ᐅ Single-family home designed by an architect, 150 m² – looking for improvement suggestions and ideas
Created on: 2 Oct 2019 10:32
D
DimaNDS
Development Plan / Restrictions
Lot size: 528m² (5679 sq ft)
Slope: no
Site coverage ratio: 0.3
Floor area ratio: 0.45
Building window, building line and boundary: Roof ridge direction E/W
Edge development: Garage max 15m (49 ft)
Number of floors: 2
Roof type: Gable roof
Orientation: S/W
Maximum height / limits: 9m (30 ft) ridge height
Other: Sound insulation class IV
Client Requirements
Style, roof type, building type: Modern
Basement, floors: no basement, ground floor, upper floor, partial attic
Number of occupants, age: 4
Room requirements ground floor, upper floor: Ground floor living room, kitchen, guest room, office, guest WC, storage room; upper floor 2 children’s rooms, master bedroom, bathroom
Office: family use or home office: both
Overnight guests per year: 10
Open or closed architecture: open
Conservative or modern construction: modern
Open kitchen, kitchen island: yes
Number of dining seats: minimum 6
Fireplace: no
Music/stereo wall: no
Balcony, roof terrace: no
Garage, carport: double steel garage with utility room, 6 x 9m (20 x 30 ft)
Vegetable garden, greenhouse: no (bed in front of kitchen)
House Design
Planning by: Architect
What do you particularly like? Why?: We love the openness of the house.
What do you not like? Why?: We really like the design, but we’re unsure if there might be issues with the technical installations in the attic. Also, access to the attic is via a door in the gable, which might look a bit odd. The architect designed a shelf/ladder construction here. Possibly there is too little storage space for items not used regularly, like Christmas decorations.
Price estimate by architect/planner: €330,000 (including exterior landscaping and kitchen)
Personal price limit for house, including fittings: €350,000
Preferred heating technology: Gas or heat pump, depending on whether sound insulation class leads to a KFW 55 house standard. We still need to get advice on this.
If you had to give up something, which details/extensions
-could you do without: walk-in closet
-could you not do without: the general openness of the house.
Why is the design the way it is now? e.g.
Which wishes were implemented by the architect? Bedroom facing east, living room facing west, evening sun in the kitchen.
What makes it especially good or bad in your eyes? Good: It is not a standard house you’ve seen 100 times in builder catalogs. Bad: Relatively high space wastage due to the openness.
What is the most important/basic question about the floor plan in 130 characters?
What would you do differently or improve? Have we overlooked anything that could cause problems later?
Unfortunately, I cannot upload PDFs. The dimensions are there as well. For orientation: The living room is exactly 4m (13 ft) wide.
Lot size: 528m² (5679 sq ft)
Slope: no
Site coverage ratio: 0.3
Floor area ratio: 0.45
Building window, building line and boundary: Roof ridge direction E/W
Edge development: Garage max 15m (49 ft)
Number of floors: 2
Roof type: Gable roof
Orientation: S/W
Maximum height / limits: 9m (30 ft) ridge height
Other: Sound insulation class IV
Client Requirements
Style, roof type, building type: Modern
Basement, floors: no basement, ground floor, upper floor, partial attic
Number of occupants, age: 4
Room requirements ground floor, upper floor: Ground floor living room, kitchen, guest room, office, guest WC, storage room; upper floor 2 children’s rooms, master bedroom, bathroom
Office: family use or home office: both
Overnight guests per year: 10
Open or closed architecture: open
Conservative or modern construction: modern
Open kitchen, kitchen island: yes
Number of dining seats: minimum 6
Fireplace: no
Music/stereo wall: no
Balcony, roof terrace: no
Garage, carport: double steel garage with utility room, 6 x 9m (20 x 30 ft)
Vegetable garden, greenhouse: no (bed in front of kitchen)
House Design
Planning by: Architect
What do you particularly like? Why?: We love the openness of the house.
