ᐅ Floor Plan for a 185 sqm Urban Villa Without a Basement – Tips

Created on: 19 Jul 2020 12:56
H
Hausbewohner
H
Hausbewohner
19 Jul 2020 12:56
Hello everyone,

We are currently in the critical phase of planning a single-family house without a basement. The construction will be carried out by a building company that provides standardized floor plans / model houses, which can be expanded and modified. The attached floor plan already reflects many of our ideas and has been adjusted according to our preferences. We feel that the floor plan is about 85% finalized.

Development plan / Restrictions
Plot size: 700 sqm (7500 sq ft)
Terrain: level
Site coverage ratio: 0.3
Floor area ratio: 2 full floors
Building envelope, building line, and boundary: 5 m (16 ft) from the street, 3 m (10 ft) from the neighboring boundary
Edge development: not allowed, including no garages or carports
Number of parking spaces: 2 plus double garage
Number of floors: two full floors
Roof style: town villa or shed roof - still under discussion
Architectural style: modern
Orientation: parallel to the street, living room facing southwest
Maximum height / limits: 7.5 m (25 ft) eave height, 10 m (33 ft) ridge height

Builder’s requirements
Style, roof type, building type: modern; roof type to be decided based on usability and feasibility of photovoltaic installation (still under discussion and calculation to see if a shed roof facing south with about 30 kWp is worthwhile given low feed-in tariffs and low self-consumption)
Basement, floors: no basement, two full floors
Number of occupants, age: 2 adults approximately 30 years old, no children planned
Space requirements for ground floor and upper floor:
Ground floor: should include the "public area" with living room, kitchen, but also a utility/technical room, guest room, and a full guest bathroom with shower;
Upper floor: more private, with home offices, bedroom, and bathroom; additionally, both floors include ample storage rooms to compensate for the lack of a basement and attic. We do not want to clutter our offices or the utility room with extra belongings.

Office: family use or home office? Both of us have the option to work from home and use it regularly. Because of our jobs, we need separate offices. Also, we want to keep the theoretical possibility of children (for us or, in the worst case, a future buyer), so we planned for two fairly large offices.
Guest stays per year: several times, usually 2 guests
Open or closed architecture: open plan for living, dining, and kitchen; closed for the upper floor
Conservative or modern construction: N/A
Open kitchen, kitchen island: open kitchen, no kitchen island. The bay window should allow more light into the kitchen and provide workspace
Number of dining seats: 4, extendable to 6
Fireplace: no
Music/stereo wall: no
Balcony, roof terrace: the balcony is an additional feature of the bay window. The bay window is a must-have, and for the balcony, two chairs are enough to enjoy the view in the morning or evening.
Garage, carport: double garage planned on the south side (see ground floor plan where there are no windows). The garage faces south to give the terrace more distance from the neighbor and better privacy. Facing north would place the terrace only 3 m (10 ft) from the neighbor, which is not desired.
Utility garden, greenhouse: no, possibly a raised bed in the future.
Other requests / special features / daily routine, including explanations for preferences:
We want comparatively extensive storage space, which naturally increases the building volume and cost. However, from model houses and homes of acquaintances, we often noticed a lack of storage, leading to additional furniture cluttering living spaces.
We plan to work in our offices, meaning there should only be desks and filing cabinets for documents. The larger office will also be used as a sunroom for reading (bookshelves). We definitely do not want to store Christmas decorations or similar items there.
The same applies to the utility room, where washing and drying laundry will take place, hence the extra storage on the ground floor.


House design
Who created the design: the plan was drawn by the planner from the building company and is the 2nd iteration. It meets almost all of our suggestions and wishes.
What do you particularly like? Why? We like the upper floor, the large office, and the bedroom. Additionally, we find the living room, kitchen, and pantry area logically and sensibly laid out. The kitchen has sufficient counter space as well as room for tall cabinets.
What do you dislike? Why? The window arrangement on the upper floor (especially in the large office) is still chaotic; we still need to work on that ourselves. We want bright rooms with many windows, but this compromises symmetry. Also, we do not like the window situation by the stairs. We want an open staircase without storage underneath; a small bench for putting on shoes would fit there.
We also want to avoid entering a dark hallway upon entering the house, so the double doors to the living room on the ground floor should have glass elements. Additionally, we are considering smart ways (also for ease of cleaning) to bring glass or light into the stairwell. Do you have any ideas? The currently planned fixed glass panel is not to our liking.

