ᐅ First Draft Floor Plan Single-Family Home (approx. 200 sqm) – Request for Feedback
Created on: 24 Feb 2017 22:45
S
SupaCriz
Hello,
we are about to sign the contract for the purchase of a hillside plot in a Franconian university town (existing building will be demolished) and have now created a first draft of the floor plans. We would appreciate your feedback! Many thanks in advance.
Please excuse the poor quality of the drawings and the almost complete lack of area specifications – we would like to receive initial feedback before our next meeting with the planners. Afterwards, we will upload higher-quality floor plans. For orientation: The draft is based on a footprint of 10x10m (33x33 feet).
Development plan/restrictions: Development plan
Plot size: 500 sqm (5400 sq ft)
Slope: yes, approx. 6 m (20 feet) drop over 28 m (92 feet) plot length (south-facing slope)
Site coverage ratio (Grundflächenzahl): 0.2
Floor area ratio (Geschossflächenzahl): 0.2 (according to the city, some upward deviation is possible here)
Building envelope, building line, and boundary: standard setback distances
Edge development: Garage will be built on the boundary. This is permitted.
Number of parking spaces: 2, likely a double garage
Number of floors: I + basement (that means 1 full storey + basement floor → cellar built into the slope)
Roof type: no specification
Style: no specification
Orientation: Roof ridge must run east-west
Maximum heights/limits: Eaves max. 3 m (10 feet) above street level
Other requirements
Homeowners’ requirements
Style, roof shape, building type: Gable roof with 48° pitch
Basement, floors: Basement – to be used as high-quality living space on the south slope with direct access to the terrace
Number of persons, ages: Parents just over 30, children aged 0 and 2 years
Space requirements on ground and upper floor: Ground floor: main living area and kitchen; upper floor: 3 bedrooms + bathroom
Office, family use or home office?: Possibly an office as a studio under the roof (not a decisive criterion)
Overnight guests per year: extended visits expected
Open or closed design: open
Conservative or modern construction: classic form but large windows with high ceiling height; possibly corner glazing towards southwest in the living room
Open kitchen, kitchen island: closed kitchen with dining table
Number of dining seats: 6
Fireplace: likely yes, but external fireplace
Music/sound wall: no
Balcony, roof terrace: no
Garage, carport: double garage
Vegetable garden, greenhouse: no
Further wishes/special features/daily routine, also reasons why certain choices were made or rejected:
Ground-level terrace access from the basement (not yet drawn)
Photovoltaics
House design
Planner: Planner from a construction company (civil engineer) with many changes from our side
What do you like most? Why? Large basement room with terrace access. Comfortable overnight option for guests.
What do you dislike? Why? Limited space upstairs. Small main bathroom. The limited space is unfortunately due to the definition of full storey according to the Bavarian building code of 1969.
Price estimate according to architect/planner: €300,000 plus additional costs
Personal price limit for house including fittings: 380,000
Preferred heating system: geothermal heat pump
If you had to make compromises, which details/features
- could you live without: photovoltaics
- could you not live without: basement with living space quality
Why is the design like it is now? For example:
The planner’s initial draft was heavily customized by us. We are still in a very early phase and therefore open to suggestions and ideas.
Creativity may still be somewhat lacking at the moment.
we are about to sign the contract for the purchase of a hillside plot in a Franconian university town (existing building will be demolished) and have now created a first draft of the floor plans. We would appreciate your feedback! Many thanks in advance.
Please excuse the poor quality of the drawings and the almost complete lack of area specifications – we would like to receive initial feedback before our next meeting with the planners. Afterwards, we will upload higher-quality floor plans. For orientation: The draft is based on a footprint of 10x10m (33x33 feet).
