Hello,
we have already had several discussions with construction companies and have now arrived at a floor plan we are quite satisfied with. However, we are finding it difficult to choose the right builder and are not entirely sure if the floor plan is truly optimal. Also, we have not yet decided whether to build a prefabricated house or a solid (conventional) house.
Development Plan / Restrictions
Plot size: 765 sqm (8,236 sq ft)
Slope: no
Site coverage ratio: 0.4
Floor area ratio: 0.5
Building envelope, building line and boundary: 9.5 x 20 m (31 x 66 ft). The plot is 15.5 m (51 ft) wide and a setback of half the eave height (at least 3 m (10 ft)) must be maintained.
Boundary construction: possible for the garage
Number of parking spaces: 2
Number of floors: 2 full stories (or a high knee wall > 2 m (6.5 ft) to keep the eave height under 6 m (20 ft))
Roof type: no specification known
Architectural style: no specification known
Orientation: see site plan
Maximum heights / limits: eave height max. 6 m (20 ft) or accordingly higher setback distance
Other requirements: none
Builders’ Requirements
Architectural style: modern
Roof shape: gable or hip roof
Building type: urban villa
Basement: no
Number of floors: 2 full stories (or a high knee wall > 2 m (6.5 ft) to keep the eave height under 6 m (20 ft))
Number of occupants, age: two people (28), potentially two children in the future
Space requirement for ground floor and upper floor: approx. 180 sqm (1,938 sq ft) total
Office: two offices (both for home office use); one of them also as a guest room
Overnight guests per year: unclear
Open or closed architecture: neither – a compromise
Conservative or modern construction: modern
Open kitchen: no, but with a sliding door that is mostly left open
Kitchen island: yes, at least a peninsula
Number of dining seats: 6 to 10
Fireplace: no
Music / stereo wall: 5.1 sound system with TV, so space needed behind the sofa
Balcony, roof terrace: no
Garage, carport: garage 6 x 9 m (20 x 30 ft)
Utility garden, greenhouse: no
House Design
Who designed it: do-it-yourself
What do you particularly like? Why?
All the required rooms were included; minimal circulation areas; no wasted space; utility room directly next to the bathroom on the upper floor
What do you not like? Why?
We don’t like the bathroom layout because there is little natural light in the room
Estimated cost according to architect/planner: about €450,000 - 500,000 (about $490,000 - 545,000) according to various offers
Personal budget limit for the house, including fittings: €500,000 (about $545,000)
Preferred heating technology: air-to-water heat pump + underfloor heating
If you have to give up something, which details/expansions
-can you do without:
-cannot do without:
all rooms (especially the two offices) are important and must be retained
Why did the design turn out as it is now?
A mix of many examples from various magazines, own ideas, and drawings from different sales consultants/building advisors
What is the most important/fundamental question about the floor plan in 130 characters?
- Do you see any fundamental issues with the floor plan? Do you have better ideas?
- Can the desired rooms be arranged more efficiently on less space?
- How do we find the right builder for our project? We have already had many discussions and received offers but are struggling to decide.
- Prefabricated house or solid house?
Thank you very much and best regards
Rapha811
we have already had several discussions with construction companies and have now arrived at a floor plan we are quite satisfied with. However, we are finding it difficult to choose the right builder and are not entirely sure if the floor plan is truly optimal. Also, we have not yet decided whether to build a prefabricated house or a solid (conventional) house.
Development Plan / Restrictions
Plot size: 765 sqm (8,236 sq ft)
Slope: no
Site coverage ratio: 0.4
Floor area ratio: 0.5
Building envelope, building line and boundary: 9.5 x 20 m (31 x 66 ft). The plot is 15.5 m (51 ft) wide and a setback of half the eave height (at least 3 m (10 ft)) must be maintained.