Estimated price according to architect/planner: 450,000 (excluding additional construction costs)
Personal budget limit for the house including fixtures: 600,000 including garden, additional building costs, and so on.

If you had to give up something, which details or extensions
-you could give up: nothing comes to mind at the moment
-you could not give up: windows / natural light

Why is the design as it is now? For example:
Standard design from the planner?: It is based on a standard design that we developed further according to our wishes.
Which wishes were implemented by the architect? All wishes were implemented.

Basic question:
What comes to your mind spontaneously about this that we may not have considered yet or any deal-breakers in the design? We would appreciate discussing this.

Do you have ideas for how the window arrangement on the upper floor facing southwest could look and how to bring light from the staircase into the hallway on both floors?

Best regards and many thanks for your ideas!

Ground floor plan: living/dining, kitchen, hallway, pantry, storage rooms, work/guest, bath/WC.


Upper floor plan: two offices, bedroom with dressing room, gallery, bathroom, balcony.
I
ivenh0
19 Jul 2020 13:41
The open-plan area is an absolute disaster and unfortunately ruins the entire floor plan. The kitchen is completely unergonomic and located farthest from the entrance, the dining table is somehow placed in the middle of the walkway, and the living room is almost non-existent. And this is in 185m² (1990 sq ft). Hmm, time to start over.
11ant19 Jul 2020 13:46
Hausbewohner schrieb:

It feels like the floor plan is about 85% finished
So, according to Pareto, you’re basically right at the beginning.
Show the original base plan without any changes. Is this the only one available in that size?
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
RomeoZwo19 Jul 2020 13:59
There are a few unusual aspects, such as the kitchen being located very far from the entrance. However, this could be explained by the position on the plot. So please share this information with us. (My gut feeling is that the plot is oriented towards WNW, which would also explain the balcony and the large window areas facing that direction...)
H
Hausbewohner
19 Jul 2020 16:41
Hello,

thank you very much for your comments.
First of all, please find attached a simplified plan of the plot and the building area. As mentioned above, the issue is that we need to fit both the garage and the house within the building area, and no boundary construction is allowed.
The plot has a street frontage of approximately 20m (66 feet) and becomes slightly wider to the back. In my drawing, I calculated with a 14m (46 feet) building area, but according to the survey, there may actually be about 0.75 to 1m (2.5 to 3 feet) more. In my opinion, this does not make a difference, and the extra space should be allocated to the garage.
Since we want to include a large garage, we have limited the house width to 10m (33 feet) to avoid making the layout too elongated.
We are aware that certain compromises in the floor plan will be necessary due to the plot’s conditions.
The positioning of the house and garage on the plot is not final and may be adjusted by a meter or two. However, we like the general orientation because it provides privacy on the terrace from the neighbor on the south side.
Moving the kitchen closer to the entrance would either mean placing it next to the garage (with no windows) or orienting it entirely northward (which we don’t favor either).

@ivenh0
The furniture should be arranged so that the sofa faces the south-facing windows and allows a side view of the garden.
What do you find ergonomically challenging about the kitchen? We have already cooked in a similarly oriented kitchen and found it practical.
There is enough countertop space, and tall cabinets make it possible to install the microwave and oven at chest height.
We are, of course, grateful for any constructive suggestions for improvement—especially considering the restrictions imposed by the building area.

@11ant
There are certainly larger floor plans available from the builder, but these are wider and would require extensive redesign.
Therefore, we decided to extend an existing 165sqm (1775 sq ft) floor plan and to incorporate features like a storage room, etc.

Hand-drawn floor plan of a house with garage and street side at the bottom
Pinky030119 Jul 2020 17:09
What is the problem with the kitchen being farther from the entrance? It is directly connected to the terrace. At least in summer, people usually go there more often than from the front door to the kitchen. I really don’t see this as an issue.
Edit: Unfortunately, the patio doors are very impractically designed for the short path from the kitchen to the outside.

Similar topics