ᐅ Single-family hillside house with basement for 2 people, including a home office and hobby rooms
Created on: 15 Apr 2020 07:48
W
wibble
Development Plan / Restrictions
Plot Size
Slope: see attachment. Quite steep near the street at the bottom, fairly flat at the "garden" area at the top
Floor Area Ratio 0.4
Building Coverage Ratio 0.8
Building envelope, building line, and boundary: irregular building envelope, see attachment, 18 meters
Edge development: not permitted except for ancillary buildings
Number of parking spaces: 2
Number of floors: not specified
Roof shape: not specified
Architectural style: not specified
Orientation: not specified
Maximum heights / limits: eaves height (section from exterior wall to roof covering at street level) 7.5 meters (24.6 feet), ridge height not specified.
Other requirements
Homeowners’ Requirements
Architectural style, roof shape, building type: gable or hip roof, preferably with dormers to add variation to the large roof
Basement, floors: basement, then ground floor, then upper floor with 1.40-meter (55 inches) knee wall
Number of occupants, age: 2 adults around 30 years old, 3 cats, no children planned but 2 rooms on the upper floor specifically desired for hobbies
Space requirements on ground and upper floors: see floor plan
Office: family use or home office? Both working from home, so office needed on upper floor and a partially finished basement for a second office (this layout is desired)
Guest stays per year: about 6 nights per year
Open or closed layout: ?
Conservative or modern construction: ?
Open kitchen, island: no kitchen island, closed kitchen
Number of dining seats: 4
Fireplace: yes
Music / stereo wall: no
Balcony, roof terrace: no
Garage, carport: garage for 2 cars with a wide door
Utility garden, greenhouse: no
Further wishes / special features / daily routine, including reasons: garage access to basement is important because of frequent off-site appointments, so I don’t want to walk through wind and rain. This elongated room is the sports room and must be kept as is.
House Design
Who designed it:
- Do-it-yourself
What do you particularly like? Why? Laundry room next to the bathroom, as I want a laundry chute for dirty clothes here.
What don’t you like? Why? After about 100 redesigns, everything is now satisfactory.
Price estimate according to architect/planner: no cost estimate yet for this floor plan.
Personal budget limit for the house, including fittings: 500,000
Preferred heating technology: air-to-water heat pump with underfloor heating
If you had to give up, which details / extensions
- could you do without: second hobby room on upper floor, guest room on ground floor, instead use rooms in the basement.
- cannot give up: everything else
Why did the design end up as it is?
It’s a mix of many examples from various magazines… then tailored to our needs and the required functions of each room. Considerations included whether a room should be on the ground or upper floor, orientation, adjoining rooms, and traffic flows. Bedroom next to dressing room and bathroom, facing the garden, not above the living room, because my partner often has visitors in the evenings when I want to sleep. Office with no morning sun because sunlight disturbs me when working on screens, and I usually work early in the morning. Bathroom facing the garden.
What do you think makes it particularly good or bad?
What is the most important / fundamental question about the floor plan in 130 characters?
Do you have any suggestions for improvement?
The garage is planned on the left side of the house. The street is on the south side, and the garden extends to the northeast. The terrace should wrap around the corner near the living and dining area to get evening sun, but also provide shade during the summer midday heat. It is a south-facing slope. The neighboring houses are only bungalows built into the slope, so they do not block the light.
Plot Size
Slope: see attachment. Quite steep near the street at the bottom, fairly flat at the "garden" area at the top
Floor Area Ratio 0.4
Building Coverage Ratio 0.8
Building envelope, building line, and boundary: irregular building envelope, see attachment, 18 meters
Edge development: not permitted except for ancillary buildings
Number of parking spaces: 2
Number of floors: not specified
Roof shape: not specified
Architectural style: not specified
Orientation: not specified
Maximum heights / limits: eaves height (section from exterior wall to roof covering at street level) 7.5 meters (24.6 feet), ridge height not specified.
Other requirements
Homeowners’ Requirements
Architectural style, roof shape, building type: gable or hip roof, preferably with dormers to add variation to the large roof
Basement, floors: basement, then ground floor, then upper floor with 1.40-meter (55 inches) knee wall
Number of occupants, age: 2 adults around 30 years old, 3 cats, no children planned but 2 rooms on the upper floor specifically desired for hobbies
Space requirements on ground and upper floors: see floor plan
Office: family use or home office? Both working from home, so office needed on upper floor and a partially finished basement for a second office (this layout is desired)
Guest stays per year: about 6 nights per year
Open or closed layout: ?
Conservative or modern construction: ?
Open kitchen, island: no kitchen island, closed kitchen
Number of dining seats: 4
Fireplace: yes
Music / stereo wall: no
Balcony, roof terrace: no
Garage, carport: garage for 2 cars with a wide door
Utility garden, greenhouse: no
Further wishes / special features / daily routine, including reasons: garage access to basement is important because of frequent off-site appointments, so I don’t want to walk through wind and rain. This elongated room is the sports room and must be kept as is.
House Design
Who designed it:
- Do-it-yourself
What do you particularly like? Why? Laundry room next to the bathroom, as I want a laundry chute for dirty clothes here.
