ᐅ Floor Plan Optimization for New Construction, Single-Family House with Two Full Stories and No Basement on a Slope

Dear forum community,

just newly registered after months of reading and I would already appreciate your feedback. We have signed the contract for a new single-family house in northern Hesse and have had preliminary floor plans created based on our ideas.

Development plan/restrictions
Plot size: 578m² (6,225 sq ft)
Slope: 3m (10 ft) height difference sloping from north to south
Site coverage ratio: 0.4
Floor area ratio: 0.8
Building zone, building line, and boundary: all according to HBO
Number of stories: 2 full floors
Maximum average ridge height: 10.0m (33 ft)

Client requirements
Style, roof type, building type: hipped roof
Basement: no
Stories: 2 full floors
Number of occupants: 2 adults mid/late 30s, 2 children “in planning”
Space requirements on ground floor: living, dining, kitchen, study, utility room, guest toilet; upper floor: adult bedroom, child 1 + 2, bathroom, possibly hobby/storage room.
Office: used by one adult
Overnight guests per year = few
Open kitchen: yes
Number of dining seats: 6 – 8
Fireplace: no
Music/stereo wall: no
Balcony: yes
Carport: yes

House design
Who designed it:
- Ideas DIY, plan by prefab house provider
What do we like most? dining table in the bay window overlooking the garden
What do we dislike? hallway on the ground floor is very long (?), little storage space
Price estimate according to architect/planner: €390,000 (KFW40+ house)
Personal budget limit for house including fittings: €450,000
Preferred heating technology: air-to-water heat pump

Why is the design like it is now?
Our ideas were:
- open living/dining area with open kitchen
- lots of light in the living/dining area with large sliding door to the garden
- guest toilet including shower
- adult bedroom with 3.30m (11 ft) wall for our wardrobe, which we would like to keep
- access to balcony from adult bedroom
- no adjoining walls between adult bedroom and children’s rooms
- shower/toilet plumbing not running in a wall adjacent to a bedroom

What is the most important/fundamental question about the floor plan summarized in 130 characters?
We would appreciate any general suggestions/ideas/criticism to improve the floor plan.

The final architect meeting with the prefab house provider is scheduled for December. Until then, we would like to make good use of the time and contribute ideas if useful.

The idea is to position the house in the northeast corner of the plot with a 3m (10 ft) distance to the property boundary so that the garden faces southwest. Due to the slope, there is a beautiful view southwest over the village to the church. To the west is a horse farm, so not the nearest house either.

Best regards,
Steffi

Hello,

Steiran schrieb:

Slope: 3m (10 feet) height difference, sloping down from north to south

Where is that in the plan?

The house will be built on a concrete slab foundation. The rest will be softened as much as possible with retaining walls, slopes, and stair steps from the terrace, so we hope to achieve a relatively level garden.

Does this have any impact on the floor plans, in order to be able to assess them?

Steiran schrieb:

Does that matter when it comes to evaluating the floor plans?

Yes, because the idea might 1. involve significant costs and 2. result in no terrace or no ground-level access to the terrace and garden if you either have the house partially suspended on one side or have to cut into the slope there.
You don’t design a slab-on-grade house on a sloped site, and if you know that much of the structure would be suspended, then there’s no need to even discuss the house.

Well, it would be interesting to know how the terrace is supposed to be connected. There is likely about a 2m (6.5 feet) height difference.

If the staircase is really intended as a landing staircase, the tread depth is too small. You should have that calculated.

Regarding the sloped site: there is a 1m (3 ft) retaining wall along the southern property boundary, which could be increased to 1.5m (5 ft) if the neighbor agrees. Then, there would be a slight slope of about 50cm (20 inches) over the first few meters towards the southern boundary. This means that the height difference to the house would only need to be leveled by approximately 0.5m to 1m (20 to 40 inches). About three steps would lead from the terrace down to the garden, reducing the difference to 0 to 0.5m (0 to 20 inches). We could easily “leave” that as is, resulting in just a gentle incline, even if the retaining wall is limited to 1m (3 ft) height because the neighbor does not agree.

@kbt09: It is intended as a landing staircase. Why is the tread depth considered too small? Since the design was created by an architect from the company and it is a major prefab home manufacturer, we initially assumed that they know what stairs they are designing and that it is a company standard dimension.