Development plan/restrictions: Development plan
Plot size: 500 sqm (5400 sq ft)
Slope: yes, approx. 6 m (20 feet) drop over 28 m (92 feet) plot length (south-facing slope)
Site coverage ratio (Grundflächenzahl): 0.2
Floor area ratio (Geschossflächenzahl): 0.2 (according to the city, some upward deviation is possible here)
Building envelope, building line, and boundary: standard setback distances
Edge development: Garage will be built on the boundary. This is permitted.
Number of parking spaces: 2, likely a double garage
Number of floors: I + basement (that means 1 full storey + basement floor → cellar built into the slope)
Roof type: no specification
Style: no specification
Orientation: Roof ridge must run east-west
Maximum heights/limits: Eaves max. 3 m (10 feet) above street level
Other requirements
Homeowners’ requirements
Style, roof shape, building type: Gable roof with 48° pitch
Basement, floors: Basement – to be used as high-quality living space on the south slope with direct access to the terrace
Number of persons, ages: Parents just over 30, children aged 0 and 2 years
Space requirements on ground and upper floor: Ground floor: main living area and kitchen; upper floor: 3 bedrooms + bathroom
Office, family use or home office?: Possibly an office as a studio under the roof (not a decisive criterion)
Overnight guests per year: extended visits expected
Open or closed design: open
Conservative or modern construction: classic form but large windows with high ceiling height; possibly corner glazing towards southwest in the living room
Open kitchen, kitchen island: closed kitchen with dining table
Number of dining seats: 6
Fireplace: likely yes, but external fireplace
Music/sound wall: no
Balcony, roof terrace: no
Garage, carport: double garage
Vegetable garden, greenhouse: no
Further wishes/special features/daily routine, also reasons why certain choices were made or rejected:
Ground-level terrace access from the basement (not yet drawn)
Photovoltaics
House design
Planner: Planner from a construction company (civil engineer) with many changes from our side
What do you like most? Why? Large basement room with terrace access. Comfortable overnight option for guests.
What do you dislike? Why? Limited space upstairs. Small main bathroom. The limited space is unfortunately due to the definition of full storey according to the Bavarian building code of 1969.
Price estimate according to architect/planner: €300,000 plus additional costs
Personal price limit for house including fittings: 380,000
Preferred heating system: geothermal heat pump
If you had to make compromises, which details/features
- could you live without: photovoltaics
- could you not live without: basement with living space quality
Why is the design like it is now? For example:
The planner’s initial draft was heavily customized by us. We are still in a very early phase and therefore open to suggestions and ideas.
Creativity may still be somewhat lacking at the moment.
Why is there only such a small window in the kitchen?
What exactly is supposed to be stored in a 10 m² (108 sq ft) pantry?
A 7 m² (75 sq ft) wardrobe is quite spacious; others here in the forum are planning that space as an office.
How do you access the garden? I don’t see any floor-level window or door in the living area.
What exactly is supposed to be stored in a 10 m² (108 sq ft) pantry?
A 7 m² (75 sq ft) wardrobe is quite spacious; others here in the forum are planning that space as an office.
How do you access the garden? I don’t see any floor-level window or door in the living area.
Bedroom has little space between the wardrobe and the bed. The headboard is below the 1-meter (3.3 feet) line.
Regarding the bathroom, I find a washbasin for four people too small.
I won’t comment on the basement and ground floor, as I cannot come to terms with the floor plan.
Regarding the bathroom, I find a washbasin for four people too small.
I won’t comment on the basement and ground floor, as I cannot come to terms with the floor plan.
Are these shower dimensions purely theoretical, or do they actually exist? It seems to me that all three showers are custom designs just to fit into the wet rooms at all. I just noticed: a bathtub on the ground floor?
Well, I would definitely bring in a professional—just the bedroom alone is problematic (wardrobe in front of the window, no space between the bed and wardrobe if the bed is accessible on all sides). Why is there such a short staircase shown in the attic? If it’s meant to be a fixed staircase, it should be placed above the main staircase... that would make the bedroom layout work. The ground floor remains a mystery to me.
