ᐅ Single-family Home – Captain’s House Style – 150 m² – New Construction – Requesting Advice
Created on: 9 Oct 2019 10:54
E
Erisa2010
Hello everyone,
we have purchased a plot in Lower Saxony and have already had the first planning meeting with the architect from our building company, so the initial preliminary design is done. We have three options to choose from. We received a 3D file, which allowed us to virtually “walk through” the house beforehand. However, not everything convinced us, so I hope to get some good tips here for improvements.
Development Plan/Restrictions
Plot size: 595 m² (approximately 6400 sq ft)
Slope: rising along the north side from the driveway to the northeast corner, highest point about 1.30–1.50 m (approximately 4.3–4.9 ft) (retaining wall planned along boundary)
Building type: single-family house
Floor space index: 0.25
Number of floors: 1 full storey
Building setback: North 5 m (16 ft), South/West 3 m (10 ft)
Number of parking spaces: 2 as per development plan (1 carport, 1 parking space in front)
Orientation: south
Maximum heights/limits: ridge height above finished floor level (FFL) 9 m (30 ft), eaves height above FFL 4.5 m (15 ft)
Homeowner Requirements
Style, roof type, building form: solid captain’s house with gable facing south, pitched roof 45°
Basement, floors: 1 full storey, no basement
Number of people, age: 2 adults (30, 34), 2 children planned
Room requirements in basement, ground floor, upper floor:
Ground floor: guest toilet, utility room, kitchen, living/dining room
Upper floor: bathroom, master bedroom, 2 children’s rooms, storage room (washing machine/dryer raised)
Open kitchen, kitchen island: island solution (possibly without cooktop and maybe with seating) has not found a place yet; topic open: see below
Number of dining seats: 4 in kitchen, 6–8 in living/dining area
Fireplace: no
Music/stereo wall: no
Balcony: no
Terrace: yes, in front of kitchen and living/dining area
Cistern: yes
Heating/electricity: ground source heat pump and photovoltaic system with battery storage
Garage, carport: carport
Additional wishes/particulars, including reasons why certain options are preferred or not:
- Kitchen: We want to be able to eat with four people in the kitchen, mainly for weekday breakfasts or hot meals where the pot can remain on the stove. With children and high chairs, I don’t think a breakfast bar or counter makes sense!?
- Upper floor bathroom: Other homeowners recommended not locating the shower (and possibly the toilet too) on the wall adjacent to the bedroom due to noise.
- Window sizes still variable
House Design
Who designed it: by us in coordination with the architect of the building company
What do we particularly like, and why?
- Size of the kitchen, access to the terrace
- Door from kitchen to utility room
- Utility room with space for our 2 shelves (1.67 m (5.5 ft) wall) for food and household items, and recycling bag just around the corner (next to ventilation)
- Radiator valve concealed in utility room, upstairs also hidden in thicker wall
- Storage room on upper floor with space for washing machine and dryer on a platform, plus room for drying rack (room is ventilated)
- Large children’s rooms
What would we change in the current plan for the second draft:
- Change the kitchen-utility room door to open toward the kitchen to avoid collisions? (no sliding door solution)
- Possibly a light strip window in the guest toilet, so you don’t look in directly when entering the house and to improve light on the mirror, instead of only having light behind you (north side is generally darker) > move current bathroom window to the hallway
- Windows in the living/dining area should be shifted leftwards from the inside perspective, currently too close to the wall
- Possibly roof windows in the stairwell as the upper floor hallway is otherwise too dark
- Shower shelf without seat, only a half wall as a shelf for shower items; use the dead space behind the shower from the storage room side as a niche
- Children’s rooms are designed for 1.40 m (55 inch) beds, but 90 cm (35 inch) beds would also fit of course
What don’t we like and why?
- Ground floor hallway is too narrow
- Door to living/dining area is “under” the stairs (that is, the right doorway from the hallway), otherwise you can’t get to the kitchen
- Closed stair treads that I would have preferred are not feasible in this floor plan
- Double-sided stair railing in upper hallway (visually), although the hallway seems more open and less narrow this way
- Utility room has “excessively much space” in the middle of the room
- Upper bathroom: overall layout, bathroom feels small and outdated
Why is the design the way it is now?
- Kitchen: Since during the week I don’t want to carry everything to the big dining table for breakfast, having a dining area in the kitchen is important to me. Visually, having a kitchen seating area “next to” a large dining table seemed odd, so we currently planned a half-height wall to separate the two, behind which the kitchen table could be placed, so it still feels somewhat open. I’m not sure whether the wall length is sufficient, though.
