ᐅ Floor plan of a 160 sqm urban villa, without a basement – what are your thoughts?
Created on: 10 May 2018 02:46
P
Patkia
Development Plan / Restrictions
Plot size: 626 sqm (6730 sq ft)
Slope: none
Site coverage ratio: 0.35 + 50% for ancillary structures
Floor area ratio:
Building window, building line, and boundary: 3 m (10 ft), no special requirements
Edge development: permitted
Number of parking spaces: no requirement
Number of floors: 3
Roof type: -
Architectural style: -
Orientation: -
Maximum heights / limits: 12 m (39 ft)
Additional requirements: 1 tree per every 300 sqm (3200 sq ft) started
Homeowners’ Requirements
City villa style, hip / pyramid roof
2 full stories
Residents: 2 adults, around 30 years old, 1-2 children planned
Room requirements:
Ground floor: kitchen / dining / living / pantry / guest room (office) / utility room / guest WC
Upper floor: 3 bedrooms / walk-in closet / storage / bathroom
Office: on ground floor, also to be used as guest room
Occasional overnight guests
Open or closed layout: partly open / partly closed
Traditional or modern construction: modern
Open kitchen, cooking island, possibly a small pantry
Minimum seating at dining table: 6
Fireplace: yes
Music / stereo wall: home cinema area
Roof terrace: possibly planned later on garage
Garage: yes, double garage with workshop / storage area: 9 m × 6.5 m (30 ft × 21 ft) with access to the house, planned as self-built, driveway large enough for 2 cars
Utility garden, greenhouse: no
Additional wishes / special features / daily routine, including reasons why certain things are preferred or avoided:
Primarily for aesthetic reasons, a small bay window should be included. Not deeper than 50 cm (20 inches) due to roof overhang. There will be a canopy over the front door as a visual relief, so the bay window should face the garden.
Ground Floor (GF):
Bright hallway,
Large kitchen with island (including seating, e.g., stools) and preferably a small pantry (possibly accessible via a "fake" kitchen cabinet), plus a small “bench” made from low cabinets by the window, double-leaf sliding door guided inside the wall to separate dining / living area,
Bright dining area,
Spacious living area, preferably with a panoramic fireplace as a room divider (not next to the TV),
Guest room / office,
Generous utility room with space for possibly two electrical panels, softener system, ground source heat pump, washing machine (possibly dryer), and drying rack,
Guest WC with shower.
Upper Floor (UF): at least 2 children’s rooms, 1 storage room, bedroom can be fairly small. Instead, a spacious bathroom with 2 washbasins (or 1 long basin with 2 faucets), bathtub up to 2 m (6.5 ft), and shower. WC with privacy screen, e.g., with door T-shaped.
Walk-through dressing room between bedroom and bathroom. Sliding door on the wall between bedroom and dressing room and regular door between dressing room and bathroom. Bathroom should also be accessible from the hallway.
General:
Many windows (included in house price without limitation on number or size), some floor-to-ceiling. Possibly preparation in the bedroom for access to the (planned) roof terrace on the garage,
Lifting sliding door system between living / dining area and terrace,
Doors at least 1 m (39 inches) wide on the ground floor,
Terrace on the left side of the house, i.e., facing south. Depending on kitchen location, possibly also a narrower terrace around the corner at the top.
Ultimately, we think it would almost be nicer if the kitchen were on the left so you can look into the garden from there and have direct access to the large terrace. But this criterion changes with every revision of the floor plan :|
House Design
Who designed the plan:
The house plans mainly come from us with some inspiration from the internet.
So far, there has been no truly professional involvement. The upper floor plan was found directly online. However, there the house width is only 10 m (33 ft) instead of 10.5 m (34 ft). Also, the bay window on the left is obviously not included. It would be great to add a small storage room here.
What do you particularly like? Why?
What do you dislike? Why?
The two above points are not fully answered yet. We have often moved the kitchen from right to left and back without finding an ideal solution.