Boundary construction: possible for the garage
Number of parking spaces: 2
Number of floors: 2 full stories (or a high knee wall > 2 m (6.5 ft) to keep the eave height under 6 m (20 ft))
Roof type: no specification known
Architectural style: no specification known
Orientation: see site plan
Maximum heights / limits: eave height max. 6 m (20 ft) or accordingly higher setback distance
Other requirements: none
Builders’ Requirements
Architectural style: modern
Roof shape: gable or hip roof
Building type: urban villa
Basement: no
Number of floors: 2 full stories (or a high knee wall > 2 m (6.5 ft) to keep the eave height under 6 m (20 ft))
Number of occupants, age: two people (28), potentially two children in the future
Space requirement for ground floor and upper floor: approx. 180 sqm (1,938 sq ft) total
Office: two offices (both for home office use); one of them also as a guest room
Overnight guests per year: unclear
Open or closed architecture: neither – a compromise
Conservative or modern construction: modern
Open kitchen: no, but with a sliding door that is mostly left open
Kitchen island: yes, at least a peninsula
Number of dining seats: 6 to 10
Fireplace: no
Music / stereo wall: 5.1 sound system with TV, so space needed behind the sofa
Balcony, roof terrace: no
Garage, carport: garage 6 x 9 m (20 x 30 ft)
Utility garden, greenhouse: no
House Design
Who designed it: do-it-yourself
What do you particularly like? Why?
All the required rooms were included; minimal circulation areas; no wasted space; utility room directly next to the bathroom on the upper floor
What do you not like? Why?
We don’t like the bathroom layout because there is little natural light in the room
Estimated cost according to architect/planner: about €450,000 - 500,000 (about $490,000 - 545,000) according to various offers
Personal budget limit for the house, including fittings: €500,000 (about $545,000)
Preferred heating technology: air-to-water heat pump + underfloor heating
If you have to give up something, which details/expansions
-can you do without:
-cannot do without:
all rooms (especially the two offices) are important and must be retained
Why did the design turn out as it is now?
A mix of many examples from various magazines, own ideas, and drawings from different sales consultants/building advisors
What is the most important/fundamental question about the floor plan in 130 characters?
- Do you see any fundamental issues with the floor plan? Do you have better ideas?
- Can the desired rooms be arranged more efficiently on less space?
- How do we find the right builder for our project? We have already had many discussions and received offers but are struggling to decide.
- Prefabricated house or solid house?
Thank you very much and best regards
Rapha811
Nida35a schrieb:
We have the TV placed between the windows,
home theater speakers are positioned to the right and left with an 8m (26 feet) distance, and surround sound installed at 2.8m (9 feet) height, calibrated with the receiver. These are speakers... boxes are for boxing rings :P
The layout alone would likely cause significant digital distortion for more discerning listeners, mainly due to the extreme off-axis angles... that’s precisely why there are recommendations regarding Dolby arrangements.
Positioning speakers around the couch on stands would be the only obvious solution in this design, but honestly, that would be impractical with children around. Another possibility might be to install the rear speakers “only” as height channels and mount them in the ceiling, angled towards the listener as much as possible.
Overall, it’s a step forward! However, the space still feels rather cramped and not very generous, which I agree with the general impression. For example, the >7m (23 feet) hallway on the ground floor feels like a long corridor without any real purpose.
A practical point for me is that the windows and doors have enough distance from the walls to allow placing a cabinet behind them (>65cm (26 inches)), especially in the technical and study rooms where they are very close to the walls. The cloakroom is around 1.4m (4.5 feet) wide, so it’s rather tight; where is the planned shoe storage?
The two strip windows by the staircase will be very narrow, which might be intentional, but otherwise I would recommend using a wider element there.
I would swap the utility room and the WC according to the direction of the stairs; this way you could combine the utility room and the storage under the stairs into a larger space.
The floor-to-ceiling windows in the children's rooms appear to be unusable or unopenable as per the plan.
The 1.8m (6 feet) kitchen sliding door cannot be fully opened because the wall above the door is shorter than the required 90cm (35 inches).
