ᐅ Floor Plan Optimization for Urban Villa + Considerations for Land Elevation

I like large rooms and fewer of them. However, having a room for an office/hobby/guest/overflow space doesn’t hurt. Or does the lady want to go to bed because the guys are watching the Super Bowl?

I guess you’re still quite young and have small children. I can’t imagine living in the same house until you die, for 40 to 60 years. That’s what the older generation did. Back then, there weren’t the same housing options as today, and people often worked for the same company and lived in the same village their whole lives.

The trend is more like what hampshire described—downsizing as you get older and not having to stay on the same street your entire life. I find that much less boring. Maintaining a large outdoor area is also less enjoyable when you can’t bend over anymore. So, I think building a house specifically for old age is no longer up to date.

I am currently redesigning the windows.
I noticed that the floor-to-ceiling windows/sliding doors are 2.13 m (7 feet) high. (See #1) Is that normal? It seems a bit low to me.

The house will be located in a new development area where neighbors are quite close. We want to avoid having too much visibility from outside. Are these narrow, tall windows placed on a higher sill height suitable as the only main windows? For example, in the bedroom, windows measuring 2 m x 0.76 m (6 ft 7 in x 2 ft 6 in) with a sill height of 1.50 m (5 feet)? I believe this window style is called “light bands.”

Do you have any advice regarding windows?
I feel a bit left on my own. The architect assigned to us is unreliable. So, when it comes to the floor plan and window design, we are on our own and not making progress.

Do you have an idea of how a window looks at 1.50m (5 feet) height? I think it gives a basement-like feeling. Curtains can be used to block views from neighbors if needed, although that might not even be necessary.

Pinky0301 schrieb:

Do you have an idea of how a window positioned at 1.50m (5 feet) height looks? I feel it gives a basement-like atmosphere. As for privacy from neighbors, curtains can always be used if necessary.

Would you simply ignore views and choose only windows that you like? For example, I would like a double casement window in the bedroom. The bedroom is at most 11 square meters (118 square feet). Would you choose the size 1.51/1.26, 1.76/1.26, or 2.01/1.26 meters (5.0/4.1, 5.8/4.1, or 6.6/4.1 feet) in width/height? Which one provides enough light? The bedroom will have a window only on one side.

I would do the same. Windows need to provide natural light to the rooms and create a connection to the outside.

I was worried about one child’s bedroom window. You can see from the doctor’s office waiting room through the child’s bedroom all the way to the bathroom door. You only see anything if the light is on inside our house. I’ve been in that waiting room several times; nobody just sits there staring. The people there have time and are often bored, but even then we’re not interesting enough. The neighbor who walks through their house has even less time.

From the parking lot (doctor’s office, bank), you can theoretically see through our entire ground floor all the way to the neighbor opposite. I’ve never seen anyone gawking (except right after we moved in). Eventually, a hedge grew and at least the ground floor became private.

Now the curtain is drawn, and in the evenings and on weekends there is heavenly peace.