Hello,
I would like to start a new thread regarding the initial design planning.
Previous thread: Single-family house – Opinions on our design
https://www.hausbau-forum.de/threads/Einfamilienhaus-Meinungen-zu-unserem-Entwurf.25622/
Here are the main points:
The foundation slab is already in place: 12.49 x 12.49 m2 (41 x 41 ft2) and 30 cm (12 inches) thick.
The foundation slab was inspected for quality by an energy consultant and a structural engineer – no issues were found.
The locations of the underground drainage pipes are marked in the image titled "Foundation Slab - Drainage Pipes."
The house is planned to be built on the existing foundation slab. Demolition is not planned.
The house needs to be constructed as a one-story plus attic (E+1) with a gable roof at a 22° pitch.
The original submission plan from the previous owner was applied for but has not been received yet.
Our own submission plan from the architect exists but was mostly rated as unsatisfactory.
Negative points in the submission plan:
Our specific requests:
We like the ground floor and its room layout quite well. However, the half-landing staircase should be replaced by a space-saving alternative.
The staircase was placed centrally to allow the desired rooms to be created.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
• Development plan / restrictions
Plot size: Parcel 35, 775 m2 (8,835 ft2)
KFW 55 standard
Slope: Yes
Site coverage ratio: 0.35
Floor area ratio: 0.80
Building envelope, building line, and boundary: see site plan
Edge development: No
Number of parking spaces: 2
Number of storeys: 2
Roof style: Gable roof, 22° pitch
Style / orientation: South - southeast
Maximum dimensions/limits: Building maximum = 14 m x 10 m (46 x 33 ft) plus single-story extension with max. length 10 m (33 ft), max. depth 3 m (10 ft)
Client requirements
Style, roof type, building type: Gable roof, 22° pitch
Basement, storeys: No basement, 2 full storeys
Number and ages of occupants: 4 persons (3 females, 1 male), ages 40, 38, 12, 9
Space requirements on ground and upper floors: Since no basement, more space per floor needed → approx. 90 m2 (970 ft2) per floor
Office use: Home office planned, possibly later converted to a bedroom / guests about 6 times a year
Open or closed layout: Open layout, at least on the ground floor
Traditional or modern design: Modern design
Open kitchen with island: Yes, open kitchen with cooking island
Number of dining seats: 1
Fireplace: Yes, should be placed in the living room, as the chimney should not pass through the children’s bedrooms.
Music / stereo wall: No
Balcony, roof terrace: Balcony: yes, roof terrace: no
Garage, carport: Double garage with partition
Additional wishes / special features / daily routine explanations:
Photovoltaic system + possibly battery storage, active ventilation system with heat recovery, air heat exchanger, cistern
House design
Planner: Architect
- Company planner: No
- Architect: Yes
- DIY: No
What do you especially like? Why? Ground floor thanks to the open design with large windows
What do you dislike? Why? Upper floor layout
Estimated price according to architect/planner: ?
Personal budget limit for house including fixtures: 400,000 €
Preferred heating technology: Air heat exchanger with underfloor heating
If you had to give up something, which details or features could you do without?
- Can give up: Battery
Cannot do without:
Why is the design the way it is now? e.g.
Not a standard design from the planner, ideas based on model houses + floor plans found online + architect input
What is the most important / fundamental question about the floor plan in 130 characters?
How can I improve the layout of the house?
I would like to start a new thread regarding the initial design planning.
Previous thread: Single-family house – Opinions on our design
https://www.hausbau-forum.de/threads/Einfamilienhaus-Meinungen-zu-unserem-Entwurf.25622/
Here are the main points:
The foundation slab is already in place: 12.49 x 12.49 m2 (41 x 41 ft2) and 30 cm (12 inches) thick.
The foundation slab was inspected for quality by an energy consultant and a structural engineer – no issues were found.
The locations of the underground drainage pipes are marked in the image titled "Foundation Slab - Drainage Pipes."
The house is planned to be built on the existing foundation slab. Demolition is not planned.
The house needs to be constructed as a one-story plus attic (E+1) with a gable roof at a 22° pitch.
The original submission plan from the previous owner was applied for but has not been received yet.
Our own submission plan from the architect exists but was mostly rated as unsatisfactory.
