ᐅ Single-family house floor plan, approximately 150 sqm, with east-facing garden
Created on: 9 Jan 2020 21:17
O
OWLer
Hello everyone,
after reading many threads here about how well-intentioned floor plans are expertly dissected, I’m now stepping out from the shadows. We plan to build this year and have already purchased the plot. We are currently in discussions with two providers. Provider 1 never really impressed us with their designs and plans very large houses without offering much living space. I’m bringing Provider 2 into the discussion here because, apart from the points mentioned below, we still like their design.
We hope the collective forum expertise will point out some pitfalls and maybe even help solve our hallway dilemma.
Sorry for the rough sketches of the measurements.
Development Plan / Restrictions
Plot size: 610 sqm (648 with purchased noise barrier)
Slope: approx. 70cm (28 inches) over 19m (62 feet), sloping from north to south
Site coverage ratio: 0.4
Floor area ratio: 0.8
Building envelope, building line and boundary: 3m (10 feet) from the street, 3m (10 feet) to neighbors north/south, building envelope 10m (33 feet) east-west
Edge development
Number of parking spaces
Number of stories: 2
Roof type: gable roof ≤45°
Architectural style
Orientation: ridge running north-south
Maximum heights / limits: max. ridge height 10.5m (34 feet), eaves max. 6.0m (20 feet)
Other requirements: On the east side, a noise barrier is built along half of the plot, with forest behind it. Due to the noise barrier, the garden is practically not visible from outside.
Clients’ Requirements
Style, roof type, building type: rather classic
Basement, number of floors: basement, 1.5 floors
Number of residents, age: currently 2 (ages 33 and 27 – planning 2 children)
Space requirements on ground floor: shower WC, open living space (kitchen, dining, living), study; upper floor: 2 kids’ rooms, bathroom, master bedroom (walk-in closet)
Office: home office (teaching profession)
Overnight guests per year: approx. 15
Open or closed architecture: rather open
Conservative or modern construction: conservative and brick-faced
Open kitchen, kitchen island: yes
Number of dining seats: 6
Fireplace: preferably yes, budget permitting
Music / stereo wall: no
Balcony, roof terrace: no
Garage, carport: carport / budget permitting
Utility garden, greenhouse: no
Further wishes / special features / daily routine, also reasons for why or why not something is desired
House Design
Designer: planner from a construction company
What do you particularly like? Why?
We really like the upper floor. Room sizes fit well. We can’t really assess the master bedroom on the south side yet. The kids’ rooms seem the right size and have a good layout in my opinion.
A guest room was not a requirement – apparently there was space on the upper floor. We are not unhappy about that.
The living-dining area really appeals to me. Kitchen opening to the terrace. My wife likes the pantry options with access to the garden, basement, and carport.
What don’t you like? Why?
What we don’t like is the narrow corridors. I imagine 1.2m (4 feet) and 1m (3 feet) very cramped. Between the carport and along the stairs, this wouldn’t bother me so much, but the entrance definitely should be wider.
The master bedroom on the south side does not convince me much.
Price estimate according to architect/planner: >440k€
Personal price limit for the house, including fittings: approx. 440k€
Preferred heating system: gas heating required by the plot purchase contract.
If you had to give up something, which details / features could you do without:
I could do without the pantry and use that space for the WC instead. My wife, however, sees this differently.
Which features can you not give up:
The study on the ground floor is a must due to my teaching profession. The idea is to be able to drop things off in the study after returning from school, close the door, and have some downtime without needing to go upstairs or downstairs.
The basement is also essential. Many friends and acquaintances who have built in recent years do so mostly without basements. It takes iron discipline to keep utility rooms “tidy.” We manage that in our rental now but want to move away from that. We don’t want to become hoarders but want more space to spread out. Also, I want to be able to store all my tools in the basement and comfortably repair my bicycles.
Why was the design made the way it is?
Standard design from the planner?
Which wishes were implemented by the architect?
Large windows on the ground floor facing the garden, as it is not directly visible.
