ᐅ Floor Plan Optimization for Urban Villa + Considerations for Land Elevation
Created on: 31 Jan 2020 13:29
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Shiny86
Plot size 492 sqm (5293 sq ft)
Slope yes
Site coverage ratio?
Floor area ratio?
Building envelope, building line, and boundary?
Boundary development?
Number of parking spaces 2
Number of floors 2
Roof type Pyramid roof, 25 degrees
Architectural style Modern urban villa
Orientation Main entrance facing north
Maximum heights/limits
Additional requirements?
Clients’ Requirements
Style, roof type, building type
Modern urban villa with pyramid roof, 25 degrees
Basement, floors 2 full floors without basement
Number of occupants 4
Open kitchen, kitchen island
Number of parking spaces 8-10
Garage
House design
Who designed it?
-Architect
What do you particularly like? Why?
Large living area, master bathroom
What don’t you like? Why?
Utility room quite small and master bedroom small, children’s room somewhat too large
Why is the design as it is now?
The architect implemented the corresponding wishes
What do you think is especially good or bad about it?
Good: large living area
I am uncertain about the half-height window sizes and the swing direction of the doors
What is the most important/basic question about the floor plan summarized in 130 characters?
What do you think about the floor plans?
Slope yes
Site coverage ratio?
Floor area ratio?
Building envelope, building line, and boundary?
Boundary development?
Number of parking spaces 2
Number of floors 2
Roof type Pyramid roof, 25 degrees
Architectural style Modern urban villa
Orientation Main entrance facing north
Maximum heights/limits
Additional requirements?
Clients’ Requirements
Style, roof type, building type
Modern urban villa with pyramid roof, 25 degrees
Basement, floors 2 full floors without basement
Number of occupants 4
Open kitchen, kitchen island
Number of parking spaces 8-10
Garage
House design
Who designed it?
-Architect
What do you particularly like? Why?
Large living area, master bathroom
What don’t you like? Why?
Utility room quite small and master bedroom small, children’s room somewhat too large
Why is the design as it is now?
The architect implemented the corresponding wishes
What do you think is especially good or bad about it?
Good: large living area
I am uncertain about the half-height window sizes and the swing direction of the doors
What is the most important/basic question about the floor plan summarized in 130 characters?
- Where could it still be optimized? Would you recommend different window dimensions or sill heights?
- What do you think is poor or what would you do differently?
- A partition wall will be added in the walk-in closet. That would theoretically allow watching TV from the bed. I am considering a lightweight wall. I plan to place a 211cm (83 inches) Pax combination wardrobe in the closet. The closet is planned with a raw width of 218cm (86 inches). Do you think 218cm is enough for the Pax once the walls are plastered, or how wide should the rough dimensions preferably be?
- Is the hallway on the ground floor too narrow?
- Would you raise the ground level? The house would be 40cm (16 inches) below street level. If I build a terrace into the garden, it would be about 1m (3 ft) difference. You could raise only the house level, resulting in approximately 1.6m (5 ft) difference between terrace and garden. I don’t know anyone living below street level. Raising the garden would probably not be allowed without permits, and affected neighbors likely wouldn’t agree. On the sides of the house adjacent to neighbors, raising is permitted only up to certain limits. I am overwhelmed with the decision.
- Do you have any ideas for arranging the sofa differently and placing the TV sensibly? My husband doesn’t want the sofa back facing a window. I still need to get used to placing the sofa in the middle of the room.
- Is the kitchen size sufficient for a nice kitchen with an island?
What do you think about the floor plans?
A
Alessandro16 Apr 2020 14:34That is saving in the wrong place.
Questions like whether a 1.6m (5.25 feet) wide passage is sufficient and if a sofa for four people can fit there would then become unnecessary, saving a lot of headaches, stress, and valuable time.
Questions like whether a 1.6m (5.25 feet) wide passage is sufficient and if a sofa for four people can fit there would then become unnecessary, saving a lot of headaches, stress, and valuable time.
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Alessandro16 Apr 2020 14:37...then you can also try a few things, such as turning a straight staircase to enlarge the entrance area and create more space for the wardrobe.
Alessandro schrieb:
This is saving in the wrong place.