What don’t you like? Why? After about 100 redesigns, everything is now satisfactory.
Price estimate according to architect/planner: no cost estimate yet for this floor plan.
Personal budget limit for the house, including fittings: 500,000
Preferred heating technology: air-to-water heat pump with underfloor heating
If you had to give up, which details / extensions
- could you do without: second hobby room on upper floor, guest room on ground floor, instead use rooms in the basement.
- cannot give up: everything else
Why did the design end up as it is?
It’s a mix of many examples from various magazines… then tailored to our needs and the required functions of each room. Considerations included whether a room should be on the ground or upper floor, orientation, adjoining rooms, and traffic flows. Bedroom next to dressing room and bathroom, facing the garden, not above the living room, because my partner often has visitors in the evenings when I want to sleep. Office with no morning sun because sunlight disturbs me when working on screens, and I usually work early in the morning. Bathroom facing the garden.
What do you think makes it particularly good or bad?
What is the most important / fundamental question about the floor plan in 130 characters?
Do you have any suggestions for improvement?
The garage is planned on the left side of the house. The street is on the south side, and the garden extends to the northeast. The terrace should wrap around the corner near the living and dining area to get evening sun, but also provide shade during the summer midday heat. It is a south-facing slope. The neighboring houses are only bungalows built into the slope, so they do not block the light.
Climbee schrieb:
And clearly describe what you want. So be honest:
A playroom for various uses is obviously not a dominatrix studio – the requirements are somewhat different, I think.
There should be a kind of library in a 19th-century style, for art and literature, but since I don’t really know much about that, it could also be 18th century. This has been my wife’s wish forever.
So I have to disappoint you, no dominatrix studio.
Chris2511 schrieb:
If I were you, I’d save yourself the trouble. Put it in the hands of a competent architect—I can only highly recommend that. Also, start thinking about financing early. Statements like “because I want to pay it off quickly” and “we could probably afford more” don’t sound like you’ve really worked that out yet.
Oh, and a 6m (20 ft) garage isn’t oversized. Ours is 7.15m (23.5 ft). I want some extra storage space for bicycles, tires, etc. Tires and bicycles are going in the basement. Actually, we only had financial advice and nothing more. Since I work in finance myself, I’m familiar with the whole process and didn’t really learn anything new during the consultation. They just asked how much the house would roughly cost; I said 500,000, and then they showed me some amortization tables with basic data and explained them. They kept suggesting we stretch out the loan for a very long time because interest rates are low right now, but I don’t want that (and it doesn’t make sense to me). We can definitely afford monthly payments of 2,000. According to our household budget, 3,000 would also be possible, but I’d like to keep a bit of a buffer. Currently, we pay 2,000 rent and save about 1,200 per month on average as equity.
So, my floor plan has been approved by two architects after I made a few minor changes beforehand. It still worked out today because they showed a lot of interest in the house, and another architect I don’t know was invited. I had the plan drawn freely beforehand. However, afterwards they thought mine was excellent.
I would still like to hear your specific concerns so I can address them. For that, I need more detailed feedback. For example, if you feel I have just arranged a series of rooms in a row. The architects’ key message was, “Yes, that’s exactly the point, and it’s a very good arrangement of rooms.”
I would still like to hear your specific concerns so I can address them. For that, I need more detailed feedback. For example, if you feel I have just arranged a series of rooms in a row. The architects’ key message was, “Yes, that’s exactly the point, and it’s a very good arrangement of rooms.”
wibble schrieb:
So, after a few minor adjustments I made beforehand, my floor plan has been approved by two architects. That’s odd, usually the client approves the architect’s floor plan. To me, it still looks quite amateurish. I’m also having trouble understanding the three floors and the plot layout. Here’s the ground floor, over there the basement, which still needs changes, and in between, the new designs. And now this jumble has been approved by some architects? What is their involvement in the project? Are they hired? Two of them? If I were paying two architects, I would expect a professional design, including a cost estimate. Spending well over 500,000 without relying on a professional architect experienced with building on a slope seems quite unwise to me.
kaho674 schrieb:
Strange, usually the client approves the architect’s floor plan.
To me, this still looks quite amateurish. By now, I also have trouble understanding the three floors and the plot. Here is the ground floor, there the basement, which still needs to be changed, and in between are the new drafts. And now this mess from some architects has been approved? What’s their role in the project? Are they hired? Two of them? If I’m paying two architects, I would expect a professional design including a cost estimate. Spending well over 500K while you as an architect are still experimenting on a slope site seems rather unwise to me.My wife has been friends with the architect since childhood. We’ve already had an appointment with him regarding the build. We have another scheduled for May. However, today we were invited there for a birthday and are still here. His colleague was also there, and they ended up discussing various floor plans. At the very end, I presented my floor plan after they had already drawn plan after plan because they simply enjoyed working on it.
They thought it would be very feasible to build. They would make it a bit more open, but as it is, it would be great. Definitely achievable and sensible.
wibble schrieb:
Now we have an appointment again in May. I would never hire a friend as an architect. When conflicts arise, the friendship can end very quickly because the amounts involved are often a matter of survival.
But then we’re happy to wait and see what comes out in May.
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