ᐅ Floor Plan Design and Placement – Single-Family Home of Approximately 200 m² on a 900 m² Plot
Created on: 4 May 2021 20:49
S
Samantheus
Hello everyone,
we would like to get feedback on our current planning for a single-family house. Here is the completed questionnaire.
Development Plan / Restrictions
Plot size: 911m² (9,800 sq ft)
Slope: no
Site coverage ratio: 0.3
Floor area ratio: 0.45
Building envelope, building line and boundary
Edge development: garage only
Number of parking spaces: 4
Number of floors: 2
Roof shape: gable roof
Architectural style:
Orientation: The garden faces southwest, the house is about 5m (16 ft) from the street, parallel to the street
Maximum heights / limits
Other requirements
Owners’ Requirements
Architectural style, roof shape, building type: single-family house, modern, gable roof main building, green flat roof extension and garage
Basement, floors: basement, ground floor, upper floor
Number of people, age: currently 2 adults (mid-30s), 1 small child; planned for 2 adults and 2–3 children
Space requirements on ground and upper floors: see floor plan
Office: home office (working professionally from home, 2 offices required)
Guests per year:
Open or closed architecture: open
Conservative or modern construction: modern
Open kitchen, cooking island: open kitchen in U-shape with counter or kitchen with cooking island
Number of dining places: 6
Fireplace: optional, rather not
Music / stereo wall: yes
Balcony, roof terrace: no
Garage, carport: double garage with two parking spaces in front (currently 1 car, possibly 2 in the future)
Utility garden, greenhouse: only recreational garden
Other wishes / special features / daily routine, including reasons why certain things should or should not be: Professional work from home, therefore two large offices are required. The plot is a corner lot on two streets, so the L-shaped house design aims to shield somewhat from the streets and create a protected garden area. If a third child arrives, one office should be converted into a third child’s bedroom. Then a small office area will be separated off in the master bedroom with a drywall partition or a basement room will be finished.
House Design
Who is responsible for the design: planner from a construction company (with some do-it-yourself input)
What do you particularly like? Why?: 2 equally sized children’s bedrooms, 2 offices with enough space for full-time work (>40 hours per week), large living/dining/kitchen area, extension provides light and noise protection from the street
What do you dislike? Why?: staircase ends at front door, which might lead to dirt being carried inside
Price estimate according to architect/planner: about 700k for KfW 55 standard including garage and basement, solid construction
Personal price limit for house including fittings: about 800k including exterior landscaping
Preferred heating system: air-to-water heat pump
In the living/dining/kitchen area, the kitchen should be U-shaped with a counter or a cooking island on the far left. Afterwards comes the dining area, then the sofa. The stereo system with large floor-standing speakers should be on the wall opposite the kitchen. The extension should house a piano and a tipi (children’s play tent). Alternatively, the sofa could be placed in the bottom right corner and the speakers at the end of the extension.
The offices should have space for a large desk (2m x 1m (6.5 ft x 3.3 ft)), a bookshelf wall, and a small seating area.
If you have to give up something, which details / expansions
-can you give up: fireplace / stove
-can you not give up: offices
Why is the design the way it is now?
Combination of our suggestions and ideas from the planner during a joint site visit
What is the most important / fundamental question about the floor plan summarized in 130 characters?
The most important in 130 characters:
Detailed questions about the floor plan:
Questions about placement:
Option 1:
Option 2:
Placement:
Thank you in advance!
Best regards
Samantheus
we would like to get feedback on our current planning for a single-family house. Here is the completed questionnaire.
