ᐅ Single-family house with basement – Suggestions for optimization?

Hello everyone,

I’m relatively new here and would like to share our house plans to get your feedback, as I’ve seen some very helpful comments so far.

I’ll try to answer the template right away...

Development Plan / Restrictions
Plot size – 730 sqm (7857 sq ft)
Slope – slight, crossing the plot
Site coverage ratio – ?
Floor area ratio – ?
Building envelope, building line, and boundary – I’ve attached these
Adjacent buildings – residential houses on two sides, one side currently free
Number of parking spaces – none separate
Number of floors – 2
Roof style – mono-pitched
Architectural style – modern
Orientation – entrance on the south/east side
Maximum height/restrictions – ?
Other requirements – none known

Homeowners’ Requirements
Style, roof shape, building type – modern, mono-pitched, single-family home
Basement, floors – yes, 2
Number and age of occupants – 2 people, both 27 years old
Ground floor space needs: dining, kitchen, living room, utility room (can be used as a bedroom in old age), toilet
Upper floor: master bedroom, walk-in closet, bathroom, 2 children’s rooms, small room for ironing or a small office
Office: family use or home office? – both
Number of overnight guests per year – 5
Open or closed architecture – open
Conservative or modern construction – modern
Open kitchen, kitchen island – yes
Number of dining seats – 8
Fireplace – yes
Music/surround sound wall – no
Balcony, roof terrace – not necessary
Garage, carport – garage
Utility garden, greenhouse – normal garden, rather small
Other wishes/special features/daily routine –

House Design
Designed by – architect

What do you especially like?
Overall style and room layout

What do you like less?
Rear view (north), front view (south)

Cost estimate according to architect/planner – 400,000€ (approx. 400K Euros)
Personal budget for the house, including fittings – not much more
Preferred heating system – air source heat pump or heat pump with collectors

If you had to give up something, which details/extras would you give up? – basement under the garage
What can’t you give up? – modern, spacious living

Why is the design the way it is now? For example:
We have already met several times with our architect and are very satisfied with the layout and drafts. Basically, we wanted a modern and spacious house. The “double” mono-pitched roof was more or less fixed because we have always liked it.

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Overall, we are already quite satisfied but of course welcome any suggestions for improvements. The front (south) was slightly adjusted at the last meeting. There is now a window band on the upper floor that visually connects two windows (master bedroom + office). The windows remain separate but will be visually linked by color to form a “band” – I hope I described that clearly enough 🙂

A brief note on the basement... We don’t have a design for it yet. However, it will probably be a basement under the entire house and garage. According to the architect, this makes the most sense because the land slopes slightly and a large foundation for the garage is necessary anyway – so the additional cost for basementing won’t be that high. We plan to use the basement under the garage more for storage, not living space.

I hope I have answered everything sufficiently and look forward to your opinions.

Best regards

One child's bedroom twice as large as the other? I would immediately reconsider that.
Why have two offices?

Furthermore, around 11m² (118 sq ft) is really quite small for a children's room, especially in direct comparison to the overall size of the house. The garage is also very narrow, with a width of 5.26m (17 ft 3 in) for a double garage. I would recommend at least 6m (20 ft) here.

Otherwise, I find the layout a bit complicated. The hallway on the upper floor is also very large.

Ah, sorry, I should have mentioned this right away... the smaller children’s bedroom will be balanced out by a two-story room plus the attic space.
The small, second office will be more of an ironing room with an option to use it as an office.

Children do need space to play.

10 sqm (approximately 108 sq ft, even considering two levels) is definitely feasible and sufficient for one child, but it will likely cause envy. Why not include the hallway as part of the child’s room and also adjust the cupboard corner near the door by shifting the wall (if possible)?

That way, you can achieve around 15 sqm (approximately 161 sq ft), which is more than enough. Later on, the second level can then be used as well.

Was the house intentionally positioned so far back? Personally, I don’t like having people look onto my terrace.