A bay window on the street side is mandatory for the look. The planned flat-roof bay will definitely be changed to a pitched roof. The plaster on the bay will be replaced by brick cladding. We find the bay window to the garden quite nice. Not a must-have, but it was part of the planning basis we provided and, in my opinion, positively impacts the kids’ rooms.
A mix of many examples from various magazines...
What makes it particularly good or bad in your eyes?
What is the most important / fundamental question about the floor plan, summarized in 130 characters?
How do you evaluate the usability of the pantry—does it work as well as we imagine it? What other ways, besides widening the house, do you see to widen the corridors? Does the indicated wardrobe area fit?
In principle, I would like to build it this way if only the narrow corridors weren’t an issue. Making the house 25-50cm (10-20 inches) wider is not technically feasible and probably financially difficult.
after reading many threads here about how well-intentioned floor plans are expertly dissected, I’m now stepping out from the shadows. We plan to build this year and have already purchased the plot. We are currently in discussions with two providers. Provider 1 never really impressed us with their designs and plans very large houses without offering much living space. I’m bringing Provider 2 into the discussion here because, apart from the points mentioned below, we still like their design.
We hope the collective forum expertise will point out some pitfalls and maybe even help solve our hallway dilemma.
Sorry for the rough sketches of the measurements.
Development Plan / Restrictions
Plot size: 610 sqm (648 with purchased noise barrier)
Slope: approx. 70cm (28 inches) over 19m (62 feet), sloping from north to south
Site coverage ratio: 0.4
Floor area ratio: 0.8
Building envelope, building line and boundary: 3m (10 feet) from the street, 3m (10 feet) to neighbors north/south, building envelope 10m (33 feet) east-west
Edge development
Number of parking spaces
Number of stories: 2
Roof type: gable roof ≤45°
Architectural style
Orientation: ridge running north-south
Maximum heights / limits: max. ridge height 10.5m (34 feet), eaves max. 6.0m (20 feet)
Other requirements: On the east side, a noise barrier is built along half of the plot, with forest behind it. Due to the noise barrier, the garden is practically not visible from outside.
Clients’ Requirements
Style, roof type, building type: rather classic
Basement, number of floors: basement, 1.5 floors
Number of residents, age: currently 2 (ages 33 and 27 – planning 2 children)
Space requirements on ground floor: shower WC, open living space (kitchen, dining, living), study; upper floor: 2 kids’ rooms, bathroom, master bedroom (walk-in closet)
Office: home office (teaching profession)
Overnight guests per year: approx. 15
Open or closed architecture: rather open
Conservative or modern construction: conservative and brick-faced
Open kitchen, kitchen island: yes
Number of dining seats: 6
Fireplace: preferably yes, budget permitting
Music / stereo wall: no
Balcony, roof terrace: no
Garage, carport: carport / budget permitting
Utility garden, greenhouse: no
Further wishes / special features / daily routine, also reasons for why or why not something is desired
House Design
Designer: planner from a construction company
What do you particularly like? Why?
We really like the upper floor. Room sizes fit well. We can’t really assess the master bedroom on the south side yet. The kids’ rooms seem the right size and have a good layout in my opinion.
A guest room was not a requirement – apparently there was space on the upper floor. We are not unhappy about that.
The living-dining area really appeals to me. Kitchen opening to the terrace. My wife likes the pantry options with access to the garden, basement, and carport.
What don’t you like? Why?
What we don’t like is the narrow corridors. I imagine 1.2m (4 feet) and 1m (3 feet) very cramped. Between the carport and along the stairs, this wouldn’t bother me so much, but the entrance definitely should be wider.
The master bedroom on the south side does not convince me much.
Price estimate according to architect/planner: >440k€
Personal price limit for the house, including fittings: approx. 440k€
Preferred heating system: gas heating required by the plot purchase contract.
If you had to give up something, which details / features could you do without:
I could do without the pantry and use that space for the WC instead. My wife, however, sees this differently.
