ᐅ Single-family house, gentle slope, rocky path to the initial design

Hello dear forum,

First of all, a big compliment to everyone participating in this forum. I have been reading along for a while, only occasionally posting a small comment, and I am repeatedly impressed by the expertise some of you have and how willingly you share it with other forum members.
Thank you for that!!!

I’m really excited to finally present our plan:

About us: a family with two small children. We live a little south of Karlsruhe. We have been looking for an existing property for a while, but 12 months ago we were able to buy a plot of land in a nice residential area. So now we want to build, and we are really excited about the chance to design our home from scratch according to our own wishes and needs—a chance most people get only once in a lifetime at most.

At the beginning, things didn’t go very well—we looked for an architect, but we were naive and inexperienced. We thought that if we said what we wanted, it would just work, and the professional would plan and advise us. But we received no advice at all; the plan was double our budget—and probably the classic mistake—we wanted something normal (okay, one room more than usual) but otherwise standard. The house shouldn’t cost seven figures without a basement or basement-equivalent space, etc. The architect said we could only move forward if we reduced our wish for five rooms—we then thought maybe we don’t even need to build. That’s when I started researching, here in the forum, and then parted ways with the architect 😡. Now we have found a very experienced and creative architect who drew up a draft for us—we are supposed to refine it and think about it, he said, and then come back to him... 😉

Here we go—please share your opinions. Our wishes and ideas are in the questionnaire. We definitely want five rooms; that is our luxury. We like the house; there will be a great terrace in front of the attic floor—only unfortunately it seems quite narrow to us. Is the living area really open and spacious?

Unrelenting opinions? Criticism? Bring it on—we want to improve and optimize it to the perfect little dream design. 🙂

Thanks, GD

Development Plan/Restrictions
Plot size: 750 sqm (8,073 sq ft)
Slope: yes – see elevation measurements
No formal development plan available. Building is guided by the surrounding buildings. Nearby buildings have up to 3 stories and flat or pitched roofs...
Building envelope, building line and boundary: 3.50
Edge development: garage/carport
Number of parking spaces: 2
Number of floors: § 34 / 2 or 3 (context)
Roof type: according to local buildings
Style: modern, open, bright
Orientation: south (small street)

Client Requirements
Style, roof type, building type: modern, glass, bright, open
Basement, floors: 2.5 plus basement
Number of occupants, ages: 2 adults (37/38), 2 children (3/5)

Space requirements on ground floor – living/dining/kitchen/terrace/guest toilet
Space requirements upstairs – child 1, child 2, guest/office 1, small bathroom
Space requirements attic – parents’ bedroom, office 2
Overnight guests per year: 10 times
Open or closed architecture: open
Conservative or modern construction: modern
Open kitchen, kitchen island: open, island
Number of dining seats: 6
Fireplace: optional
Balcony, roof terrace: terrace on ground floor, roof terrace on attic floor
Garage, carport: garage for 2 cars
Additional wishes/special features:
The plot is narrow. The architect recommends a house set back to the rear, so we have a large garden on the south side in front of the house and are not so close to the street. This makes the house very narrow (8.5 m (28 ft)), which makes us uncertain; the set-back dining area—we would prefer it more forward in the living room, but is it possibly too narrow there? Can it be widened?

House Design
Planning by: architect
What do you particularly like? Why? Attic floor, roof terrace
What don’t you like?

• Room layout in the attic – we need two rooms with a south-facing orientation here; I think this only works with a different staircase.
• Narrow house

Price estimate according to architect/planner: not yet available
Personal price limit for the house, including fittings: completely without land, including additional costs, 650-700 k
Preferred heating technology: open to all, gas and solar thermal hybrid?

If you had to give up something, which features/extras
- Can give up: basement – but need a replacement room. The basement mainly serves technical equipment and storage – so it should be about half the size.
- Cannot give up: number of rooms, as my wife and I each want our own office.

Why has the design ended up as it is? For example:
We worked it out with the architect, who clearly knows what he wants. We have looked at magazines and formed our ideas. I have already talked to [Gus from the region], no concrete offer yet, but their initial estimate was around 500-600 k plus additional costs.
What makes it particularly good or bad in your eyes?

Good: attic, south orientation, garden; bad: too narrow?, we may not need a basement, but we have already spoken with two general contractors who said the plot requires a basement...

What is the most important/fundamental question about the layout, summarized in 130 characters?

Is the house too narrow on the south side for an open living-dining area?

Only make it 1 m (3 ft) wider at the front, keep rear narrow?

Does the budget work?

What do you think of the design? Can it be smaller? Or without a basement?