Hello,
My wife and I visited a model home park for prefabricated houses yesterday, and we noticed that each house offered various features and floor plans whose practical benefits I don’t quite understand. That’s why I’m starting this thread, hoping you can explain the advantages of these choices or point out what I might be missing and why it still makes sense to design a house that way:
1. Almost every house had floor-to-ceiling windows installed. What’s the purpose of these? I imagine they would be terrible both in summer and winter. Wouldn’t it get extremely hot in summer? And in winter, don’t you constantly have to lower the blinds so that anyone passing by can’t look directly into the living room or inside the house? Also, isn’t the effort to clean those windows huge? Am I missing something? Do they have advantages that I don’t see?
2. There wasn’t a single house where the kitchen and dining area were separated from the living space; at best, the kitchen was separated from the dining area. I understand that having everything open makes the space appear larger and is better for hosting many people, but isn’t it very impractical? If I’m frying or cooking something in the kitchen, doesn’t the whole living room end up smelling like food? It would also bother me that as soon as my wife or I have guests over, the other person couldn’t sit in the living room and watch TV quietly, for example. This might sound a bit picky, but for me, it’s important that everyone can invite their friends without the other person always being within earshot or needing to get out of the way somehow. Why are open-plan ground floors so common? What are the real advantages?
3. The balconies on the upper floor are always accessible from one of the children’s bedrooms and the parents’ bedroom. Doesn’t that significantly affect privacy? I can’t imagine it’s great if my child can constantly knock on our bedroom door via the balcony, for example. Also, if you have two children, wouldn’t the one without a balcony be at a disadvantage?
I don’t want to bias you with my opinions here—I’m completely open to your views because I’d like to be convinced of the benefits. So I would like to know your reasons for including such features in your plans. Alternatively, has anyone built in a more “traditional” way and can speak to the practicality of these layout choices?
Best regards
My wife and I visited a model home park for prefabricated houses yesterday, and we noticed that each house offered various features and floor plans whose practical benefits I don’t quite understand. That’s why I’m starting this thread, hoping you can explain the advantages of these choices or point out what I might be missing and why it still makes sense to design a house that way:
1. Almost every house had floor-to-ceiling windows installed. What’s the purpose of these? I imagine they would be terrible both in summer and winter. Wouldn’t it get extremely hot in summer? And in winter, don’t you constantly have to lower the blinds so that anyone passing by can’t look directly into the living room or inside the house? Also, isn’t the effort to clean those windows huge? Am I missing something? Do they have advantages that I don’t see?
2. There wasn’t a single house where the kitchen and dining area were separated from the living space; at best, the kitchen was separated from the dining area. I understand that having everything open makes the space appear larger and is better for hosting many people, but isn’t it very impractical? If I’m frying or cooking something in the kitchen, doesn’t the whole living room end up smelling like food? It would also bother me that as soon as my wife or I have guests over, the other person couldn’t sit in the living room and watch TV quietly, for example. This might sound a bit picky, but for me, it’s important that everyone can invite their friends without the other person always being within earshot or needing to get out of the way somehow. Why are open-plan ground floors so common? What are the real advantages?
3. The balconies on the upper floor are always accessible from one of the children’s bedrooms and the parents’ bedroom. Doesn’t that significantly affect privacy? I can’t imagine it’s great if my child can constantly knock on our bedroom door via the balcony, for example. Also, if you have two children, wouldn’t the one without a balcony be at a disadvantage?
I don’t want to bias you with my opinions here—I’m completely open to your views because I’d like to be convinced of the benefits. So I would like to know your reasons for including such features in your plans. Alternatively, has anyone built in a more “traditional” way and can speak to the practicality of these layout choices?
Best regards
markus270313 Oct 2017 12:30It’s quite a luxury to talk about despair on 139 m2 (1498 sq ft). We have 129 m2 (1389 sq ft) of that, including a staircase with a proper stairwell and hallway, and living there with 4 people (soon to be 5) still doesn’t feel like being in a battery cage.
But it seems the expectations keep growing...
But it seems the expectations keep growing...
markus2703 schrieb:
It’s quite a luxury to talk about despair in 139 m2 (1,496 sq ft). We have 129 of those, a staircase with a proper stairwell and hallway, and living with four people (soon five) still doesn’t feel like being in a battery cage.
But I guess expectations just keep growing... Quite funny. And I always make fun of couples without children who want more than 180 m2 (1,938 sq ft) plus a kids’ bathroom.
I just lacked the right word to describe it properly.
Zaba12 schrieb:
And I always make fun of couples without children who want houses over 180 square meters (1,940 square feet) with a kids' bathroom In the field of medical specialists, fertility doctors have long become almost a separate specialty, so houses designed accordingly were only a matter of time.
Personally, I prefer to poke fun at people who have to drive old beaters for the next twenty years because they spent all their money on a palace-sized garage *grin*
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
11ant schrieb:
Within the range of medical specialists, fertility doctors have long been almost a separate field, so it was only a matter of time before this influenced corresponding house designs.
Personally, I prefer to tease those people who will have to drive old beaters for the next twenty years because they spent all their money on a garage fit for a palace *grin*But it’s expensive too. An ICSI treatment costs 3,000 euros. Hmm... Extra mortgage payment <=> child <=> car???
C
chand198613 Oct 2017 14:35Zaba12 schrieb:
But that also costs a lot. An ICSI procedure costs €3,000 (about $3,200). Hm... Extra mortgage repayment <=> Child <=> Car???... <=> House construction???
*duck and cover*
11ant schrieb:
...
Personally, I prefer to make fun of the people who will have to drive junk cars for the next twenty years because they spent all their money on a luxury garage *grin*How mean [emoji23]
Doesn't really fit here, but I just read somewhere that the kids are lying in a €1000 (about $1100) car [emoji28]