I’m a bit surprised—if she is an interior designer, I would have expected that such practical details like cabinet placement would have been carefully considered.
borxx schrieb:
Place speakers around the couch on stands.Or install them directly on the wall using appropriate brackets. Floor stands are always a bad idea when small children are around. borxx schrieb:
Then maybe really use the rear speakers "only" as height channels and mount them in the ceiling, angled towards the listener as much as possible.That's how we currently have it, but not inside the ceiling—mounted on the ceiling—and it could be worse, though it could definitely be better.Unfortunately, mounting on the wall as shown in this design is difficult to impossible, because if you place it "behind," also known as 7.1, the next wall in the dining room is about 5m (16 feet) away, and on the sides, the living room door gets in the way. For 5.1, the "slanted wall" could be used, but then the speaker would be placed on the left side in front of the sliding door. Therefore, the only way to have it at "ear level" here would be with wall studs or by going "upwards" into a suspended ceiling, cornice, ceiling sail, or something similar.
I deliberately set the "post" between the living room window and dining room window at around 100°; this also happens to fit well with the rest of the layout. On the other side of the wall, I need to check if we can create a niche at a suitable location; otherwise, the speaker would reluctantly have to be placed on a sideboard.
We probably have a node included 🙁 around 5m (16 feet) wide, around 2.6m (8.5 feet) room height—let’s see if this can be managed a bit with ceiling sails.
I deliberately set the "post" between the living room window and dining room window at around 100°; this also happens to fit well with the rest of the layout. On the other side of the wall, I need to check if we can create a niche at a suitable location; otherwise, the speaker would reluctantly have to be placed on a sideboard.
We probably have a node included 🙁 around 5m (16 feet) wide, around 2.6m (8.5 feet) room height—let’s see if this can be managed a bit with ceiling sails.
ypg schrieb:
I also see some "points to clarify". But it’s no big deal: the initial draft will be revised, and this process continues until everything fits perfectly. As long as the issue isn’t optimized, the draft isn’t ready! Is that meant as criticism, or do you think we’re on a pretty good track with the draft?
ypg schrieb:
Further comments:
Ground floor
- Sliding door to the kitchen is impractical. Opening it with an elbow won’t work.
- The island facing the wall panorama has bothered me since the first drafts: you’re looking at a wall while cooking… or TV? I don’t believe anyone from the family will sit there just to entertain the cook 😉 A breakfast bar like that is simply not that comfortable.
- Regarding the sofa area: also check if the tiny coffee table fits your ideas. Otherwise, the space between sofa and TV will be quite tight; there is a free area behind the sofa (for crawling kids, who will love it).
- Personally, I would be bothered by the long hallway, but you have to accept that if you want a closed kitchen.
- The cloakroom would be too small for 4 people for me. Usually, 60 cm (24 inches) width per person is reasonable to plan for…
Upper floor
- Swap shower and bathtub so you have peace while bathing.
- Avoid placing the washbasin directly opposite the window; otherwise, you cast shadows on yourself and need to turn on artificial lighting all the time.
- Also plan the bathtub with the right size and possibly with platforms. Include wall-mounted installations.
Laundry room is great. Possibly, the offices might still need built-in closets to store things, as they look a bit bare at the moment. Sliding door hallway to kitchen: True, you’re right — a sliding door doesn’t make sense there.
Island facing wall panorama: Well, if you have a normal kitchen layout, you’re usually facing a wall anyway. And since most of the time you spend at the sink, the view out the window is more important to us. A TV connection is planned on the opposite wall, but we’re not sure yet if it will actually be used.
Tiny coffee table: That’s our current coffee table. We’re quite happy with its size (67 x 67 cm / 26 x 26 inches). The distance between sofa and TV results from the TV size and the corresponding optimal viewing distance.
Long hallway: You’re right, of course it’s not perfect, but as you said, it’s something we have to accept if we want a large, closed kitchen — which is definitely more important to us.
Cloakroom: Thanks for the tip. We’ll need to reconsider how or if that can be solved.