Similarly, we are not sure whether the garage should be placed far forward with some space behind for storage out of garden view, or moved about 2 m (6.5 ft) further back (3 m / 10 ft from boundary) to gain some visual privacy from the diagonal neighbor. We are open to innovative ideas about garage placement. It must definitely have access to the house.
Estimated cost according to architect / planner: 230,000
Personal budget limit for house including features: 240,000 (excluding garage, but including foundation slab)
Preferred heating technology: ground source heat pump
If you have to give up some features / extensions:
- What can you do without: hard to say, maybe the pantry? Though supplies would then have to be stored in expensive kitchen cabinets that offer less space.
- What can’t you do without: guest room on the ground floor, space for drying rack in the utility room (never want one of those racks visible in a living area again!).
Why is the design the way it is now?
The design came about through lots of freehand drawing on paper and tinkering on computer to get the best results. Unfortunately, we are stuck now.
Which of your wishes have been implemented by the architect?
A mixture of many examples from various magazines...
What do you think works well or poorly?
Poor: the downstairs and upstairs layouts are hard to coordinate, especially because of the staircase.
Pretty good: the upper floor layout, except that fitting a second door into the bathroom will be difficult.
Downstairs we have been constantly swapping kitchen front left and guest room top right or vice versa. We haven’t agreed on what would be easier to furnish.
What is your key fundamental question about the floor plan in 130 characters?
How can we fit all our wishes in the best mix of space, appearance, and usability in the floor plan?
Note: The plan might receive harsh criticism from forum users. Feedback is usually unfiltered—please be prepared. Nobody means to offend; it’s their perspective to help or open your eyes.
Thanks in advance for your help
Plot size: 626 sqm (6730 sq ft)
Slope: none
Site coverage ratio: 0.35 + 50% for ancillary structures
Floor area ratio:
Building window, building line, and boundary: 3 m (10 ft), no special requirements
Edge development: permitted
Number of parking spaces: no requirement
Number of floors: 3
Roof type: -
Architectural style: -
Orientation: -
Maximum heights / limits: 12 m (39 ft)
Additional requirements: 1 tree per every 300 sqm (3200 sq ft) started
Homeowners’ Requirements
City villa style, hip / pyramid roof
2 full stories
Residents: 2 adults, around 30 years old, 1-2 children planned
Room requirements:
Ground floor: kitchen / dining / living / pantry / guest room (office) / utility room / guest WC
Upper floor: 3 bedrooms / walk-in closet / storage / bathroom
Office: on ground floor, also to be used as guest room
Occasional overnight guests
Open or closed layout: partly open / partly closed
Traditional or modern construction: modern
Open kitchen, cooking island, possibly a small pantry
Minimum seating at dining table: 6
Fireplace: yes
Music / stereo wall: home cinema area
Roof terrace: possibly planned later on garage
Garage: yes, double garage with workshop / storage area: 9 m × 6.5 m (30 ft × 21 ft) with access to the house, planned as self-built, driveway large enough for 2 cars
Utility garden, greenhouse: no
Additional wishes / special features / daily routine, including reasons why certain things are preferred or avoided:
Primarily for aesthetic reasons, a small bay window should be included. Not deeper than 50 cm (20 inches) due to roof overhang. There will be a canopy over the front door as a visual relief, so the bay window should face the garden.
Ground Floor (GF):
Bright hallway,
Large kitchen with island (including seating, e.g., stools) and preferably a small pantry (possibly accessible via a "fake" kitchen cabinet), plus a small “bench” made from low cabinets by the window, double-leaf sliding door guided inside the wall to separate dining / living area,
Bright dining area,
Spacious living area, preferably with a panoramic fireplace as a room divider (not next to the TV),
Guest room / office,
Generous utility room with space for possibly two electrical panels, softener system, ground source heat pump, washing machine (possibly dryer), and drying rack,
Guest WC with shower.
Upper Floor (UF): at least 2 children’s rooms, 1 storage room, bedroom can be fairly small. Instead, a spacious bathroom with 2 washbasins (or 1 long basin with 2 faucets), bathtub up to 2 m (6.5 ft), and shower. WC with privacy screen, e.g., with door T-shaped.
