Hello everyone,
Our plot is located between a street at the front and a private driveway at the rear. The private driveway cannot be used for access or the driveway entrance. Access can only be made from the street.
Now the question is at what height we should position the house. Should we align it with the street level or with the private driveway?
If we align with the private driveway, we would need to add 80-100cm (31-39 inches) of fill, and the entrance to the house would likely require several steps. Also, the driveway to the parking area would probably be quite steep.
If we align with the street, the rear part of the plot would remain slightly below the level of the private driveway.
The street slopes upwards to the west. The neighbor to the west has adapted his house to the houses in the second row and his house is positioned quite high. His driveway is also very steep.
The neighbor to the north has leveled his plot completely and placed his house level with the street.
Our plot is in the middle. What would be the most sensible approach?
I have attached the elevation plan, hopefully it is clear.
Edit: The building project would be a single-family house without a basement!
Our plot is located between a street at the front and a private driveway at the rear. The private driveway cannot be used for access or the driveway entrance. Access can only be made from the street.
Now the question is at what height we should position the house. Should we align it with the street level or with the private driveway?
If we align with the private driveway, we would need to add 80-100cm (31-39 inches) of fill, and the entrance to the house would likely require several steps. Also, the driveway to the parking area would probably be quite steep.
If we align with the street, the rear part of the plot would remain slightly below the level of the private driveway.
The street slopes upwards to the west. The neighbor to the west has adapted his house to the houses in the second row and his house is positioned quite high. His driveway is also very steep.
The neighbor to the north has leveled his plot completely and placed his house level with the street.
Our plot is in the middle. What would be the most sensible approach?
I have attached the elevation plan, hopefully it is clear.
Edit: The building project would be a single-family house without a basement!
Escroda schrieb:
That depends on what you want to build and where the building should be located. Do you prefer a certain charm or maximum return? Here is an example of maximum return:
House dimensions approx. 11.80 x 11.50 meters (39 x 38 feet), ground floor, first floor, attic as a non-full storey, 3 residential units, 3 parking spaces.
The main entrance is accessed via a path from the parking spaces, resulting in a longer route to overcome the height difference. For true accessibility, the finished floor level would need to be about 50 cm (20 inches) lower, at around 22.00 meters (72 feet), or your planner could come up with a better solution, e.g., moving the parking spaces to the west or optimizing by centimeters while respecting the floor area ratio to shift further south.
Edit:
Oh, I missed that. Show us what you have in mind (size, location) A single-family house of about 140–150 square meters (1500–1600 square feet) is planned.
The current attached plan is unfortunately no longer quite up to date.
The house will be built deeper but narrower, so that we can have “more” garden space on the west side, which is not so easy given the size of the plot. The terrace is also planned to be on the west side.
hampshire schrieb:
Great how you created the cost-optimized version. This is extremely valuable for the original poster.
The term "maximum return" is a bit misleading – one form of return in home building is the satisfaction experienced when living in the house. This can definitely be influenced by individual taste. As a homeowner, never forget when prioritizing your budget that the purpose of the house is to provide shelter, not just to save money. This is so valuable for us, that’s true!
I am also very, very grateful to the participants here!
hampshire schrieb:
Appreciate the three-dimensional aspects! Some variation in the site’s elevation profile definitely adds a certain charm. Ask an architect how they might work with these conditions.
Ours had a remarkable imagination when it came to positioning the house we eventually built for our lifestyle on a very three-dimensional plot.
By the way, the top of the finished floor level is 10.5m (34.5 ft) above street level. The “problem” is that so far we haven’t found anyone who seemed genuinely interested… We have had three meetings, and in all of them the first comment was, “the plot isn’t particularly large”… As if we didn’t already know that.
Pinky0301 schrieb:
Does the garage/parking space have to be at the same level as the house? Otherwise, you can consider them separately. Parking space at street level, house at a different level.To be honest, I never really thought about what it would be like to consider the parking space differently. But it’s definitely not required for them to be at the same level. In fact, we would prefer the driveway to be as gentle in slope as possible!
H
hampshire28 Jun 2020 16:18Yaso2.0 schrieb:
The "problem" is that so far we haven’t found anyone who really seems enthusiastic about it.. We’ve had 3 conversations so far and in all of them the first comment was "the plot isn’t particularly large"... As if we didn’t already know that. Yes, that is really the biggest challenge. We also searched for a long time and then got lucky. If you were in the Oberberg region, I would have a tip for you.
You can try to spark interest and send a few emails to architects in the area: "We are looking for an architect who can design the perfect home for our life on a small plot with a slope away from the street. We know the lifestyle we want to achieve but cannot translate it into architecture ourselves. The budget is xxx. How interested are you in this challenge?" Then add a personal part: "On your website, we especially liked this and that" or "We read an article about you… and that impressed us" or "You were recommended to us by xy."
Principle: No approach without a personal touch.
Feel free to also visit people with appealing, relatively new houses and ask: "Who built this for you?"
It will work out!
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