New Studio build inside warehouse

Hi all. A few months back I posed some questions about design concepts, but the building purchase fell through. Now I have a definite. Background: Current Premises: I'm in Western Australia. I have a studio at home, separate from the house with a 5m by 4 m control room and a 4m by 3.5m record space. Both over 3m high, built with bricks and mortar and gyprock interior. Activities: I mix, master, record and produce recordings for clients, often roots music based. Professional quality - I reckon :) - and full time occupation. Situation I have bought a large portion of a modern tilt-up concrete warehouse so I can move from home and improve my studio facilities. I want to have a well-controlled space for mixing, but be able to work with musicians and play instruments in the control room. I want an iso booth capable of tracking drums, and maybe the option for a second engineer to be tracking while I am mixing in the main control room. The space is diagrammed below: 7m wide, with restriction on using that width due to a few things, and about 17m long. The diagram shows a storage area I have no access to at front, an entrance courtyard with a low ceiling, the staircase up to the mezzanine, the bathroom, and the extent of the mezzanine (concrete so it's not going anywhere). Ceiling is over 7m high, except that the mezz only has a cleance of 2.9m below it. And here's a couple of pics: My planned approach: I want to build double leaf walls of two stud walls with standard double gyprock leafing on the outer faces. Control room at least 3.5m high, live room 4m or more. Anything under the mezzanine will be restricted in height, so I assume booths are best there. Budget is an issue. I have the gear, but of course there is design, building, wiring and airconditioning. I plan on making an effective facility, but will need to only spend the minimum of what is needed to get the function. I am expecting it might fall around the $70K mark? Here is what I've come up with for a floor plan: Questions: (there are many...) At this stage, can I put this out there for you kind folks to comment on layout and overall design? I want to make the best possible use of this limited space. Cheers for now, hope to get some criticism Pete G

Warehouse (Freudian slip?)

Hi all I'm bumping this thing as I just paid for this joint today and I'm away. Some wise words from John via PM but I'm kinda hoping to get some feedback from out there. Any takers? cheers PG

congrats, firstly. are you biting into the "no access" area slightly? I like the design. what industry lives next door? looks like your sharing the wall. Could you change where the bathroom door enters so your not wasting all that space on hallway.

bit like this

Thanks Lilith. Biting into 'no access' yes, but the deal allows for me to have the slight angle if I wish - just need to maintain a fixed area. Good point about the bathroom. I've agonized over this, coz I like the idea of the last room doubling as Control Room B which I may be able to rent out from time to time (or even permanently) for a producer who needs a project room with access back into the larger recording space. To do that I need it to have its own access. However it could be done (only a wash basin to move). Above (on the 2D plan and sharing the wall) neighbour makes no noise, below is a car mechanic (separate complex), but with another tilt-up wall close. I hear nothing from either side. Most challenging issue is the stairwell eating into the narrow building space. If I demolish it, I could try a spiral staircase near the bathroom, and this is my latest layout - I'm getting the control room close to the size I want. Then, in worrying about the impracticaliity of the spiral, perhaps this, with the existing top half of stairs, and a lower section doing a U-turn? Thanks for looking. Pete G

Hoping that someone's looking and may proffer some advice here.... Lilith (Deanne I think) suggested using more space at the rear of the place near the WC, but I'm trying to keep separate access for Booth 2/Control Room B near the WC. My latest revision (below) shows the removal of a section of the WC walls closest to this room, and a new passage with an exit to the WC and also to Booth 2. Means demolishing a bit of the brick wall here, but I think that's do-able. Any comments on this? Secondly, as I mentioned, I like the idea of demolishing the first flight of steps and placing them alongside the second flight (doing a U-turn at the landing OR putting in a spiral staircase. Both these options free up more space for the Control Room and Live Room, getting them closer to a workable area in my view. I'd also hope to get some comments on that if anyone's got any. Finally, as I mentioned earlier, John gave me the concept of a soundlock passage. I've incorporated this, with relevant exit doors to CR and LR but I'm unsure whether to have the aspect of the control room facing up (on the plan) or down. The shape of it (currently forced by the need to have some space at the frontdoor I think) suggests that the speakers should be at the bottom, but for engineers' viewing of the live rooms, facing up would be better. (and it's easier to position a door too) Any feedback out there? Thanks for looking. Pete G