ᐅ Floor Plan – Design of a Single-Family Home with Two Full Stories – Urban Villa
Created on: 12 Nov 2020 06:19
E
exto1791
Development Plan / Restrictions
Plot size: 550m² (0.14 acres)
Slope: approximately 1 meter (3.3 feet) incline from the street to the back of the property
Floor area ratio: Garage on boundary line, terrace 2.5m (8 feet) from neighbor - otherwise unrestricted, see attached plot plan
Plot coverage ratio: 2 full stories
Building envelope, building line and boundary: very flexible, see attached plot plan
Number of parking spaces: 1 large garage
Number of stories: 2 full stories
Roof type: hipped roof
Architectural style: modern urban villa
Client Requirements
Style, roof type, building type: urban villa with hipped roof
Basement, floors: with basement and 2 full stories
Number of occupants: 2 persons, mid/late 20s, planning for 2 children
Room requirements on ground floor and upper floor: see floor plans
Office: family use or home office? office/home office
Guest bedrooms per year: -
Open or closed layout: -
Conservative or modern construction: 70% conservative - 30% modern
Open kitchen, kitchen island: open kitchen without island
Number of dining seats: 8
Fireplace: none
Music / stereo wall: none
Balcony, roof terrace: none
Garage, carport: double garage
Utility garden, greenhouse: ornamental garden
Additional wishes / special features / daily routine, including reasons for choices or exclusions
House Design
Planner:
-General contractor (GC): general contractor of a construction company
-Architect: none
-Do-it-yourself: floor plan partially self-designed according to personal preferences
What do you like most? Currently nothing to criticize
What do you dislike? Front canopy not flush with hallway window upstairs - unfortunately not feasible otherwise
Estimated cost according to architect/planner: fixed price $450,000 (excluding land and additional construction costs)
Personal budget limit for house including fixtures: $450,000 (excluding land and additional construction costs)
Preferred heating technology: air-to-water heat pump + controlled mechanical ventilation
If you have to give up something, which details or add-ons
-Can give up: budget reached, no further cutbacks or simplifications needed
-Can’t give up: see above
Why is the design the way it is now? e.g.
Standard design from the planner? Compared roughly 100 floor plans and, in coordination with our current GC, created the dream layout ourselves
Which requests were implemented by the architect? all
A mix of many examples from various magazines: yes 🙂
What makes it particularly good or bad in your eyes? very practical and conservatively executed, child-friendly, enough parking/storage space inside, yet modern
What is the most important / fundamental question about the floor plan in 130 characters?
As I am very active here in the forum and like to help others with topics like floor plans, financing, etc., I would now like to share our project here and hear your opinions. I hope you like it too. Perhaps there is still a serious flaw or something that could be quickly improved, if it appeals to us.
We have invested a lot of time in planning. Since March/April 2020 we have been actively planning—from a prefab home supplier with about 120m² (1,292 sq ft) to a current regional solid builder with 160m² (1,722 sq ft). A lot of effort went into our planning and we hope it pays off during construction and upon completion.
We will sign the contract in the next 2-3 weeks and will release the offer as well as the floor plan and our revised building and service specification to prepare everything for contract signing.
We are building with solid construction through a regional general contractor. Construction start: May 2021.
Plot size: 550m² (0.14 acres)
Slope: approximately 1 meter (3.3 feet) incline from the street to the back of the property
Floor area ratio: Garage on boundary line, terrace 2.5m (8 feet) from neighbor - otherwise unrestricted, see attached plot plan
Plot coverage ratio: 2 full stories
Building envelope, building line and boundary: very flexible, see attached plot plan
Number of parking spaces: 1 large garage
Number of stories: 2 full stories
Roof type: hipped roof
Architectural style: modern urban villa
Client Requirements
Style, roof type, building type: urban villa with hipped roof
Basement, floors: with basement and 2 full stories
Number of occupants: 2 persons, mid/late 20s, planning for 2 children
Room requirements on ground floor and upper floor: see floor plans
Office: family use or home office? office/home office
Guest bedrooms per year: -
Open or closed layout: -
Conservative or modern construction: 70% conservative - 30% modern
Open kitchen, kitchen island: open kitchen without island
Number of dining seats: 8
Fireplace: none
Music / stereo wall: none
Balcony, roof terrace: none
Garage, carport: double garage
Utility garden, greenhouse: ornamental garden
Additional wishes / special features / daily routine, including reasons for choices or exclusions
House Design
Planner:
-General contractor (GC): general contractor of a construction company
-Architect: none
-Do-it-yourself: floor plan partially self-designed according to personal preferences
What do you like most? Currently nothing to criticize
What do you dislike? Front canopy not flush with hallway window upstairs - unfortunately not feasible otherwise
Estimated cost according to architect/planner: fixed price $450,000 (excluding land and additional construction costs)
Personal budget limit for house including fixtures: $450,000 (excluding land and additional construction costs)
Preferred heating technology: air-to-water heat pump + controlled mechanical ventilation
If you have to give up something, which details or add-ons
-Can give up: budget reached, no further cutbacks or simplifications needed
-Can’t give up: see above
Why is the design the way it is now? e.g.