Regards,
Yvonne
Well, I would definitely bring in a professional—just the bedroom alone is problematic (wardrobe in front of the window, no space between the bed and wardrobe if the bed is accessible on all sides). Why is there such a short staircase shown in the attic? If it’s meant to be a fixed staircase, it should be placed above the main staircase... that would make the bedroom layout work. The ground floor remains a mystery to me.
Regards,
Yvonne
ypg schrieb:
Why is such a short staircase shown in the attic? If it’s meant to be a fixed staircase, it should be placed above the main staircase... then the bedroom layout would work as well. ... but unfortunately not with the staircase itself, because its start should be in the 2m (6 ft 7 in) area and its top should reach the loft. This way it would work:
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
11ant schrieb:
... unfortunately not with the staircase itself, since its start should be around the 2m (6.6 ft) mark and its exit needs to reach the attic. This way it would work:
It certainly wasn’t meant to be that detailed, as such an approach would actually worsen the design.
The main point is the principle of placing a staircase in a space-saving way. However, I question the need for a staircase here at all, since the basement already provides utility and storage space and a fixed staircase is fundamentally not required.
I won’t make detailed suggestions for this thread because I don’t consider the design sensible, or the original poster might be withholding information—such as whether they are a hunter or a Muslim who intends to slaughter animals in the storage room.
To me, the oversized storage room (along with some other rooms) appears to exist only because of the staircase placement. Overall, everything looks like it’s just been roughly sketched out.
Hello,
Thank you for the feedback. Here are some explanations and questions:
1. Bedroom Furnishing: Thanks. It’s good that you noticed this. We do need to move the bed slightly forward. The walls and the wardrobe will then have to be shifted back by 20-40cm (8-16 inches) to recreate the current bedroom space that we are satisfied with.
Of course, the window must not overlap with the wardrobe. We have already informed the planners about this, and it will be corrected soon.
2. Windows: You are absolutely right, the kitchen needs at least two windows, and especially larger ones. As I mentioned earlier, we have hardly addressed the windows so far and will definitely add more and larger windows overall.
Our building company – as some correctly pointed out – constructs very traditional houses, so we have to plan every window ourselves. We welcome further suggestions here.
For example, in the living room we want to install one of those large exterior windows where the windowsill serves as a seating bench.
For the kitchen, we plan a large window facing south towards the garden, plus another one facing east above the countertop. Does anyone have experience with narrow windows between the base cabinet and the wall cabinet in kitchens?
Larger and more windows are planned for the rest of the house, and upstairs there will be multiple double casement windows. In the bathroom, we are currently considering whether only one or two double casement windows would suffice and possibly to eliminate the side window to minimize views of neighbors and free up more space, for example for the shower.
Access to the terrace will be through the lower additional living, guest, or play area, which is currently mistakenly labeled as a recreational room.
3. Bathrooms: The current design is a very preliminary draft from the building company; we will definitely choose different solutions. The important thing for now was to see that everything needed fits.
The "bathtub" on the ground floor actually represents a long shower and will not be built as shown. We wanted to check if there would be at least enough space for a sink, toilet, bidet, washing machine, and shower. The washing machine and shower will probably not be installed here.
We plan to research the available shower options and their dimensions soon and then continue planning with exact measurements instead of these placeholders.
4. Pantry/Storage Room on the Ground Floor:
I can reassure you that the only reason for the large pantry/storage room for vacuum cleaners etc. is that this room is the least attractive in the entire house (north- and street-facing, the adjacent garage prevents windows on the east side, and direct access would make it even bigger because of the stair location).
We explored alternatives with different stair locations, but on the upper floor this always requires more valuable space for stairs and hallways (due to roof slopes and almost no knee wall), so we discarded these options.
The current solution is acceptable because the basement offers limited storage space and it makes more sense to store items like beverage crates, canned goods, vacuum cleaners, etc., on the ground floor.
