Please help me design my darkroom

[martinobanana]

Hi,
I've found a space for my dedicated darkroom, the rent is cheap and I'm so happy about it. I spent last 2 weeks drawing and designing it, but in the end I still have nothing. Please help me out with designing one. Here's the layout, the measures are in centimeters, each square is 10 cm.

I want one part of the window to be able to be fully opened for light, the second part can stay closed. I don't care if it's the right or the left one. The box on the upper right is a water heater, it's hanging on the wall roughly 1 meter from the floor.

I need to fit following:
4 trays for 50x60 cm prints (20x24 inch)
one enlarger for 6x7 (I have durst modular 70)
nova print wash
jobo film dryer (mistral 3)
Sink 120x70cm (I have one already)
place to dry the prints (previously I've used big sheets of glass and taped the prints to it to dry)
storage for everything.

Would be nice:
a desk for retouching

And...
a chair to sit and relax + bookshelf
something to put my B&W zeppelin speaker on

Thanks for anybody sharing their ideas, feel free to download the pictures and anotate them.

 

[grahamp]

A single entrance door by the small corner sink? And double windows? Or interior windows, balcony, and shutters?

I'd put the sink on the short wall adjacent to the actual corner sink. That gives you water and drainage where you need it without crossing the doorway.

The enlarger can go on the wall by the water heater, and everything else where there is space. You want to minimise walking between common pairs of items - enlarger to sink to enlarger.

Mesh racks for drying prints work well. I used to stack mine on a rack above the sink.

 

[martinobanana]

it's a shop window / window display. the outer windows cannot be opened actually but I didn't find a way to draw it in the software. Yes, the sink on the short wall makes sense

 

[snusmumriken]

The only thing I can really offer is to recommend that you try to make one side 'dry' (books, negatives, enlarger, dried prints) and the other side 'wet' (trays). It makes life so much easier. In my case, I had to put the sink across one end between the two, with the door at the opposite end.

It isn't essential to do your retouching in the darkroom, but if you really want to, in front of the window would be the best place.

 

[grahamp]

Is the water heater gas or electric? If gas, ventilation is critical. Some sort of ventilation is desirable, of course.

 

[martinobanana]

The water heater is electric, so this shouldn't be an issue. The ventilation would be nice but it's impossible, so I'll just open the door once in a while..

 

[koraks]

need to fit following:

You already know what you want, so make a mockup where you position stuff into that space and see how/where it fits. Some thoughts:

4 trays for 50x60 cm prints (20x24 inch)

Sink 120x70cm (I have one already)

That'll take up a lot of space; the only way I can see this working would be to have the sink in the bottom right where there's presently already a small sink drawn in. Then arrange the trays on a 'wet' worktop along the top right corner. You'll end up with a corner that's slightly difficult to reach into, so maybe try to make the worktop along the top wall not too wide so you can still actually reach into the corner.

You could make a cover that sits over part of the sink area that you can put large trays on when needed. This may save you some space. Or maybe just ditch the long sink and replace it with a worktop with a single, smaller sink. Since you appear to work with trays for the most part, a large sink is not really a necessity. YMMV and it's a matter of preference.

one enlarger for 6x7 (I have durst modular 70)

The obvious place IMO would be left of the door when you come into the room. You could have a small/narrow worktop that extends from the enlarger space into the lower left corner.

nova print wash

Put it in the sink or on top of it if you make a cover for it; see above. When not in use it can sit on a shelf above or below the sink area.

jobo film dryer (mistral 3)

I'd consider replacing that with a DIY construction in the upper left 30cm 'pocket' you've got above the shop window space. that's kind of an odd pocket, but you could fairly easily close it off with a door etc. leaving a small space that would be just right for drying film in. Put a fan at the top with a vent, and a vent with a HEPA filter at the bottom. Let the fan pull air through the space. Raise the bottom vent some distance off of the ground so it pulls in a little less dust to begin with.
If you want to keep using the mistral, I'd store it away folded up and only take it out when needed.

place to dry the prints (previously I've used big sheets of glass and taped the prints to it to dry)

Maybe the shop window area? If you use glass plates, you can just set them on a counter and come back when they're dry. This works OK for me since I generally tape them up at the end of a session and by the time I come back to the darkroom, they'll be dry.

storage for everything.

Shelves above the worktops, maybe a narrow shelf or a cabinet here and there below the worktops, you can get creative with the 30cm 'pockets' next to the shop window area, etc.

a desk for retouching

I'd make a dry workspace along the wall at the top running 2/3 of the length or so, with a little space to the left of it so you can still get into that 'pocket' there. the workspace can be multi-functional; with a high stool, you can use it as a retouching station, and/or use it when standing upright for all those little chores & odds & ends. I'd not put a dedicated desk in there as it'll take up space that's difficult to use in a multi-functional way. Unless you do a lot with digital too and you need a proper workstation for that.

a chair to sit and relax + bookshelf

Bookshelf can go over the dry workspace. The speaker thing can go there as well. Can you effectively tape off all the LEDs and whatnot?
I'd put the chair by the window.
You could allow the shopwindow space to remain a light space, darkening the inner doors. IDK how feasible that is; you'll have to decide on the spot how to manage that. Also for judging prints/toning it's nice to have easy access to daylight.

You may want to think about illumination as well. Ironically, can never have too much light in a darkroom.

 

[bernard_L]

4 trays for 50x60 cm prints (20x24 inch)

That claims a lot of real estate. The sink size that you quote can accommodate just two of these trays. Will printing at this size be a regular activity, or do you just want to "preserve the possibility"? If the latter, remember that such large sizes can be processed in one tray, pouring solutions in and out.

 

[martinobanana]

@koraks, thanks a lot, that's a very comprehensive answer. I'll try to draw it into the sketch and see how it goes.

@bernard_L Since now I've printed digitally 50x50, so the trays are kind of necessary. Actually the sink is from the lab where they printed 50x60, and they had 2 of those sinks. I've only got one from them so that's the reason.

Let's pause this thread before I implement the ideas. thx.

 

[Ian Grant]

Think about the space needed for the major items, and also the height requirements for maximum enlarger height, I needed around 2.5m. so the De Vere 5108 sits in the apex of the pitched roof. You may need to think about bench height or using a drop bench.

This was the final bench & sink layout, although the smaller enlargers were either repositioned or not used. The bench in front of the door now has two PC screens and a small PC. There are bookshelves on the spare wall space on the right. There's a scanner by the window.

In terms of wet bench space, although I have 4m including the sink there's plenty of room for large trays as one can sit in the sink. I found it very useful playing with various layout options before making my final decisions,

Ian

 

[snusmumriken]

In terms of wet bench space, although I have 4m including the sink there's plenty of room for large trays as one can sit in the sink.

And do you often have to sit in the sink, Ian?

 

[koraks]

Think about the space needed for the major items, and also the height requirements for maximum enlarger height, I needed around 2.5m

The major items are listed in #1 as well as the dimensions of the space. The enlarger is an M70, also listed in #1, which can sit on pretty much any table top in pretty much any room where you can stand up.

I could show my darkroom layout as well, but what good would that do to OP? The dimensions of his room are different, his requirements are different, his equipment is different, etc.

 

[MattKing]

Consider a tray ladder - it will have to be quite robust for trays of that size.
Alternatively, a working procedure that employs a single tray, emptied and then filled with the next chemical at the end of each stage.