Questions like: is a 1.6m (5 ft 3 in) wide passage enough, and can I fit a four-seater sofa there, would then become pointless, saving a lot of headaches, stress, and valuable time. I don’t think you can generalize that. The architect certainly has their perspective, but the homeowner might have different requirements. One person might find a 1.2m (4 ft) hallway sufficient and prefer to allocate the extra 40cm (16 in) elsewhere, but the architect specifies 1.6m (5 ft 3 in) — how can you argue against that without prior planning?
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Alessandro16 Apr 2020 14:43I don’t know your architect, but if I tell him to include stained glass windows and a bell tower, then he has to do it.
He is designing YOUR house and should support you with advice and practical help. He can make recommendations and share his experience. However, if you as the client decide differently, he has to follow your decision.
Where would we be if architects didn’t realize the client’s wishes?
It would be like ordering a yellow VW Golf at a dealership and the salesperson telling you they only sell black ones.
I wouldn’t want to deal with a person like that ever again...
He is designing YOUR house and should support you with advice and practical help. He can make recommendations and share his experience. However, if you as the client decide differently, he has to follow your decision.
Where would we be if architects didn’t realize the client’s wishes?
It would be like ordering a yellow VW Golf at a dealership and the salesperson telling you they only sell black ones.
I wouldn’t want to deal with a person like that ever again...
Alessandro schrieb:
I don’t know your architect, but if I told mine to design church windows and a bell tower, he would have to do it.
He is designing YOUR house and should support you with advice and practical help. He can make recommendations and share his experience. However, if you as the client decide differently, he has to follow your wishes.
Where would we be if architects didn’t implement their clients’ wishes?
It would be like ordering a yellow VW Golf at a dealership and the salesperson telling you they only sell black ones.
That guy wouldn’t see me again... He helped me with our windows; at first, they were even narrower and placed too close to the exterior wall.
But how is he supposed to know that I don’t like the windows now and would prefer larger ones? Of course, they fit the rooms, comply with building regulations, and so on, but that’s a purely subjective matter.
And there’s no real experience to rely on here—one person prefers a living room with less visibility, another wants glass all around.
I would have had to stand in a model home with exactly those windows beforehand, which doesn’t exist.
So the architect can prevent major mistakes, which he did, but subjective decisions always have to be made by the client. That’s why I wouldn’t rely too much on the architect for that.
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Alessandro16 Apr 2020 15:09Do you see? If he had shown you the house in a 3D model, you would probably have had more input and likely made a different decision.
What I will never understand is how people, full of enthusiasm, sometimes sign contracts right at the display home center, even though they have no clue about construction, expecting to get the biggest, best-equipped house for the lowest budget, while they spend much more time researching and scrutinizing emissions when buying a new car.
Most people go into debt for decades when building a house, and then they try to save money on a 3D model...
I admit that I hardly knew anything when I decided to build a house, but I was very clear about what I wanted and needed. When in doubt, I measured window and door dimensions myself with the help of friends or at the display homes, but I definitely didn’t decide based only on photos in a forum!
As you rightly say, everything is subjective, so why keep asking here which window dimensions are recommended? Just choose and buy what you like. If a planner, architect, or building inspector objects, then move on to another one. I am not building a “second-best house” for so much money and then regret decisions that I either didn’t make or wasn’t allowed to make for the rest of my life.
And if all else fails, build your house in advance with Lego bricks to get a sense of the proportions, or download free software from the internet.
What I will never understand is how people, full of enthusiasm, sometimes sign contracts right at the display home center, even though they have no clue about construction, expecting to get the biggest, best-equipped house for the lowest budget, while they spend much more time researching and scrutinizing emissions when buying a new car.
Most people go into debt for decades when building a house, and then they try to save money on a 3D model...
I admit that I hardly knew anything when I decided to build a house, but I was very clear about what I wanted and needed. When in doubt, I measured window and door dimensions myself with the help of friends or at the display homes, but I definitely didn’t decide based only on photos in a forum!
As you rightly say, everything is subjective, so why keep asking here which window dimensions are recommended? Just choose and buy what you like. If a planner, architect, or building inspector objects, then move on to another one. I am not building a “second-best house” for so much money and then regret decisions that I either didn’t make or wasn’t allowed to make for the rest of my life.
And if all else fails, build your house in advance with Lego bricks to get a sense of the proportions, or download free software from the internet.
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