Walk-through dressing room between bedroom and bathroom. Sliding door on the wall between bedroom and dressing room and regular door between dressing room and bathroom. Bathroom should also be accessible from the hallway.
General:
Many windows (included in house price without limitation on number or size), some floor-to-ceiling. Possibly preparation in the bedroom for access to the (planned) roof terrace on the garage,
Lifting sliding door system between living / dining area and terrace,
Doors at least 1 m (39 inches) wide on the ground floor,
Terrace on the left side of the house, i.e., facing south. Depending on kitchen location, possibly also a narrower terrace around the corner at the top.
Ultimately, we think it would almost be nicer if the kitchen were on the left so you can look into the garden from there and have direct access to the large terrace. But this criterion changes with every revision of the floor plan :|
House Design
Who designed the plan:
The house plans mainly come from us with some inspiration from the internet.
So far, there has been no truly professional involvement. The upper floor plan was found directly online. However, there the house width is only 10 m (33 ft) instead of 10.5 m (34 ft). Also, the bay window on the left is obviously not included. It would be great to add a small storage room here.
What do you particularly like? Why?
What do you dislike? Why?
The two above points are not fully answered yet. We have often moved the kitchen from right to left and back without finding an ideal solution.
Similarly, we are not sure whether the garage should be placed far forward with some space behind for storage out of garden view, or moved about 2 m (6.5 ft) further back (3 m / 10 ft from boundary) to gain some visual privacy from the diagonal neighbor. We are open to innovative ideas about garage placement. It must definitely have access to the house.
Estimated cost according to architect / planner: 230,000
Personal budget limit for house including features: 240,000 (excluding garage, but including foundation slab)
Preferred heating technology: ground source heat pump
If you have to give up some features / extensions:
- What can you do without: hard to say, maybe the pantry? Though supplies would then have to be stored in expensive kitchen cabinets that offer less space.
- What can’t you do without: guest room on the ground floor, space for drying rack in the utility room (never want one of those racks visible in a living area again!).
Why is the design the way it is now?
The design came about through lots of freehand drawing on paper and tinkering on computer to get the best results. Unfortunately, we are stuck now.
Which of your wishes have been implemented by the architect?
A mixture of many examples from various magazines...
What do you think works well or poorly?
Poor: the downstairs and upstairs layouts are hard to coordinate, especially because of the staircase.
Pretty good: the upper floor layout, except that fitting a second door into the bathroom will be difficult.
Downstairs we have been constantly swapping kitchen front left and guest room top right or vice versa. We haven’t agreed on what would be easier to furnish.
What is your key fundamental question about the floor plan in 130 characters?
How can we fit all our wishes in the best mix of space, appearance, and usability in the floor plan?
Note: The plan might receive harsh criticism from forum users. Feedback is usually unfiltered—please be prepared. Nobody means to offend; it’s their perspective to help or open your eyes.
Thanks in advance for your help
We’ve already discussed this topic here before. Construction companies generally have different approaches. We went through several companies during our search.
Either you communicate what you want, collaborate on designing a floor plan, then the shell is built, the area is measured, and a price is calculated.
Or you use our approach: We state our budget first, then it’s decided how much area that budget allows, and how the space is divided is up to you.
The latter approach is not only used by our company but also by others.
Of course, we hope there are no unpleasant surprises—everyone probably does. Most people are building their first and only home, so they can’t rely on prior experience.
The builder provided sample floor plans, but it was clear from the start that we wanted something custom because those examples didn’t appeal to us or weren’t feasible for our needs.
And yes, I do acknowledge some of the feedback from you. Some aspects can indeed be challenging, and we usually make adjustments accordingly.
But overall, I don’t see why the latest design should be considered fundamentally bad.
Even among friends and acquaintances, it was generally regarded as a good design, including by people who own homes themselves.
Even for the latest design, a planner from a large construction company (not ours) told us she liked it except for a few minor details.
Either you communicate what you want, collaborate on designing a floor plan, then the shell is built, the area is measured, and a price is calculated.