Standard design from the planner? Compared roughly 100 floor plans and, in coordination with our current GC, created the dream layout ourselves
Which requests were implemented by the architect? all
A mix of many examples from various magazines: yes 🙂
What makes it particularly good or bad in your eyes? very practical and conservatively executed, child-friendly, enough parking/storage space inside, yet modern
What is the most important / fundamental question about the floor plan in 130 characters?
As I am very active here in the forum and like to help others with topics like floor plans, financing, etc., I would now like to share our project here and hear your opinions. I hope you like it too. Perhaps there is still a serious flaw or something that could be quickly improved, if it appeals to us.
We have invested a lot of time in planning. Since March/April 2020 we have been actively planning—from a prefab home supplier with about 120m² (1,292 sq ft) to a current regional solid builder with 160m² (1,722 sq ft). A lot of effort went into our planning and we hope it pays off during construction and upon completion.
We will sign the contract in the next 2-3 weeks and will release the offer as well as the floor plan and our revised building and service specification to prepare everything for contract signing.
We are building with solid construction through a regional general contractor. Construction start: May 2021.
Thanks again for all your suggestions!
They really helped us a lot. We will definitely consider adding a door from the hallway to the kitchen.
Also, we will probably plan a connection for a shower in the ground floor bathroom or in the basement.
That was exactly the input we needed, so we could filter out from all the information what fits us best.
Everything else unfortunately doesn’t help us and doesn’t suit our needs and vision for the house. We simply have a different style or a different idea of what “practical” means. For us, it’s not a problem to go to the basement five times a day, or to have a 1-meter (3-foot) longer walk from the sofa to the kitchen.
I know nowadays everything is designed for the shortest possible walking distances, especially with smart home concepts (which ultimately all aim for “practicality”) minimizing movement as much as possible.
I actually find some aspects from older houses with basements, for example, not bad at all or even good! I have to say I am not a fan of minimizing movement to not even moving a single centimeter. Naturally, this will also influence our floor plan, which will look different from what many others plan here.
For us, it’s important to filter the useful information here in this forum.
In the end, it’s like any forum: everyone has their own opinion.
No offense!! I’m certainly like that too! Everyone wants to share their experiences, needs, and preferences to help others. But every person is unique and different, so a 70% agreement among some people doesn’t apply to everyone else. I think you know what I mean.
It was important to me that you pointed out where you see “problems.” We were able to completely refute those for ourselves (except for the things mentioned above that we will probably plan), which naturally strengthens our confidence that we are doing everything right 🙂
We will sign the contracts in the next few days! I’d be happy to post some pictures or follow the project here once we start… Unfortunately only in May 🙁
They really helped us a lot. We will definitely consider adding a door from the hallway to the kitchen.
Also, we will probably plan a connection for a shower in the ground floor bathroom or in the basement.
That was exactly the input we needed, so we could filter out from all the information what fits us best.
Everything else unfortunately doesn’t help us and doesn’t suit our needs and vision for the house. We simply have a different style or a different idea of what “practical” means. For us, it’s not a problem to go to the basement five times a day, or to have a 1-meter (3-foot) longer walk from the sofa to the kitchen.
I know nowadays everything is designed for the shortest possible walking distances, especially with smart home concepts (which ultimately all aim for “practicality”) minimizing movement as much as possible.
I actually find some aspects from older houses with basements, for example, not bad at all or even good! I have to say I am not a fan of minimizing movement to not even moving a single centimeter. Naturally, this will also influence our floor plan, which will look different from what many others plan here.
For us, it’s important to filter the useful information here in this forum.
In the end, it’s like any forum: everyone has their own opinion.