- At first, we liked a straight staircase, but it protrudes quite far through the house both downstairs and upstairs.
[U]What is the most important/basic question about the floor plan, summarized in 130 characters?[/U]
How can the hallway be designed to feel less narrow? We’re open to other stair styles. There needs to be space for a wardrobe niche that isn’t too visible, ideally in front of the guest toilet. Maybe a new design will also improve the upstairs bathroom situation?
I look forward to your comments and ideas!
Best regards, Erisa
we have purchased a plot in Lower Saxony and have already had the first planning meeting with the architect from our building company, so the initial preliminary design is done. We have three options to choose from. We received a 3D file, which allowed us to virtually “walk through” the house beforehand. However, not everything convinced us, so I hope to get some good tips here for improvements.
Development Plan/Restrictions
Plot size: 595 m² (approximately 6400 sq ft)
Slope: rising along the north side from the driveway to the northeast corner, highest point about 1.30–1.50 m (approximately 4.3–4.9 ft) (retaining wall planned along boundary)
Building type: single-family house
Floor space index: 0.25
Number of floors: 1 full storey
Building setback: North 5 m (16 ft), South/West 3 m (10 ft)
Number of parking spaces: 2 as per development plan (1 carport, 1 parking space in front)
Orientation: south
Maximum heights/limits: ridge height above finished floor level (FFL) 9 m (30 ft), eaves height above FFL 4.5 m (15 ft)
Homeowner Requirements
Style, roof type, building form: solid captain’s house with gable facing south, pitched roof 45°
Basement, floors: 1 full storey, no basement
Number of people, age: 2 adults (30, 34), 2 children planned
Room requirements in basement, ground floor, upper floor:
Ground floor: guest toilet, utility room, kitchen, living/dining room
Upper floor: bathroom, master bedroom, 2 children’s rooms, storage room (washing machine/dryer raised)
Open kitchen, kitchen island: island solution (possibly without cooktop and maybe with seating) has not found a place yet; topic open: see below
Number of dining seats: 4 in kitchen, 6–8 in living/dining area
Fireplace: no
Music/stereo wall: no
Balcony: no
Terrace: yes, in front of kitchen and living/dining area
Cistern: yes
Heating/electricity: ground source heat pump and photovoltaic system with battery storage
Garage, carport: carport
Additional wishes/particulars, including reasons why certain options are preferred or not:
- Kitchen: We want to be able to eat with four people in the kitchen, mainly for weekday breakfasts or hot meals where the pot can remain on the stove. With children and high chairs, I don’t think a breakfast bar or counter makes sense!?
- Upper floor bathroom: Other homeowners recommended not locating the shower (and possibly the toilet too) on the wall adjacent to the bedroom due to noise.
- Window sizes still variable
House Design
Who designed it: by us in coordination with the architect of the building company
What do we particularly like, and why?
- Size of the kitchen, access to the terrace
- Door from kitchen to utility room
- Utility room with space for our 2 shelves (1.67 m (5.5 ft) wall) for food and household items, and recycling bag just around the corner (next to ventilation)
- Radiator valve concealed in utility room, upstairs also hidden in thicker wall
- Storage room on upper floor with space for washing machine and dryer on a platform, plus room for drying rack (room is ventilated)
- Large children’s rooms
What would we change in the current plan for the second draft:
- Change the kitchen-utility room door to open toward the kitchen to avoid collisions? (no sliding door solution)
- Possibly a light strip window in the guest toilet, so you don’t look in directly when entering the house and to improve light on the mirror, instead of only having light behind you (north side is generally darker) > move current bathroom window to the hallway
- Windows in the living/dining area should be shifted leftwards from the inside perspective, currently too close to the wall
- Possibly roof windows in the stairwell as the upper floor hallway is otherwise too dark
- Shower shelf without seat, only a half wall as a shelf for shower items; use the dead space behind the shower from the storage room side as a niche
- Children’s rooms are designed for 1.40 m (55 inch) beds, but 90 cm (35 inch) beds would also fit of course
What don’t we like and why?
- Ground floor hallway is too narrow
- Door to living/dining area is “under” the stairs (that is, the right doorway from the hallway), otherwise you can’t get to the kitchen
- Closed stair treads that I would have preferred are not feasible in this floor plan
- Double-sided stair railing in upper hallway (visually), although the hallway seems more open and less narrow this way
- Utility room has “excessively much space” in the middle of the room
- Upper bathroom: overall layout, bathroom feels small and outdated
Why is the design the way it is now?