Negative points in the submission plan:
- Ground floor + upper floor
- Staircase between ground and upper floor is not properly dimensioned
- Ground floor
- Staircase unsuitable, takes up too much space; entrance to living area is through the kitchen
- Access from garage to house does not fit due to height differences
- Upper floor
- Staircase unsuitable, room layout and a dark hallway with hallway width only 1.10 m (3.6 ft)
- Balcony extends across the entire house length
- See east elevation under the image “View all sides”
- The balcony was extended because the upper floor protrudes 70 cm (28 inches) beyond the ground floor, covering the resulting overhang. In the previous plan, the balcony was only above the bay window.
Our specific requests:
We like the ground floor and its room layout quite well. However, the half-landing staircase should be replaced by a space-saving alternative.
The staircase was placed centrally to allow the desired rooms to be created.
- Keep the technical room in the marked position for connection reasons, near the turning circle.
- Keep the front door position as shown – access from the garage plus guests parking in front of the garage.
- Central staircase to maintain short walking distances.
- Type of staircase: corner staircase with quarter turns (1x or 2x 90° turns) or straight staircase. Spiral staircases are not desired.
- Modern house with an open kitchen and living area.
- Home office.
- Guest toilet with shower.
- Pantry for freezer, food, and beverages.
- Large children's bedrooms, preferably on the south side.
- Room for a walk-in dressing area.
- Separate entrance to the master bedroom, not through the dressing room.
- One master bathroom and one children’s bathroom.
- Small utility room (approx. 6–8 m2 (65–86 ft2)) on the upper floor for washing machine and dryer.
- Tiled stove; the chimney flue should not run through the children’s bedrooms. Preferred route is through the bathroom or utility room.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
• Development plan / restrictions
Plot size: Parcel 35, 775 m2 (8,835 ft2)
KFW 55 standard
Slope: Yes
Site coverage ratio: 0.35
Floor area ratio: 0.80
Building envelope, building line, and boundary: see site plan
Edge development: No
Number of parking spaces: 2
Number of storeys: 2
Roof style: Gable roof, 22° pitch
Style / orientation: South - southeast
Maximum dimensions/limits: Building maximum = 14 m x 10 m (46 x 33 ft) plus single-story extension with max. length 10 m (33 ft), max. depth 3 m (10 ft)
Client requirements
Style, roof type, building type: Gable roof, 22° pitch
Basement, storeys: No basement, 2 full storeys
Number and ages of occupants: 4 persons (3 females, 1 male), ages 40, 38, 12, 9
Space requirements on ground and upper floors: Since no basement, more space per floor needed → approx. 90 m2 (970 ft2) per floor
Office use: Home office planned, possibly later converted to a bedroom / guests about 6 times a year
Open or closed layout: Open layout, at least on the ground floor
Traditional or modern design: Modern design
Open kitchen with island: Yes, open kitchen with cooking island
Number of dining seats: 1
Fireplace: Yes, should be placed in the living room, as the chimney should not pass through the children’s bedrooms.
Music / stereo wall: No
Balcony, roof terrace: Balcony: yes, roof terrace: no
Garage, carport: Double garage with partition
Additional wishes / special features / daily routine explanations:
Photovoltaic system + possibly battery storage, active ventilation system with heat recovery, air heat exchanger, cistern
House design
Planner: Architect
- Company planner: No
- Architect: Yes
- DIY: No
What do you especially like? Why? Ground floor thanks to the open design with large windows
What do you dislike? Why? Upper floor layout
Estimated price according to architect/planner: ?
Personal budget limit for house including fixtures: 400,000 €
Preferred heating technology: Air heat exchanger with underfloor heating
If you had to give up something, which details or features could you do without?
- Can give up: Battery
Cannot do without:
Why is the design the way it is now? e.g.
Not a standard design from the planner, ideas based on model houses + floor plans found online + architect input
What is the most important / fundamental question about the floor plan in 130 characters?
How can I improve the layout of the house?
ypg schrieb:
Airspace is nice and all, but it conflicts with having a stove. Fire and air come together, so there’s a contradiction in the same square meter, which doesn’t work well.What do you mean by that? Air just flows upwards anyway. A chimney is mostly more of a visual feature than a heating appliance. It will get nicely warm up there. I don’t see it as a problem. Or is there a catch? I find the chimney at the edge much worse.
kaho674 schrieb:
Oh no! Having to access the bedroom through the walk-in closet or something similar is absolutely unacceptable. He’s not the first one to think so. Does anyone understand this?