Which features can you not give up:
The study on the ground floor is a must due to my teaching profession. The idea is to be able to drop things off in the study after returning from school, close the door, and have some downtime without needing to go upstairs or downstairs.
The basement is also essential. Many friends and acquaintances who have built in recent years do so mostly without basements. It takes iron discipline to keep utility rooms “tidy.” We manage that in our rental now but want to move away from that. We don’t want to become hoarders but want more space to spread out. Also, I want to be able to store all my tools in the basement and comfortably repair my bicycles.
Why was the design made the way it is?
Standard design from the planner?
Which wishes were implemented by the architect?
Large windows on the ground floor facing the garden, as it is not directly visible.
A bay window on the street side is mandatory for the look. The planned flat-roof bay will definitely be changed to a pitched roof. The plaster on the bay will be replaced by brick cladding. We find the bay window to the garden quite nice. Not a must-have, but it was part of the planning basis we provided and, in my opinion, positively impacts the kids’ rooms.
A mix of many examples from various magazines...
What makes it particularly good or bad in your eyes?
What is the most important / fundamental question about the floor plan, summarized in 130 characters?
How do you evaluate the usability of the pantry—does it work as well as we imagine it? What other ways, besides widening the house, do you see to widen the corridors? Does the indicated wardrobe area fit?
In principle, I would like to build it this way if only the narrow corridors weren’t an issue. Making the house 25-50cm (10-20 inches) wider is not technically feasible and probably financially difficult.
Matthew03 schrieb:
...I would find it uncomfortable to have the shower right by the entrance, maybe just a matter of personal preference, but in my opinion it should be better designed.I agree here. When showering, water sometimes splashes further than expected, so you end up stepping out with wet feet, often leaving a puddle at the bathroom entrance or having a constantly soaking wet towel "to step over" in that area. It’s better to position the shower exit so that you only walk there for showering.
hausnrplus2518 Feb 2020 19:22I first came across this argument here in the forum and found it very reasonable! Our current bathroom makes exactly this mistake.
What we find much worse, however, is that in our apartment there is too little space in front of the shower to dry off, as you either stand in front of the door or in front of the washbasin. When used alone, it’s not a problem. But when two people use it, it’s a constant “step back”…
So here’s a tip: run through everyday routines in all rooms!
What we find much worse, however, is that in our apartment there is too little space in front of the shower to dry off, as you either stand in front of the door or in front of the washbasin. When used alone, it’s not a problem. But when two people use it, it’s a constant “step back”…
So here’s a tip: run through everyday routines in all rooms!
Fortunately, the weather has been completely rainy all weekend. This gave the general contractor’s planner some free time to review our floor plan again. Basically, he has now implemented our requested changes.
Ground Floor:
The bay window was reduced from 50cm (20 inches) to 25cm (10 inches). We added that space to the living room and also moved the wall one brick further toward the bottom of the plan. This widened the living/dining room by 50cm (20 inches).
The idea to remove the door directly connecting the entrance to the kitchen was actually our suggestion. We thought this would give us more flexibility with tall cabinets along the corridor wall. However, it already feels like a mistake. We are now considering reserving that kitchen door location and installing a lintel. That way, we would wall up the door but only have to remove the plaster and bricks later if we want to reopen it.
The bay window is now “corrected” to be about one-third of the building length but still only has the necessary width inside for the stair landing. So the kitchen has gained 25cm (10 inches).
We still need to decide on the windows. Currently, there is a wall exactly where our dining table would be. Our first thought is to replicate the living room window exactly on the right side by the dining table and keep the corner window in the dining room as is.
Upper Floor:
The staircase is now narrower, reducing the hallway width as well. This creates more space in all rooms except the office. The extra 25cm (10 inches) in building depth has been allocated to the walk-in closet. I’m not sure if that will be enough or if we might have to take some space from the bathroom and bedroom.
Basement: just for information. We definitely will not build the large corridor room with the tiny 10m² (108 sq ft) room as shown.