- Kitchen: Since during the week I don’t want to carry everything to the big dining table for breakfast, having a dining area in the kitchen is important to me. Visually, having a kitchen seating area “next to” a large dining table seemed odd, so we currently planned a half-height wall to separate the two, behind which the kitchen table could be placed, so it still feels somewhat open. I’m not sure whether the wall length is sufficient, though.
- At first, we liked a straight staircase, but it protrudes quite far through the house both downstairs and upstairs.
[U]What is the most important/basic question about the floor plan, summarized in 130 characters?[/U]
How can the hallway be designed to feel less narrow? We’re open to other stair styles. There needs to be space for a wardrobe niche that isn’t too visible, ideally in front of the guest toilet. Maybe a new design will also improve the upstairs bathroom situation?
I look forward to your comments and ideas!
Best regards, Erisa
M
Mottenhausen10 Oct 2019 12:56Erisa2010 schrieb:
So, the first preliminary draft is done, we still have three left. The design is pulled out again—don’t let yourself be misled: originally, the walk-in closet was located in the dormer on the upper floor (see the label in the section drawing). "Child 1" was the bedroom, and the door was in the slanted wall. I would first insist that you still have three drafts remaining, since this apparently was the design for someone else.
I think the space between the dining table and the kitchen wall is wasted—what is the plan for it? Surely it can be used more efficiently.
I would remove the partition wall; here, an island with a breakfast bar and stools would fit perfectly.
Is the 3.71m (12 feet) between the sofa and the TV enough for you? Maybe you could create more space by taking some room from the hallway.
After all, the living room is the main living area, not the hallway.
As a suggestion, here is the Maxime 305 plan. You could also shift the kitchen slightly to the left. I find the layout quite nice.
A separate study could be omitted. You could also create a nice pantry on the far left.
I would remove the partition wall; here, an island with a breakfast bar and stools would fit perfectly.
Is the 3.71m (12 feet) between the sofa and the TV enough for you? Maybe you could create more space by taking some room from the hallway.
After all, the living room is the main living area, not the hallway.
As a suggestion, here is the Maxime 305 plan. You could also shift the kitchen slightly to the left. I find the layout quite nice.
A separate study could be omitted. You could also create a nice pantry on the far left.
Erisa2010 schrieb:
The south side faces the street, so in our case, placing the gable there makes more sense.I wasn’t precise earlier: traditionally, the captain’s gable belongs on the side facing the access street and thus symbolically “crowns” the main entrance. The combination of a rear main entrance, a corner lot with a more suitable access side at the gable end, and ultimately the captain’s gable facing the garden is unconventional enough that this alone inspired me to rotate the house. What does the development plan specify beyond the “site plan” section shown here? (ridge direction, building axis, etc.)https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
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Erisa201011 Oct 2019 16:19ypg schrieb:
Honestly, I don’t really know what you want in the kitchen now: island, bar, dining table...? I would suggest differentiating for you a) what you WANT and b) what is POSSIBLE. Then have it planned accordingly.Thanks, we have tried to narrow it down and concluded that essentially the four of us can always eat at the large dining table (as long as the distance is not as far as in the first draft!) and a counter area would be nice for a quick breakfast, but 3 seats would be sufficient there.
ypg schrieb:
I don’t like the living room at all: 32m² (345 sq ft) is compact, but the first 10m² (108 sq ft) are unused. The impression given by the furniture is misleading. Try drawing your furniture to scale… then you’ll see where it gets tight. With a fridge about one meter (3 ft) wide, sitting in bed on a Sunday morning won’t really work...I don’t like the living room either. I will measure the necessary clearances in our current apartment again.
Oh, we don’t really sit in bed for long in the mornings anyway. Right now, we have 77cm (30 inches) between the bed and the wardrobe, which I find perfect because I can sit on the edge of the bed and easily reach the bottom drawer for sweaters. Since we also pack suitcases quite often, a huge distance between wardrobe and bed would bother me because it’s convenient to lay everything out on the bed.