A hundred times better than being disturbed in the morning. But here, you could easily swap the walk-in closet and the bedroom. Accessing the bedroom through the walk-in closet... I basically have no problem with that. It’s not a thoroughfare.kaho674 schrieb:
I think it’s okay. The kitchen is large. This massive work island in the middle probably contains about 10 base cabinets, in my estimation. Plenty of storage space. Of course, the question is whether the original poster planned it that way. But it’s possible for sure. I want to see how you fit scooters, ride-on toys, buggies, strollers, sleds, etc. into those 10 kitchen base cabinets...
And I’m generally not a fan of storing beverage crates in kitchen cabinets, for example. I’d prefer a dark corner or a small pantry for that. Kitchen cabinets are too expensive an investment for that purpose. But this brings us back to the fundamental debate of having a pantry or not. I’ve long since given up trying to convince anyone. If someone prefers having 5m² (54 ft²) more kitchen space with expensive kitchen furniture that holds only half of what a 5m² (54 ft²) pantry with inexpensive shelving can store, then so be it. Sometimes the floor plan simply doesn’t allow any other option, but as I said: supporters and opponents will never reach an agreement on this. Everyone has to decide for themselves.
I agree with Climbee, even though I’m usually not a fan of a pantry. This is mostly because many people don’t have space for one, and including a pantry often compromises the overall house design.
There would be room here, just like for a separate cloakroom, but I also see potential under the stairs.
You have to keep in mind that there are no kids yet, so things like ride-on toys aren’t considered at this point [emoji6]
Air fuels fire, dear @kaho, and this has been true long before Feng Shui [emoji2]
But for those who don’t care about Feng Shui: these are two decorative house elements that compete for attention because they share the exact same space.
There would be room here, just like for a separate cloakroom, but I also see potential under the stairs.
You have to keep in mind that there are no kids yet, so things like ride-on toys aren’t considered at this point [emoji6]
Air fuels fire, dear @kaho, and this has been true long before Feng Shui [emoji2]
But for those who don’t care about Feng Shui: these are two decorative house elements that compete for attention because they share the exact same space.
Air Space and Stove:
One could also consider routing the stove pipe outside, which can even work well as a design feature.
Overall, I find the air space here unnecessary. It looks more like an attempted but failed idea. It’s not a gallery; it’s just a narrow shaft going up without any purpose. I would skip it and add the space to the children's rooms. Then, even an internal chimney wouldn’t be an issue.
Just because it looks stylish and might work with a different room layout doesn’t mean it’s appropriate here—this is simply a planning mistake. Or put another way: the architect probably came up with this because the client insisted. If the architect is at least somewhat competent, they probably sighed quietly while drawing this.
One could also consider routing the stove pipe outside, which can even work well as a design feature.
Overall, I find the air space here unnecessary. It looks more like an attempted but failed idea. It’s not a gallery; it’s just a narrow shaft going up without any purpose. I would skip it and add the space to the children's rooms. Then, even an internal chimney wouldn’t be an issue.
Just because it looks stylish and might work with a different room layout doesn’t mean it’s appropriate here—this is simply a planning mistake. Or put another way: the architect probably came up with this because the client insisted. If the architect is at least somewhat competent, they probably sighed quietly while drawing this.
Climbee schrieb:
I want to see how you fit rollers, ride-on toys, strollers, buggies, sleds, etc. into 10 base kitchen cabinets... Oh, no, things like that go in the garage and not inside the house, except maybe the stroller’s upper part.
Climbee schrieb:
And I’m generally not a fan of storing things like beverage crates in kitchen cabinets. For that, I’d rather have a dark corner or pantry. A kitchen cabinet is too expensive to buy for that purpose. But then we get back to the basic argument of “pantry yes or no.” I stopped trying to convince anyone a long time ago. If someone prefers to have 5sqm (54 sq ft) more kitchen space and fills it with expensive kitchen furniture where only half as much fits as in a 5sqm (54 sq ft) pantry with cheap shelves, that’s their choice. Sometimes the floor plan just doesn’t allow for another option, but as I said: supporters and opponents will never reach a consensus. Everyone has to decide for themselves. Yes, I’m also more in favor of a pantry. But it was removed here. It would still be possible to close off the space under the stairs. But of course, that would reduce the spacious feel of the hallway.
The open space is often created above the dining table. Why not do the same here? Because of the puzzling idea to arrange the children's rooms symmetrically in the house, as if having the same children.
Break away from symmetry and create an independent open space (if it is even necessary). The warmth on the ground floor will thank you.
Break away from symmetry and create an independent open space (if it is even necessary). The warmth on the ground floor will thank you.
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