ᐅ Hillside house, 235 sqm, with a garage in the basement on a 3,600 sqm plot

Hello everyone,
we would like to present the floor plan design of our planned house for discussion.
Main questions can be found in the questionnaire.

Development Plan / Restrictions
Plot size: 3600 sqm (0.9 acres)
Slope: yes – south/east facing with a little over 2 meters (6.6 feet) gradient in the house area
Floor area ratio, gross floor area ratio, building envelope, building line and boundary: No development plan, all according to §34 Building Code
Adjacent development: see above
Number of parking spaces: see above
Number of floors: 1 to 3 floors in the surrounding area
Roof type: all types except shed and flat roofs are present in the surroundings
Architectural style: none specified
Orientation: none specified
Maximum heights / restrictions: none
Other specifications: none

Owners’ Requirements
Architectural style, roof type, building type: Gable roof house with a large covered terrace and open design; the roof covering should extend from the balcony over the terrace and transition into a gable roof on the terrace. So no hip roof covering.
Basement, floors: Basement + 2 full floors
Number of occupants, age: 2 adults (34/28)
Room requirements on ground floor and upper floor:
Ground floor – utility room, shower/toilet, kitchen, pantry, dining, living room;
Upper floor – bathroom, dressing room, bedroom, children’s room, office, open area as reading nook (reserved for a second children’s room)
Office: 2-person home office
Guest bedrooms per year: few or none
Open or closed architecture: mixed
Conservative or modern construction: rather conservative. Solid construction (Poroton masonry outside, calcium silicate bricks inside), minimal “ornamentation.” No technical gimmicks. We both enjoy being outdoors, so the covered terrace and large patio doors are especially important to us.
Open kitchen, kitchen island: open kitchen to dining room without kitchen island (we cook a lot, so a powerful extractor hood that vents directly outside is very important)
Number of dining seats: 6–8
Fireplace: yes
Music / stereo wall: no
Balcony, roof terrace: balcony that transitions into the terrace
Garage, carport: double garage in the basement
Vegetable garden, greenhouse: large garden with productive areas
Additional wishes / special features / daily routine, including reasons for choices:
- centralized ventilation system, otherwise simple house technology
- large patio doors (it is sufficient if you can exit from the kitchen door to the balcony and from the dining room window to the terrace; the others (balcony, living room) can be fixed glazing)
- large pantry
- utility room on the ground floor and below the bathroom, since a laundry chute is desired

House Design
Who created the plan:
- planner and our ideas
What do you particularly like? Why?
- almost level access to the terrace and connection to the balcony
- full use of the sunny location
- we really like the floor plan
What do you not like? Why?
- entrance area with a small vestibule on the ground floor acting as a bottleneck; we will probably mainly use the entrance through the garage in the basement anyway
- concerns whether the dining area might be too large
Cost estimate according to architect/planner: none so far
Personal price limit for the house including fixtures and fittings: none yet, still in price determination
Preferred heating system: gas + tank

If you had to give up certain details/finishes
- can you do without:
- cannot do without:

Why did the design turn out this way?
Standard design from the planner: no
Corresponding / Which wishes were implemented by the architect:
- desire for lots of light and still covered terrace
- openness to the large garden
- separation from neighbors on the “right” side through the protruding structure
- built in line with the slope (wider than deep)
What makes it particularly good or bad in your view?
- particularly good because it meets all our requirements but leaves some small doubts as mentioned above.

What is the most important / fundamental question about the floor plan summarized in 130 characters?

We are unsure if there are too many and too large windows on the ground floor, and if the dining area is too big; if so, how to reduce it without major changes.

We look forward to your feedback!
Best regards and many thanks in advance
J+N

Hello!
First of all, I really like your floor plan!
However, there are two things I don’t like at all:

- The entryway would be a nightmare for me. Even in the 105m² (1130 sq ft) semi-detached house of a friend, the entryway is significantly larger than in your mansion.
They love their entryway because that’s where the stroller is parked.
We are planning a much larger entryway for our much smaller house as well—one where you don’t bump into each other and where there is space for a stroller.
Can the utility room be made narrower?
I also find the pantry and kitchen gigantic and think you could easily take some space from them to enlarge the entryway.

- The second thing I don’t like at all is the possibly second child’s bedroom.
I don’t know your private situation well enough, but overall you are building a huge mansion and the second child would get a tiny room of about 10m² (108 sq ft)?
Well, as I said, that obviously depends entirely on your personal situation.
If it’s quite certain there will be only one child at most, this criticism doesn’t apply.

I really like the large dining room and would build it the same way if I had the money for it 🙂

Hello,
Could you please indicate the orientation, and if applicable, also the neighboring buildings and trees? So, please include the site plan as well. Additionally, I cannot see the canopy here, which is indirectly the main focus.

Ahem,
Do you walk from the kitchen toward the terrace and then fall into the basement pit? Or is that the balcony that blocks the only window in the basement, making it dark?
You have the terrace, and next to it a car drives into the garage? You sit on a balcony and watch the same scene? The entrance is on one side, and the garage driveway on another?
The chimney is missing on the upper floor and would theoretically stand in front of a window.
The refrigerator is in the way, the kitchen island is too narrow, and the kitchen itself has inefficient workflow because the layout makes the room too large.
You don’t really need an entrance vestibule anymore, and this one is terribly small. No family can move around in there.
Is there no window layout at all to create an attractive facade?
At the latest, the bulges in the upper floor hallway show that either there was no interest in proper planning or the planner simply lacks the skills.
Far too many partition walls cut off natural light from the rooms.
A 16 square meter (172 square feet) bathroom, but with a space-saving bathtub...
A shower, and then you first pass right by the window and say, "Good day, Mr. Neighbor."

I don’t believe this was designed by a professional. Sorry, but just throw this thing away.

The kitchen area is far too large, the entrance vestibule is much too small, and where is the cloakroom?

Additionally, when entering the bathroom, the toilet is immediately visible. In that case, the privacy screen isn’t really necessary anymore 😉

I also see imbalances in this plan. Some areas are much too large, while others are too small. I also find the lack of a wardrobe noticeable.