The points regarding the upper floor are very helpful too, thank you!
ypg schrieb:
True! It doesn’t give a spacious impression to me either now. It’s just a lot of rooms… Exactly — but that’s the point. We want two offices, two utility rooms, and a large closed kitchen. Accordingly, the other rooms can’t be much bigger than in a 150 m² (1,615 sq ft) house. Maybe I don’t fully understand what you mean by “spacious.” Do you have examples of similar floor plans you consider successful?
borxx schrieb:
Placing speakers around the couch on stands would be the only obvious option in this design, but with kids, that would really be a no-go for me. Maybe just use the surround speakers as height speakers and install them in the ceiling, angled toward the listener, if possible. That’s probably the route we’ll take. However, it still means the sofa shouldn’t be placed with its back against a wall.
borxx schrieb:
Overall a step forward! Yet it still feels somewhat cramped and not spacious, I agree with the general opinion. For example, >7 m (23 ft) hallway on the ground floor is a long corridor without much purpose.
Practically, I’d also point out that windows and doors have so little clearance from the walls that you can’t place wardrobes behind them (>65 cm / 26 inches). Especially in the technical room and study, they’re very close to the walls. The cloakroom, at about 1.4 m (4 ft 7 inches), isn’t generous. Where is the shoe storage planned?
The two light bands at the staircase will be very narrow; maybe that’s intentional, but otherwise, I’d suggest a wider element. Hallway = long corridor: As mentioned, we will probably have to accept that for a closed kitchen.
Cloakroom: We’ll have to think about that again.
We like the two light bands from the Viebrockhaus Edition 600, so that’s why we adopted them.
borxx schrieb:
I’d swap the utility room and WC according to the staircase direction. That way, you can combine the utility room and under-stairs storage into one larger room. Thanks for the tip! That’s a really great idea!
borxx schrieb:
Ground-level windows in the kids’ rooms cannot be used/opened as shown on the plan.
The 1.8 m (5 ft 11 inches) sliding door to the kitchen can’t open properly; it extends beyond the corner because the wall above the door is shorter than the required 90 cm (35 inches).
I’m a bit surprised since she is an interior designer — I would have expected that such points with regard to placing furniture and fittings would have been carefully considered. I admit I wasn’t perfectly precise when tracing the plans and didn’t pay attention to every little detail. I didn’t place the sliding kitchen door exactly, but the overall wall length is 405 cm (159 inches), so a 180 cm (71 inches) sliding door can be accommodated.
borxx schrieb:
On that wall, it’s difficult to impossible to position speakers as shown in this draft, because if you try to place “behind” the listener for 7.1, the closest wall is the dining room wall around 5 m (16 ft) away, and on the sides one of the living room doors is in the way. For 5.1, you could use the slanted wall, but then the speaker on the left would be in front of the sliding door. So, the only option to have speakers at “ear level” would be on stands or “up high” in a suspended ceiling, frieze, sail, or something similar.
I purposefully set the beam between the living room and dining room windows to about 100° — it suits the rest quite well. On the other wall, I’ll see if we can include a niche in a suitable spot; otherwise, the speaker reluctantly goes on a sideboard.
We probably have at least one “node” (dead spot) 🙁 Room width is about 5 m (16 ft), height 2.6 m (8 ft 6 inches). We’ll see if ceiling sails can help manage that somewhat. It would work on the wall if we use the first suggestion from #34. But of course, that has its drawbacks (wasted space behind the sofa and no garden view from the sofa).
We don’t want to prioritize home cinema over everything else, but we would like to get speakers behind/above the sofa. Another idea would be to arrange the sofa as shown here. What do you think? Please focus only on the living room; the rest hasn’t been adjusted yet. We actually like using the sofa as a room divider.
K1300S schrieb:
The sofa should be positioned so that the seating area is centered at an angle in front of the TV. This would also be beneficial for achieving reasonably good home theater sound. This is already the case in the drawing. Our standard seating or lounging spot is on the shorter section of the sofa. It comfortably fits two people.
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