Or you use our approach: We state our budget first, then it’s decided how much area that budget allows, and how the space is divided is up to you.
The latter approach is not only used by our company but also by others.
Of course, we hope there are no unpleasant surprises—everyone probably does. Most people are building their first and only home, so they can’t rely on prior experience.
The builder provided sample floor plans, but it was clear from the start that we wanted something custom because those examples didn’t appeal to us or weren’t feasible for our needs.
And yes, I do acknowledge some of the feedback from you. Some aspects can indeed be challenging, and we usually make adjustments accordingly.
But overall, I don’t see why the latest design should be considered fundamentally bad.
Even among friends and acquaintances, it was generally regarded as a good design, including by people who own homes themselves.
Even for the latest design, a planner from a large construction company (not ours) told us she liked it except for a few minor details.
I just hope you realize that the more walls you add and the more small rooms you create, the more expensive it will get. Regardless of the total floor area, every wall, every brick, every additional light switch compared to the original plan increases the cost. That’s why it’s important to understand the basis on which the general contractor’s (GC’s) price is calculated. So far, I haven’t seen that, and therefore I seriously doubt that your budget will be sufficient.
General statements from the GC like "if the floor area stays the same, the price won’t change" are usually nonsense. They will definitely charge you for every wall and won’t give you any freebies.
General statements from the GC like "if the floor area stays the same, the price won’t change" are usually nonsense. They will definitely charge you for every wall and won’t give you any freebies.
Well, I will gladly ask for more detailed information. So far, we have actually operated under the assumption that the floor plan is flexible. We understand that switches, sockets, doors, and so on will incur additional costs. We have already had special packages calculated for those separately.
Regarding the base design, as mentioned, we have not received any standard layout. We requested examples of previously built houses of this type, and they all looked different. This reinforced our assumption that each floor plan can be individually customized.
Regarding the base design, as mentioned, we have not received any standard layout. We requested examples of previously built houses of this type, and they all looked different. This reinforced our assumption that each floor plan can be individually customized.
Patkia schrieb:
Well, I will gladly ask for more details again. So far, we have actually assumed that the floor plan is flexible. Flexible, as long as it does not mean more materials and labor, I assume. At least, that was our case. We had exactly the same statement, and the general contractor did calculate everything fairly. But one more wall is just one more wall. Period.
Patkia schrieb:
We know that switches, sockets, doors, etc. cause additional costs. We have also had separate packages calculated for these. So, have you already received a price quotation with a detailed calculation? There must be more specifics included than just 160m² (1722 sq ft). Is there a plan for this? Is this your first draft from this thread? Have you signed anything yet?
Yes, exactly, we already have the offer including all selected features and additional packages, the construction contract, etc., all fully signed.
The price calculation at the beginning states:
House type xxx according to the construction performance specification dated xxx, without existing drawings
Exterior dimensions 9.50 x 10.50 meters (31.2 x 34.4 feet)
Floor area 99.75 m² (1,073.8 ft²)
Living area approx. 160 m² (1,722.2 ft²)
The first draft here from the thread was also self-made, nothing from the building company. Plus one from the internet was included as well.
The price calculation at the beginning states:
House type xxx according to the construction performance specification dated xxx, without existing drawings
Exterior dimensions 9.50 x 10.50 meters (31.2 x 34.4 feet)
Floor area 99.75 m² (1,073.8 ft²)
Living area approx. 160 m² (1,722.2 ft²)
The first draft here from the thread was also self-made, nothing from the building company. Plus one from the internet was included as well.
Patkia schrieb:
House type xxx according to the construction specifications from xxx, without available drawings
Exterior dimensions 9.50 * 10.50 meters (31.2 * 34.4 feet)
Floor area 99.75 m² (1,073 ft²)
Living area approx. 160 m² (1,722 ft²) Is that all? Apparently, the general contractors are so busy they no longer provide draft plans for the contract – too time-consuming. Ok, that would be great if it works out like that.
Patkia schrieb:
The first draft here in the thread was also self-made, nothing from the construction company. Plus one from the Internet was included as well. I know.
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