Exterior Views:
The roof overhangs are still too large and definitely need to be reduced. The bay window at the front will now be finished with plaster and have two large windows installed with external blinds mounted in front.
Our Opinion:
We are finally satisfied to have a fairly generous floor plan that accommodates all our rooms. All of this without awkward layouts or angled walls.
General contractor 1 made it very difficult for us with their floor plans. Although all rooms were included, something always felt off.
General contractor 2 initially presented really great floor plans and design. However, there were serious flaws in the kitchen and hallway layouts that left us wondering why a qualified architect would submit that to clients.
Thanks to the excellent input from the forum, especially @kaho674, we have now brought general contractor 1’s plans to the point where they look systematic and no longer like something generated at random.
Ground Floor:
The bay window was reduced from 50cm (20 inches) to 25cm (10 inches). We added that space to the living room and also moved the wall one brick further toward the bottom of the plan. This widened the living/dining room by 50cm (20 inches).
The idea to remove the door directly connecting the entrance to the kitchen was actually our suggestion. We thought this would give us more flexibility with tall cabinets along the corridor wall. However, it already feels like a mistake. We are now considering reserving that kitchen door location and installing a lintel. That way, we would wall up the door but only have to remove the plaster and bricks later if we want to reopen it.
The bay window is now “corrected” to be about one-third of the building length but still only has the necessary width inside for the stair landing. So the kitchen has gained 25cm (10 inches).
We still need to decide on the windows. Currently, there is a wall exactly where our dining table would be. Our first thought is to replicate the living room window exactly on the right side by the dining table and keep the corner window in the dining room as is.
Upper Floor:
The staircase is now narrower, reducing the hallway width as well. This creates more space in all rooms except the office. The extra 25cm (10 inches) in building depth has been allocated to the walk-in closet. I’m not sure if that will be enough or if we might have to take some space from the bathroom and bedroom.
Basement: just for information. We definitely will not build the large corridor room with the tiny 10m² (108 sq ft) room as shown.
Exterior Views:
The roof overhangs are still too large and definitely need to be reduced. The bay window at the front will now be finished with plaster and have two large windows installed with external blinds mounted in front.
Our Opinion:
We are finally satisfied to have a fairly generous floor plan that accommodates all our rooms. All of this without awkward layouts or angled walls.
General contractor 1 made it very difficult for us with their floor plans. Although all rooms were included, something always felt off.
General contractor 2 initially presented really great floor plans and design. However, there were serious flaws in the kitchen and hallway layouts that left us wondering why a qualified architect would submit that to clients.
Thanks to the excellent input from the forum, especially @kaho674, we have now brought general contractor 1’s plans to the point where they look systematic and no longer like something generated at random.
I would definitely align the kitchen door straight away. I also think there are quite a lot of kitchen cabinets near the door. Cabinets also come with a cost.
I really don’t like the bathroom upstairs – the shower takes up almost the entire space.
I find the floor-to-ceiling windows at the roof apex a bit excessive. Are you planning to extend the staircase all the way up?
I really don’t like the bathroom upstairs – the shower takes up almost the entire space.
I find the floor-to-ceiling windows at the roof apex a bit excessive. Are you planning to extend the staircase all the way up?
Oh, I almost forgot to mention. We still want to rework the bathroom layout using graph paper. We’re not satisfied with the design from the draft. We’ll find something better.
Are you referring to the windows in the bay from the street/west view? The windows are indeed quite large. We’ll probably have to adjust those as well. I can also easily imagine making them as 2x2 windows, like in the GU2 drafts. However, since they are directly adjacent to the landing stairs, they will probably be fixed windows without a tilt function. External venetian blinds are planned to be installed on them.
Are you referring to the windows in the bay from the street/west view? The windows are indeed quite large. We’ll probably have to adjust those as well. I can also easily imagine making them as 2x2 windows, like in the GU2 drafts. However, since they are directly adjacent to the landing stairs, they will probably be fixed windows without a tilt function. External venetian blinds are planned to be installed on them.
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