Development Plan / Restrictions
Plot size: 911m² (9,800 sq ft)
Slope: no
Site coverage ratio: 0.3
Floor area ratio: 0.45
Building envelope, building line and boundary
Edge development: garage only
Number of parking spaces: 4
Number of floors: 2
Roof shape: gable roof
Architectural style:
Orientation: The garden faces southwest, the house is about 5m (16 ft) from the street, parallel to the street
Maximum heights / limits
Other requirements
Owners’ Requirements
Architectural style, roof shape, building type: single-family house, modern, gable roof main building, green flat roof extension and garage
Basement, floors: basement, ground floor, upper floor
Number of people, age: currently 2 adults (mid-30s), 1 small child; planned for 2 adults and 2–3 children
Space requirements on ground and upper floors: see floor plan
Office: home office (working professionally from home, 2 offices required)
Guests per year:
Open or closed architecture: open
Conservative or modern construction: modern
Open kitchen, cooking island: open kitchen in U-shape with counter or kitchen with cooking island
Number of dining places: 6
Fireplace: optional, rather not
Music / stereo wall: yes
Balcony, roof terrace: no
Garage, carport: double garage with two parking spaces in front (currently 1 car, possibly 2 in the future)
Utility garden, greenhouse: only recreational garden
Other wishes / special features / daily routine, including reasons why certain things should or should not be: Professional work from home, therefore two large offices are required. The plot is a corner lot on two streets, so the L-shaped house design aims to shield somewhat from the streets and create a protected garden area. If a third child arrives, one office should be converted into a third child’s bedroom. Then a small office area will be separated off in the master bedroom with a drywall partition or a basement room will be finished.
House Design
Who is responsible for the design: planner from a construction company (with some do-it-yourself input)
What do you particularly like? Why?: 2 equally sized children’s bedrooms, 2 offices with enough space for full-time work (>40 hours per week), large living/dining/kitchen area, extension provides light and noise protection from the street
What do you dislike? Why?: staircase ends at front door, which might lead to dirt being carried inside
Price estimate according to architect/planner: about 700k for KfW 55 standard including garage and basement, solid construction
Personal price limit for house including fittings: about 800k including exterior landscaping
Preferred heating system: air-to-water heat pump
In the living/dining/kitchen area, the kitchen should be U-shaped with a counter or a cooking island on the far left. Afterwards comes the dining area, then the sofa. The stereo system with large floor-standing speakers should be on the wall opposite the kitchen. The extension should house a piano and a tipi (children’s play tent). Alternatively, the sofa could be placed in the bottom right corner and the speakers at the end of the extension.
The offices should have space for a large desk (2m x 1m (6.5 ft x 3.3 ft)), a bookshelf wall, and a small seating area.
If you have to give up something, which details / expansions
-can you give up: fireplace / stove
-can you not give up: offices
Why is the design the way it is now?
Combination of our suggestions and ideas from the planner during a joint site visit
What is the most important / fundamental question about the floor plan summarized in 130 characters?
The most important in 130 characters:
- Is the floor plan good from your perspective, or have we overlooked something important?
Detailed questions about the floor plan:
- Does the entrance area seem too large?
- Do you have alternative ideas for designing the staircase better (we are currently considering either a U-shaped staircase with landing or an L-shaped staircase with landing)? We had a version drawn with an entrance bay so the staircase doesn't end right at the door. But that costs more and might make the entrance area too large?
- We are still considering reducing the number of windows in the living/dining/kitchen area. What do you think? We are afraid it might get too hot in summer because of the southern orientation (external blinds are planned).
- Another consideration is external roller shutters or blinds on the upper floor?
- Regarding the living room layout, we’re unsure. On one hand, we want two large floor-standing speakers optimally placed for a stereo triangle, on the other hand, we want to have a view of the garden from the sofa.
- About the windows on the upper floor, we're unsure: Does a floor-to-ceiling window make sense in the children’s rooms, or is it rather a safety risk? We have planned a window next to the bed (on the same wall as the head of the bed). I'm unsure if that might look strange in reality or if the bed should be placed on the opposite wall (but then the headboard would face the children’s room window).
Questions about placement:
- There is a busy street at the bottom side and a less busy street on the right side. Currently, the house is about 5m (16 ft) from the busy street and 8m (26 ft) from the right street. If we move the house further upwards, we would have more quiet from the street, but the garden would become smaller and the "wasted front garden area" would increase. What do you think?
- Do you have any creative ideas to shift or stretch the house further to the right? On the left side is a garage, which we would like to build directly onto.
Option 1:
Option 2:
Placement:
Thank you in advance!
