ᐅ 150 sqm urban villa first draft – suggestions welcome

Hello everyone,

the plot has been purchased and we are now planning our single-family house (solid construction).
We are currently in contact with several general contractors and have already received initial drawings and floor plan options.
We are quite satisfied with one option, but not yet 100%.
We would like to present this here for discussion and look forward to your ideas and suggestions.

Development Plan / Restrictions
Plot size: 495 sqm (5329 sq ft)
Slope: no
Site occupancy index: 0.4
Floor area ratio: 0.8
Building setback, building line and boundary: 3 m (10 ft) from the street
Edge construction: allowed for garage/carport
Number of parking spaces: 1 1/2
Number of floors: maximum 2 full stories
Roof type: any
Style: any
Orientation: any
Maximum heights / limits: ridge height max. 10 m (33 ft), eaves height max. 6.25 m (21 ft)

Owners’ Requirements
Style, roof form, building type: urban villa
Basement, floors: 2 full stories with no basement
Number of occupants, age: currently 2 adults, later + 2 children
Space requirement on ground floor, upper floor: approx. 150 sqm (1615 sq ft)
Office: used by both for home office
Open kitchen with island
Garage, carport: undecided; either one or the other

House Design
Planner: designed by a general contractor with additional improvements drawn in
What do you particularly like? Why?
- as future homeowners, we think the rooms we need are well accommodated
- office on the ground floor for easy access right after work
- direct access from carport → utility room → kitchen
What do you not like? Why?
- access to the master bedroom only through the dressing room
- upper floor hallway feels quite large due to the stair design

If you had to give up, which details/features
- you can give up:
- dressing room in master bedroom
- you cannot give up:
- office

Why is the design as it is now?
We had an initial meeting for needs analysis and then received two floor plan options.
The attached drawings already include some minor improvements.

What is the most important/fundamental question about the floor plan in 130 characters?
Overall, we find the floor plan quite good as a first draft.
However, we want to use the collective knowledge here to optimize the plan and get ideas and suggestions.

Well, just a standard design.
The staircase length seems quite short to me. What is the floor-to-ceiling height?

With the front door, you practically walk straight into the stairs. That’s inconvenient. I would move it to the other side within the symmetrical window frame.
The distance between the sofa and the TV seems too tight. It also looks very cramped around the dining table.
I would move the kitchen island to the right side of the plan against the outer wall; otherwise, you’ll be running into each other a lot.
I would swap the bathroom and utility room. This way, the bathroom can have light from two sides. Also, the parents won’t be woken by every toilet flush.
Access through the walk-in closet is advantageous—I wouldn’t change that.

Since we don’t have the site plan, nothing can be said about the positioning on the plot.

For an almost square floor plan, the layout is quite reasonable. The large space required for a hallway on the upper floor is almost unavoidable with square floor plans and has to be accepted. The access through the dressing room is consistent. With toddlers, you need a baby monitor to hear anything; with teenagers, you’ll appreciate the privacy.

Are you choosing the city villa because you like the look, because it is the most cost-effective option for a lot of square meters, or because the developer suggested it?

hampshire schrieb:

For an almost square floor plan, the layout is quite reasonable. The large space required for a hallway on the upper floor is almost unavoidable with square floor plans and has to be accepted. The passage through the dressing room is consistent. With small children, you need a baby monitor to hear anything; with teenagers, you appreciate the privacy.
Are you choosing the city villa because you like the appearance, because it is the most cost-effective option for a lot of square meters, or because the developer suggested it?

Thanks for the initial feedback.
We find the city villa very appealing visually but are not fixed on it. With another general contractor, we are actually leaning more toward a different house type with a base dimension of 9x12m (30x39 feet). We also really liked the Maxime 300 from Viebrockhaus when we visited the show home park.

What is the orientation?

If the arrow is correct, the plan is oriented to true north, with the utility room facing north.