A houzz contributor, not too long ago, had made a wine rack out of 4'x4' wooden pallets, that are used in the US to move a load of goods with a fork-lift truck. Perhaps they have them in your country. He cut them in half so they were only two feet deep and stacked them up to high counter height. The wood would be a nice contrast with your concrete, might add a little warmth to the space. cascio.offsite@gmail.com

Interesting seeing designs from another country. Assuming the PUJA is located in the right location and the entrance to your home is the set of double doors adjacent to the car, I have the following comments/suggestions: 1. Regarding the bathroom on the bottom of the picture: a. It appears you have a walkway taking you from the large double doors(gate?) to the bathroom window. Is this correct and is this what you want? b. The room is sufficiently wide to add a bathtub or a shower. Switch the locations of the sink and the toilet, have the toilet turned to face into the room. This would provide easier use. You might also want to consider using a pocket door, will make the room feel more spacious. 2. Regarding the bedroom on the bootom of the picture: In the US we have built in closets but I kow other cultures use stand alone wardrobes. Not knowing what is custom in your country or what your preferences are, I would suggest moving the door over a couple feet and providing a building in closet the full length of the wall. This would allow you to completely customize the room's storage capacility - will it be filled with shoes and clothing or will is have boxes of files, luggage, etc. 3. The drawing room: a. If outsiders are not to use your family space, the orientation of the room will force people to see/walkthru your family lounge. b. If possible, can you shift or resize the drawing room such that it align better with the family lounge? If it can be shifted downward a few feet, you could angle the entry into the kitchen and the view from the family lounge would look better. c. As an alternative, could you reverse the stairs such that the main family lounge area shifts upward? recognize you will likely need to move the bedroom doors and possible reverse the bedroom and bathroom on the lower part of the picture to make sure the doors would work. 4. Kitchen: By US standards this is an average to smaller kitchen. we certainly have smaller ones in condos, apartments, and small homes. That said, I do believe in maximizing capacity and capability. The kitchen traditionally gets a lot of use by the family and has to be able to meet a multitude of needs. I am assuming the plan for the frig is to be located immediately next to the sink - where the empty space is. here are some thoughts: a. Do you need a door for the kitchen? If not, remove, if yes then make it a pocket door. b. Center the window to the OPEN area over the cabinets and align the sink in the center of the window. this will help with symetry. When in the kitchen, typically people spend a lot of time there - prepping, washing, drying, etc. It would give a nicer view than a blank wall or upper cabinets. c. Center the stove - this again helps with symmetry whioch in turn helps with aesthetics. d. Do you have sufficient storage in the house - think of everything that you have and the food products, kitchen items you will need to store. Again, culture differences mandate different needs. In the US we tend to do a bit of bulk shopping and generally have more "stuff" than we need so it is hard to determine what the right level is for you. Make a list of ALL the items you have for the place and assign a space to them on the plan. This is the best time (and least costly) to make changes to construction. 5. Regarding the bedroom on the upper wall - is there a reason the windows are different sizes, why not stick to the same size? 6. Storage room: Is there a way to relocate the "Low Height" restriction at teh entrance? Not sure is this simply means you aren't going to loose a couple inches or if this means a few feet. Big diffeence on how usable that space is. I hope some of these comment are useful. Best of luck with your project!

On your paint problem I can't be much help. This usually happens because of damp -- please get a damp expert to make sure that there isn't any damp lurking in your walls. I had this once when I had pipes leaking inside the walls. I didn't know that. The other alternative is something like painting before the plaster is dry or some kind of chemical mismatch. I do know you will have to scrape all the mucky powdery stuff away and start again, at least on those areas. Don't try to seal and prime and repaint until you know exactly what the problem is and how to fix it.

The amazing thing is that you have the luxury of approaching the architect about these issues. Laminated glass should address the security along with any alarm or security system you plan on installing, though the laminated glass may have size limitations. Regarding the waterproofing you should contact the architect, contactor and waterproofing subcontractor, or see about hiring an independent waterproofing specialist who can detail and warranty the condition. As a design consideration, make the lower area a garden or gallery or sculpture area and upper should be all glass. Maybe a garden roof there too if accessible or visible. In any case looks like an amazing place!!