2x2 tile ceiling, and LED strip lights if I can finally find a vendor and good specs. I hate Troffer lights! The building will be a wood post frame design, in which I don't want those bare columns in the office. My thought was either clad them with stained wood, or we can do what we do and cap with single, brake bent, pattern sanded Aluminum. I am looking at speed, cost, warmth factor, and appeal to the majority, not just me. Aluminum might look cool, but very industrial. As for the concrete floor, the main entrance and great room will have a conference table, and I'm thinking of ways to break it up or feel less 'concrete'. That space will be about 28x17'. If there is interest in engaging here, I can dig up my chief plan stuff. I have to keep in mind though that I know my reasons for things, which are harder for others to understand. I'm an engineer and I plan on things like wire paths, plumbing, expansion, etc. Probably less on architectural, but I always like the input. My overall goals here are cheap, fast, and merge the lines of modern, warm, and industrial. As only an example, the combination of Pine log with painted/welded steel. Not that I am building a home here, just giving a thought. Sometimes just a couple radii corners make all the difference, and I'm hoping the black ceiling and LED strip lights change the vibe to 'different', quickly, but only to give a memory or impression.

Agree on all points. Was sort of flicking the concept, but one I am liking. One thing I thought of is if I install another door into the shop near that bathroom, that might allow me to ignore any 2nd story improvements for some time as I think any employees could sneak in there without much business side conflict. I am still trying to find a smooth way to break up the entry so you don't actually walk right into the conference area. Thinking pony wall or something. Not sure just yet.

Here is just a really fast update I am thinking on. Sorry for the very poor design work. Just trying to figure out what makes sense.

This is sort of what is in my head, though I have yet to figure out a little kitchen or bathroom area. As for a 2 door entry, I am considering a vestibule. I am open to some partitions in the commons area but the inspection area will already be a bit tight. There is a big machine that goes in there. I realize what I am doing is not really "ideal", but I just can't sacrifice much of the floor space. Much of our business is conducted on the phone and Inet. At the end of the day, my office layout won't make any difference in my bottom line. I can very much see that on an architect side though.

Thanks Jason! I will hop into Chief and trying to lay something out. I probably have a few challenges that are hard to explain such as location of offices, and where I would 'prefer' plumbing fixtures land. But the reality is there will be extremely limited traffic in the office, and I see every inch of it as taking away from the shop area, which is of much more importance. In a typical visit, visitors and I would quickly gravitate towards the shop area.

Thanks. The front door would open into the office area. At least what I am horsing with right now, pretty much right into the conference area. What I am trying to do is minimize the use of hallways which just eat of space. I am also thinking logically on MEP plans as I work this. Trying to mostly keep plumbing fixtures grouped to make my life easier.

Thanks for the questions. We have never really had a need for a receptionist. Our outside traffic in our office maybe 1-2/week. Most of our work is digital in nature. Utility, we can likely put some of that upstairs or in the shop area.

Was hoping I could chat about this with some architects to get some ideas? We are building a new building for our company. I am an engineer, not an architect. In short, I know how to make it work, but not good at 'visualizing' space. Our office space requirement is pretty minimal as most work is done in other parts of the building. I am looking at 2 private offices, with a reasonably sized conference area, where most business with visitors is likely to be conducted. I mention that because it might be 'nice' to have a big office, but it cuts down on other building use space. I was working on this topic last year, as we were looking to renovate a used building, but have decided to just build new. I have to incorporate these items in the design. 1 - 2 private office spaces, thinking 9x10? 2 - a conference area to seat around 6 people, but usually would not exceed 4. 3 - a small kitchenette area that is slightly out of sight from the conference area. The basics here. fridge, micro, sink, a bit of counter space. Might use a mini fridge here. 4 - bathroom, unisex. Small The kicker is consider the building as a "shop with offices", in which I really need another bathroom on the shop side, so 2 bathrooms. Along with another type of break room/kitchen area for workers. Basically it's starting to add up and I'm looking for smart ways to limit space use. the building is 20ft tall but I have not really evaluated any ADA stuff if I did something possibly upstairs as the break room? I guess that space up there is otherwise sort of wasted as the ceiling is targeted to be about 10ft. What I need is to prevent any employee from coming into the office during a meeting to either use the bathroom or warm up lunch. But our employee is count is limited. Usually 4. Anyone willing to engage me on this? Building is 60x100x20. It's not built yet because if we are going to add anything as a second story, I need to plan footings for that for floor loads.