No offense!! I’m certainly like that too! Everyone wants to share their experiences, needs, and preferences to help others. But every person is unique and different, so a 70% agreement among some people doesn’t apply to everyone else. I think you know what I mean.
It was important to me that you pointed out where you see “problems.” We were able to completely refute those for ourselves (except for the things mentioned above that we will probably plan), which naturally strengthens our confidence that we are doing everything right 🙂
We will sign the contracts in the next few days! I’d be happy to post some pictures or follow the project here once we start… Unfortunately only in May 🙁
P
pagoni202012 Nov 2020 18:14If you have a clear idea and position, you won’t be disappointed later or you will know that this is exactly what you wanted. It would be worse to hesitate endlessly. If necessary, things can always be changed if life circumstances change! So… go for it!
exto1791 schrieb:
Minimizing movement and not moving even a centimeter (0.4 inches) anymore—I’m just not a fan of that.exto1791 schrieb:
especially in the area of smart home systems or similar.That was never the point 🙂 This is about practical orientation and experience.Well, you are not even 30 years old yet and don’t have children. At that age, I was as fit as a fiddle and traveled the world far and wide. But it doesn’t stay that way. Most of these “villas” lack a touch of coziness. The architects don’t have it particularly difficult either—they just pull out their standard drawer, ask, “How big should it be? 9 by 9 meters (30 by 30 feet)?” Oh, add 20 centimeters (8 inches) more on each side, no problem, here you go in 10 minutes.
evelinoz schrieb:
Well, you’re not even 30 years old yet, don’t have children, and at that age, I was as fit as a fiddle and traveled all over the world. But that doesn’t last forever. Most of these “villas” lack a touch of coziness. The architects don’t even have it that hard—they just pull out their standard approach: how big should it be, 9x9? Oh, 20cm (8 inches) more per side, no problem, here you go in 10 minutes. Sometimes it might actually be good to move around more for exactly that reason, or not to focus on every little detail.
When I think about my grandparents or even my parents… There was no flexibility; they would wear themselves out walking everywhere. You had to go down to the basement maybe 30 times because the house was often terribly designed.
Are they satisfied? Yes, definitely. Fit? Yes, that too!
ypg schrieb:
That wasn’t the point 🙂 This is about practical orientation and experience. Yep, I know 🙂 It’s all connected with everything mentioned before. Practical orientation means something quite different to us, or we see completely different things than many here, for example in the forum. But that’s why it’s important to consider individuality. There’s no “right” or “wrong” here... If there were, every house would look the same and be equipped identically, both technically and spatially. Whether everything is planned 100% practically or based on experience is not the decisive factor for how comfortable the house feels. I want to put my own house and my own individuality into it. And believe me, I know us quite well: We will easily fit a stroller inside. Things that bother many other people don’t bother us at all 😀
But precisely because of that, we know exactly what we want. And as @pagoni2020 rightly said. You need a clear position in life and regarding this project. Once you have that, I’m 100% convinced you will feel comfortable with what you have planned. If you plan things differently than you actually want, just because “experience” or something else shows some ways are “better,” then maybe your house is more ergonomic and practical, but it lacks a personal connection that you need when planning a house.
Regarding the floor plans that sometimes come up here in the forum — yes — there are really awful drawings… You can definitely "help" there or should fire the architect/designer immediately — but we’re nowhere near that 😀
As I said, thanks for the input! We are really 100% satisfied with our house. The small issues that come up in 10, 20, or 30 years can always be solved 🙂
evelinoz schrieb:
Well, you’re not even 30 years old yet, don’t have children [...] The architects don’t have it particularly difficult either, they just pull out their default drawer—how big should it be, 9x9? Ah, 20cm (8 inches) more on each side, no problem, here you go in 10 minutes. For a rather standard design, I find it remarkable that here the proverbial blind luck has actually struck—that even a broken clock is right once in a while. The basic standard villa model shouldn’t be seen as a guarantee of a poor result; it can definitely be suitable at times. It seems to me that this design achieves the status of “advanced run-of-the-mill”—kind of the equivalent of the standard villa to the commonly best-selling Flair model, which is no coincidence.
“Not yet thirty and currently without family” I read here as the argument for the “pro Pareto optimum.” In fifteen years, you’ll still be young, and the kids might not even have left the house yet—so you’ll still benefit from having a newly built home. I myself wasn’t even in San Francisco wearing torn jeans—some people don’t need to travel with Interrail all the way to the Himalayas to find their happiness.
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