Best regards
Samantheus
Samantheus schrieb:
Where I am uncertain:
- Staircase opposite the living room door: I think both options have their merits. We designed our version so that when you open the front door and enter, you have a clear line of sight all the way through to the garden. Of course, that would be lost. What we were unsure about with the staircase option back then was the entrance to the living area. In the end, you’d have a “three-door corner” which might look a bit cramped, and the basement stairs would be closer to the living area rather than near the entrance and garage. Possibly it would make more sense then to have an open basement staircase or a door in front of it, with LED lighting on the walls or something similar. That could look nice. But how it would feel to look from the living room down into the basement... I don’t know. Yes, keep the basement staircase open. Today, basements are not necessarily dark, cold spaces. Underneath our basement stairs, we have a picture wall that you see when passing the stairs. In your case, it wouldn’t really be “in the basement,” but at a landing level (half-flight staircase), which can be designed very nicely. I would add a large window above (see picture), and with a glass door to the living room, you get additional side light right away.
I wouldn’t want a direct view from the entrance into the garden. Any delivery person or visitor could see straight into your living room and garden, including the children playing outside. Why? I’d prefer more privacy there. The wall directly behind the door can be made very interesting with an eye-catching picture or sculpture, possibly lit as well, to create a “wow effect” when entering.
Samantheus schrieb:
What I liked better before:
- Upper floor layout: I would rather try to mirror the current draft. So the staircase moved a bit further to the right, and the master bath made a little smaller so that the walk-in closet can extend all the way to the exterior wall, placing the closet in the bottom left corner. I just don’t like the idea of the walk-in closet being a passage room. It should feel like the most private area, tucked away where no one but us would wander in. Of course, if the goal is to keep the walk-in closet as private as possible, the layout can still be adjusted. We designed our closet as a passage to separate the bathroom and bedroom acoustically and to avoid having to go through the bedroom after getting up. It’s also because our waking times differ a lot, so this way we don’t disturb each other.
S
Samantheus23 Jun 2021 17:13Wow, you have a really beautiful staircase! With the lighting, the picture, and the large window—it all looks really great!
I think you’re right, an open basement staircase just looks better. If you leave a light on at the landing height, it doesn’t seem as dark either. Your option also has the advantage that you could install a large window like the one in your photo. The current window is only floor-to-ceiling on the upper floor, since the entrance canopy outside prevents a larger window.
Soundproofing isn’t that important for us. We’re more the type to have lots of discussions while one person is in the bathtub and the other is on the toilet 😉.
I think you’re right, an open basement staircase just looks better. If you leave a light on at the landing height, it doesn’t seem as dark either. Your option also has the advantage that you could install a large window like the one in your photo. The current window is only floor-to-ceiling on the upper floor, since the entrance canopy outside prevents a larger window.
Soundproofing isn’t that important for us. We’re more the type to have lots of discussions while one person is in the bathtub and the other is on the toilet 😉.
Samantheus schrieb:
that when you open the front door and enter, you have a clear line of sight from the front door all the way through to the garden. Yes, definitely do that! It’s a very nice feature, even if it doesn’t strictly follow Feng Shui principles 🙂
Samantheus schrieb:
Noise separation is not that important for us You don’t have any teenagers yet!
Samantheus schrieb:
Side swap: In the original design, the children’s rooms and parent’s area were actually reversed. During planning, the sides were switched. The reason was that the space on the right side was too large for the utility room and children’s bathroom, while on the other side the space for the dressing room and parents’ bathroom was rather tight. I don’t understand that: you can adjust the top partition wall in the plan, that can be customized individually. I would try again with a layout like that.
S
Samantheus24 Jun 2021 16:27Quick interim message: I have now received feedback on how the drainage system is supposed to work. To be honest, it looks understandable to me as a layperson, and I don’t see any immediate problems or undesirable situations. Am I overlooking something? What do you think?
S
Samantheus28 Jun 2021 09:17Since there was no further information regarding drainage, I assume that the points you considered potentially critical have now been resolved.
Today, I also received the drawing for Alternative 2, which includes swapping the master wing with the children’s wing, as well as switching the stairs and entrance. At first glance, I don’t see any major strengths or weaknesses in either option. It will probably come down to an open entrance area with sight lines versus a closed entrance area offering privacy, which ultimately depends on personal preference.
I have attached the images in case you notice anything else.
Elevations
Floor Plans
Today, I also received the drawing for Alternative 2, which includes swapping the master wing with the children’s wing, as well as switching the stairs and entrance. At first glance, I don’t see any major strengths or weaknesses in either option. It will probably come down to an open entrance area with sight lines versus a closed entrance area offering privacy, which ultimately depends on personal preference.
I have attached the images in case you notice anything else.
Elevations
Floor Plans
Similar topics