5. Cloakroom: This has been made slightly smaller compared to the last draft. We have planned a corner wardrobe that offers about 4 meters (13 feet) of storage space for shoes, jackets, toys, etc., plus additional space for the stroller. From our perspective, this is not oversized but exactly what we currently lack.
We also don’t have the option of a walk-in closet upstairs, which we actually prefer anyway because it’s practical to have shoes, jackets, stroller, and so on close to the entrance.
6. Staircase to the Attic: This is indeed a space issue. As 11ant mentioned, this is not straightforward due to the roof slopes. We would like a fixed staircase because the attic could potentially be used as an office, a retreat for teenagers, etc. We want to keep these options open and therefore don’t want access only via a folding staircase.
Thank you for your responses!
Thank you for the feedback. Here are some explanations and questions:
1. Bedroom Furnishing: Thanks. It’s good that you noticed this. We do need to move the bed slightly forward. The walls and the wardrobe will then have to be shifted back by 20-40cm (8-16 inches) to recreate the current bedroom space that we are satisfied with.
Of course, the window must not overlap with the wardrobe. We have already informed the planners about this, and it will be corrected soon.
2. Windows: You are absolutely right, the kitchen needs at least two windows, and especially larger ones. As I mentioned earlier, we have hardly addressed the windows so far and will definitely add more and larger windows overall.
Our building company – as some correctly pointed out – constructs very traditional houses, so we have to plan every window ourselves. We welcome further suggestions here.
For example, in the living room we want to install one of those large exterior windows where the windowsill serves as a seating bench.
For the kitchen, we plan a large window facing south towards the garden, plus another one facing east above the countertop. Does anyone have experience with narrow windows between the base cabinet and the wall cabinet in kitchens?
Larger and more windows are planned for the rest of the house, and upstairs there will be multiple double casement windows. In the bathroom, we are currently considering whether only one or two double casement windows would suffice and possibly to eliminate the side window to minimize views of neighbors and free up more space, for example for the shower.
Access to the terrace will be through the lower additional living, guest, or play area, which is currently mistakenly labeled as a recreational room.
3. Bathrooms: The current design is a very preliminary draft from the building company; we will definitely choose different solutions. The important thing for now was to see that everything needed fits.
The "bathtub" on the ground floor actually represents a long shower and will not be built as shown. We wanted to check if there would be at least enough space for a sink, toilet, bidet, washing machine, and shower. The washing machine and shower will probably not be installed here.
We plan to research the available shower options and their dimensions soon and then continue planning with exact measurements instead of these placeholders.
4. Pantry/Storage Room on the Ground Floor:
I can reassure you that the only reason for the large pantry/storage room for vacuum cleaners etc. is that this room is the least attractive in the entire house (north- and street-facing, the adjacent garage prevents windows on the east side, and direct access would make it even bigger because of the stair location).
We explored alternatives with different stair locations, but on the upper floor this always requires more valuable space for stairs and hallways (due to roof slopes and almost no knee wall), so we discarded these options.
The current solution is acceptable because the basement offers limited storage space and it makes more sense to store items like beverage crates, canned goods, vacuum cleaners, etc., on the ground floor.
5. Cloakroom: This has been made slightly smaller compared to the last draft. We have planned a corner wardrobe that offers about 4 meters (13 feet) of storage space for shoes, jackets, toys, etc., plus additional space for the stroller. From our perspective, this is not oversized but exactly what we currently lack.
We also don’t have the option of a walk-in closet upstairs, which we actually prefer anyway because it’s practical to have shoes, jackets, stroller, and so on close to the entrance.
6. Staircase to the Attic: This is indeed a space issue. As 11ant mentioned, this is not straightforward due to the roof slopes. We would like a fixed staircase because the attic could potentially be used as an office, a retreat for teenagers, etc. We want to keep these options open and therefore don’t want access only via a folding staircase.
Thank you for your responses!
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