Mottenhausen schrieb:
This draft comes from the archives, don’t be fooled: originally, the dressing room was in the dormer on the upper floor (see label in the section). “Child 1” was the bedroom, and the door was in the slanted wall. So I would first insist that you still have 3 drafts free because this was clearly a draft for someone else.You misunderstood, we actually worked out this draft with the architect ourselves.chrisw81 schrieb:
I would remove the partition wall, this would be a good place for an island with a counter and stools.I tried that – but it doesn’t solve the problem of so much empty space in the middle.
chrisw81 schrieb:
Is 3.71m (12 ft) between the sofa and TV enough for you? Maybe you could create more space by taking some from the hallway since the living room is the main living area, not the hallway.Yes, that’s an idea. I will measure again how much space we currently have.
chrisw81 schrieb:
As a suggestion, here’s the Maxime 305, where the kitchen could also be shifted a bit to the left. I like that layout. You could then drop a dedicated workspace. You could also create a nice pantry on the far left.That is a really nice layout, but due to our gable it’s not so easy to replicate. I prefer not to remove or have asymmetrical patio elements for aesthetic reasons, and I don’t need a patio door or large window in the pantry.
11ant schrieb:
I wasn’t precise: traditionally, the captain’s gable is placed on the street-facing side to highlight the main entrance. The combination of a rear-facing main entrance, a corner lot with the more suitable access from the gable side, and then a captain’s gable on the garden side is untraditional, which is why I was interested in rotating the house. What does the zoning plan say beyond the “site plan” excerpt shown here? Roof ridge orientation, house axis, etc.?The zoning plan does not specify the house orientation. Thanks for the detailed explanation, but we are not too strict about the “main entrance” concept. I have also seen several captain’s houses on corner lots in new developments arranged like this.
Here are my two considerations.
Idea 1: Kitchen stays where it is, kitchen island with 3 seats (the kitchen island measures 1.60 x 1.20m (63 x 47 inches) with 1.20m (47 inches) clearance to fridge/oven)
+ Terrace accessible from the kitchen
+ Passage from kitchen to utility room/pantry
+ 3 tall cabinets possible in kitchen (fridge, oven/microwave combo, dishwasher)
- Distance to dining table from kitchen approx. 5–6 meters (16–20 ft)
- More compact living room (3.71m (12 ft) long, 3.30m (11 ft) wide)
Idea 2: Swap kitchen and living room
+ Distance to dining table from kitchen approx. 2–3 meters (6.5–10 ft)
+ Larger living room (3.80m (12.5 ft) long, 4m (13 ft) wide)
- Longer walk to utility room/pantry, no direct passage
- Longer walk to terrace via bay window
- Smaller kitchen, possibly no room for 3 tall cabinets anymore?
Option 1 has the clear advantage that the kitchen is next to the terrace and the sofa is never placed in front of a floor-to-ceiling window.
However, two entrances to the utility room should not be necessary. Also, the zigzag line for the open space access should be straightened, so there is storage space available under the stairs, for example for shoes, bags, hats, etc. Additionally, the window position in the utility room needs to be adjusted, because currently a wide hallway is wasted for about 170 cm (67 inches) of shelving.
However, two entrances to the utility room should not be necessary. Also, the zigzag line for the open space access should be straightened, so there is storage space available under the stairs, for example for shoes, bags, hats, etc. Additionally, the window position in the utility room needs to be adjusted, because currently a wide hallway is wasted for about 170 cm (67 inches) of shelving.
I find this house width rather awkward. It’s too narrow to align the living room properly, yet actually too wide, creating a lot of unusable space in the middle that could be better used for the living room. The layout of the children's rooms upstairs is a mess, and the hallway just doesn’t work at all.
If it were mine, I would go for a wider design and position all the living areas on the ground floor facing the terrace (footprint stays the same = cost-neutral). I’d include a proper pantry, a bathroom with a separate shower for the dog or dad, and a utility room. Upstairs, decent children's bedrooms sharing a dormer to bring in southern sunlight. I’d also add French balconies for my little ones.
Since there’s no space for the washing machine, I’d install a laundry chute down to the utility room. From there, there’s a door leading directly outside to the drying area. Four meters (about 13 feet) of closet space in the master bedroom offers enough room for a suit and evening gown.
A narrower house also means a larger garden right away.
If it were mine, I would go for a wider design and position all the living areas on the ground floor facing the terrace (footprint stays the same = cost-neutral). I’d include a proper pantry, a bathroom with a separate shower for the dog or dad, and a utility room. Upstairs, decent children's bedrooms sharing a dormer to bring in southern sunlight. I’d also add French balconies for my little ones.
Since there’s no space for the washing machine, I’d install a laundry chute down to the utility room. From there, there’s a door leading directly outside to the drying area. Four meters (about 13 feet) of closet space in the master bedroom offers enough room for a suit and evening gown.
A narrower house also means a larger garden right away.
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