What do you not like? Why?: We really like the design, but we’re unsure if there might be issues with the technical installations in the attic. Also, access to the attic is via a door in the gable, which might look a bit odd. The architect designed a shelf/ladder construction here. Possibly there is too little storage space for items not used regularly, like Christmas decorations.
Price estimate by architect/planner: €330,000 (including exterior landscaping and kitchen)
Personal price limit for house, including fittings: €350,000
Preferred heating technology: Gas or heat pump, depending on whether sound insulation class leads to a KFW 55 house standard. We still need to get advice on this.
If you had to give up something, which details/extensions
-could you do without: walk-in closet
-could you not do without: the general openness of the house.
Why is the design the way it is now? e.g.
Which wishes were implemented by the architect? Bedroom facing east, living room facing west, evening sun in the kitchen.
What makes it especially good or bad in your eyes? Good: It is not a standard house you’ve seen 100 times in builder catalogs. Bad: Relatively high space wastage due to the openness.
What is the most important/basic question about the floor plan in 130 characters?
What would you do differently or improve? Have we overlooked anything that could cause problems later?
Unfortunately, I cannot upload PDFs. The dimensions are there as well. For orientation: The living room is exactly 4m (13 ft) wide.
Thank you for your input! I will try to summarize our thoughts on each of your points as best as I can—maybe together we can find a better solution.
haydee schrieb:
1. Budget won’t work without a lot of DIY
The land is not included in the budget. Don’t you think it could work?
2. The openness wastes a lot of money without much benefit
Yes, that’s true. But I guess you have to accept some downsides if you want that airy feeling. We currently live in a fairly open space and really like it. Do you have an idea how to keep the openness but make it less wasteful?
3. Floor plan must include furniture in correct scale
The furniture should already be to scale.
It’s hard to say much without dimensions.
I added some screenshots with the measurements.
Living room: where does the TV go? Games, DVDs, books?
The TV will be mounted on the stair wall and can swivel toward the dining or seating area. The wall will have a small recess so the TV doesn’t stick out. A shelf can be hung underneath.
Table isn’t really as generous
What do you mean? The plan shows a 2.10m (7 feet) long table. That should fit three people on each side, right?
Guest room: where should the bed go?
A 1.40 x 2m (55 x 79 inches) bed fits into the niche. It’s not the most attractive solution, but we didn’t come up with anything better. Do you have an idea?
kaho674 schrieb:
Huh? Where is the washing machine now? In the office?
Yes, exactly. The office is also used for laundry. There is a laundry chute from the upstairs bathroom under the small sink into the cabinet in the bottom left of the office. We plan to set up a rotary clothesline on the east side to dry laundry outdoors.
What about the attic? How do you get up there? Why not extend the stairs all the way up?
The attic above the bathroom and master bedroom is accessible from the upstairs hallway. There will be a standard door in the gable that leads to a ladder mounted on the wall. We also thought about an attic hatch, but since a lot of technical equipment will be stored there, we decided on this solution. There is an open space above the stairs, so the stairs can’t be extended all the way up.
Can we get a site plan?
I don’t have it on hand right now. I will upload it as soon as I can.
Is there a garage or not? If yes, where?
Yes, the garage is on the southeast side. I am attaching some additional screenshots.
What looks problematic at first glance:
A bathroom on the ground floor without a window is weak for a new build.
Do you have an idea how to rearrange this? We are now planning skylights in the shower to bring in light. For ventilation, a mechanical ventilation system is planned.
The upstairs bathroom is a mess—the division makes it cramped and awkward.
I agree, it’s quite tight up there. We wanted the bathroom to be usable simultaneously by parents and children. Do you have a good idea?
Bathroom access from the bedroom is excessive—you can handle those three steps even at 90.
The dressing room door needs to open to the right.
I agree about the dressing room door. However, that wouldn’t be symmetrical anymore, and symmetry is important to us. That’s why we compromised. The dressing room itself is not very important to us; maybe the bathroom and bedroom could be arranged differently there.
Two open spaces with two kids—they’re always awake as soon as you move.
We currently have the openness and it actually works quite well and we like it.
Take a look at the finance section.
