Thank You to All Patrons! (Patreon)

As a big thank you to all my patrons here are some tips for building modern houses. You are very much appreciated and your generous support is allowing me to keep this community going and spend all my time bringing your ideas to life in Minecraft.  Thanks again and enjoy the post!

  

Light:
When you are starting to build a modern or contemporary house you should think of how to bring plenty of light into your build. A modern house should feel light and spacious inside with plenty of sources of natural light. Sometimes it is difficult to bring light into the middle of your build far from the walls – more tips on that below. Modern houses can also bring heat into the house from the Sun and large windows (often floor to ceiling) play a big part in that. During the Winter when the sun is low large thermal masses like concrete or stone flooring can absorb heat that comes through the windows and let it out slowly during the evening. In the Summer the Sun is higher so less heat can get into the windows so the place does not get so hot but you could consider building some overlap of the roof for the South facing parts of your house as a realistic touch.
To bring light into dark parts of your build you can use skylights – these are fun to build with lots of different options – try to keep them at least one block away from walls. You could also consider using light-wells which are gaps in the normal ground to bring light down into a build at a lower level – especially useful if you have a basement. Light-wells can also offer your property some privacy if you have close neighbours – sinking a bedroom down underground and using a sunken garden or light-well can mean you are more private.

  

Courtyards are really fun to build in Minecraft as you can go crazy with bushes and trees while bringing much needed light to the centre of a build!
Facing your main living area South will bring more light into the build as Minecraft worlds are Northern hemisphere located so the Sun rises in the East and moves across the sky around South on its way to setting in the West. Your build will be lit up more from the South – this is especially evident when you are using the mod Optifine for the PC Java edition of Minecraft as it shows shade and shadows. But, even without such mods a good builder will consider which rooms want to have the morning sun (perhaps kitchen and breakfast areas), the midday sun and afternoon sun is hot and perhaps you need more shade on the parts of your house facing directly south. The lounge or main living areas might benefit from some westerly sun in the evening when most people are home and the house is being enjoyed. Bedrooms may benefit from being cooler and more shaded on the Northern side of a house.

  

So, for planning your build think about light!

· Large windows – floor to ceiling can look great.

· South facing windows – your build could be as much as 40% South windows.

· Use skylights, courtyards and light-wells to bring light to dark areas.

· North facing windows do not need shading but South facing do to avoid overheating in the Summer.

· Rooms which use televisions, or offices which use computer screens, generally do not need a lot of natural light and can be put in the darker parts of the build.

· Think of how to provide shading with overhangs, curtains and blinds and even awnings.

· Use hidden sources of light like Glowstone behind carpet and paintings and under slabs and stairs.