Great points! Though we are not putting this 'on the books' to be ADA compliant, I do want it reasonable. Very, very little office traffic. To be honest, I was in the shop today sort of walking out the space we allocated and my god that is small! I simply don't think it is possible to do 2 offices and still try to have breathing room in the conference area. This space is just temporary until we get in the black in this new space. Basically this is a manufacturing facility so the only time people would come is to evaluate the shop as a new customer. It usually doesn't happen more than once but maybe drop off prints, parts, etc. I guess this is why we are not going big with the office space. We also operate lean so few employees and workers have their own break room, bathroom, etc.

Really appreciate the help and ideas! One of the things I was at least trying to avoid was passing through the kitchen going to the restroom, trying to think of the client I guess. Aside from that, I believe you are correct and I may need to go down that road. Most of our business would be conducted in the conference area anyway, and we just need a couple offices for general work. I put together another idea, but only one large office so far and I really think we should have two. We are on the phone constantly and need the privacy.

I provided a quick pic of my problem. This is an extremely rough draft! Basically we need to build a small office space inside a building. The left door goes outdoor as the front entrance door. The right door goes into the shop. We are pretty much married to the dimensions of this space, which is roughly 13x33ft. Here are some other constraints that are causing issues. 1. Due to the small area, I'm really trying to optimize the floor plan use of space. 2. Would really be idea to get 2 offices in there. Shown is one 3. The half bath and kitchen area really need to stay at that far end due to plumbing access. 4. Need the conference table as shown. Size and such is open. 5. The kitchen area is basic. Just a bar sink, fridge, micro, some cabinets, etc. Where I am torn is I can see that wasted space as a small hallway between the kitchen area and office. I can't really come up with a better idea. I am NOT a designer! So I always have trouble with how much space to allocate. I end up walking into my spaces and try to picture what it will feel like.

Folks, I am finally getting my own project done and now down to the real color and theme questions. I have decided to move towards a white barn theme due to energy savings, and trying to maintain a country feel in this remote building. This will be an all steel siding pole barn, but I need some pop. Walls will be white, roof will be a light shade of gray to mimic galvanized, and I am torn on doors!!!! I like both the real wood med/dark stain look, and the slate/carbon gray wood look. Obviously the lighter brown wood tones pop more, but those gray tones are growing on me. This will be a large commercial type building set into a real ag environment. Building is several hundred feet from the road. Just want something with a little "different" I have decided that black hardware is the right answer here and just trying to hammer down the door color!!! Opinions would be great. I am just an engineer. I don't have the design brain to make this call but I have to.

Here is a pic of what I am dealing with on the dims. A pretty minor issue and I'm sure I could just turn one of the dims off and manually script it but figured there might be a better way. Seems when you invoke the quadrant bearing functions, the dims stay locking in position and not free to move like manual dimension. The issue was found when creating a property line, then the center of road line, so the two lines are 30ft apart.

Guys, I am very close here! I did recreate my survey and all went darn smooth there thanks to a video by dshall. However I am down to only 2 or 3 real issues to figure out. 1. Probably only a minor issue but I guess when you set parameters for quadrant bearings, the dimensions that are produced will not move! Stuck there and I have two dims on top of each other as well as needing additional language on them. Can someone tell me where or how I might adjust this for only 1-2 values? I can probably delete and just create txt to go there but that seems the dumb way around the issue. 2. Probably my biggest issue is again, generating a sort of point table/system, etc that references back to another point. A datum! Since I already know this is a pissy subject with Chief, I created this plan making one of my property pins the XY0 so at least if I can get any sort of coordinate output, it will be right relative to the XY0 point. I was going to export as a DXF to another program that will do this but I have worries about scaling and such and I sure like to keep everything in the same native program. 3. For any final drawing dressups, should this be kicked back to layout or just work the the plan? May seem like a dumb question but was not sure if layout brings something special to the table?

I was just talking with a colleague wondering if there might be a simple way using common file type export to kick some of the plan back to our other CAD software an generate our points cloud there. In part design with 50 holes, it is pretty common to simply establish a datum, then generate a point table with a point number and relative XY values. That is pretty much all I need. Might be interesting to see how this works. Hey, I have another basic question. How can you modify dimension sizes big enough that they are visible on a large land survey? I have been fighting with this. If a line is 1000ft long, the text is micro! Previously I have resorted to a custom letter height for each dimension but there has to be a better solution?