You can expect about 2,000 euros per square meter (about 186 sq ft) of living space, plus additional construction costs, landscaping, and garage.
Lower Saxony is a bit cheaper, but you have cost drivers like a gallery, glass railings, and open gables.
I understand your wish for openness.
But sorry for the blunt words, “this is intentional but poorly executed.”
Small living space—are you really only using it for watching TV? No games, nothing?
Sofa in front of the window, table where 8 people can’t move around, kitchen overflowing due to lack of storage, which ruins the effect.
Office or guest room ends up as a storage junk room.
Why not have a combined office-guest room, a utility room, and a decent cloakroom? School bags and shoes turn the spacious, open entrance on the plan into a chaotic area.
Look at the parent’s area.
Bedroom is okay, but the walk-in closet isn’t really usable; there is hardly any wardrobe space.
A generous room with a continuous fitted wardrobe would work better.
Same with the bathroom. Together they make a good family bathroom. Separate wet rooms have questionable dual use. Where do towels and hygiene items go?
The children can also use the lower floor if things get cramped.
Different staircase, different stair position, fewer or different rooms, one gallery is enough, not two. Not open up to the gable—there is also storage space that way.
Check out the model home park in Hannover Langenhagen.
The Fingerhuthaus has a great entrance that feels really spacious. Go upstairs and experience the gallery.
For comparison, visit the Hufhaus and feel its effect.
Visit the Meisterstückhaus and imagine the entrance with shoes, backpacks, and jackets for four people.
You can expect about 2,000 euros per square meter (about 186 sq ft) of living space, plus additional construction costs, landscaping, and garage.
Lower Saxony is a bit cheaper, but you have cost drivers like a gallery, glass railings, and open gables.
I understand your wish for openness.
But sorry for the blunt words, “this is intentional but poorly executed.”
Small living space—are you really only using it for watching TV? No games, nothing?
Sofa in front of the window, table where 8 people can’t move around, kitchen overflowing due to lack of storage, which ruins the effect.
Office or guest room ends up as a storage junk room.
Why not have a combined office-guest room, a utility room, and a decent cloakroom? School bags and shoes turn the spacious, open entrance on the plan into a chaotic area.
Look at the parent’s area.
Bedroom is okay, but the walk-in closet isn’t really usable; there is hardly any wardrobe space.
A generous room with a continuous fitted wardrobe would work better.
Same with the bathroom. Together they make a good family bathroom. Separate wet rooms have questionable dual use. Where do towels and hygiene items go?
The children can also use the lower floor if things get cramped.
Different staircase, different stair position, fewer or different rooms, one gallery is enough, not two. Not open up to the gable—there is also storage space that way.
Check out the model home park in Hannover Langenhagen.
The Fingerhuthaus has a great entrance that feels really spacious. Go upstairs and experience the gallery.
For comparison, visit the Hufhaus and feel its effect.
Visit the Meisterstückhaus and imagine the entrance with shoes, backpacks, and jackets for four people.
J
j.bautsch2 Oct 2019 13:07The kitchen layout doesn’t work at all like this; the passageways on the left and right of the island are maybe a maximum of 70cm (28 inches)... that’s not workable! Once again, someone has drawn in dollhouse furniture...
DimaNDS schrieb:
Sorry, here it is again with measurements. How can I edit a post? You really should pay close attention to your available space, the furniture, and the clear passage widths.
So that you understand what we are talking about here:
- The floor plans always show shell dimensions (structural dimensions before finishes)
- This means, for example, you might only have about 70cm (28 inches) of clear passage between the island and the walls on either side!
On the floor plans, it always looks nice and spacious until, for example, the kitchen fitter tells you that you need at least about 90cm (35 inches) for a comfortable passage. Anything less than that is inconvenient. Your architect might not care; they might just think the kitchen island can be shortened by half a meter (about 20 inches).
Also, chairs or armchairs at the dining table are not always pushed in, and they take up a lot of space when people move them around.
So take another look everywhere and try to think a bit beyond just the dimensions of the furniture.
EDIT:
@j.bautsch : Two minds think alike
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