ᐅ Floor plan 9 x 11.30 m, for 4 people, including 2 home offices

Hello everyone,

We would greatly appreciate feedback on our floor plan draft. Our appointment with the architect is still ahead, but we want to be well prepared 🙂

Development Plan / Restrictions
Plot size: 400 m², approx. 15x27 m (161 ft², approx. 49x89 ft)
Slope: no
Site coverage ratio: 0.4
Floor area ratio
Building window, building line, and boundary: 3 m (10 ft) distance from the street and neighbors (resulting in a 9 m (30 ft) house width), max. 14 m (46 ft) towards the garden
Edge development: See attachment; viewed from the street, there is a semi-detached house on the left, a detached house on the right, and behind the garden a row of low bungalows
Number of parking spaces: 2
Number of floors: 2
Roof shape: Any
Style: Any
Orientation: Any
Maximum heights / limits: Eaves height 6.50 m (21 ft), ridge height 11.0 m (36 ft)
Other requirements

Owners’ Requirements
Style, roof shape, building type: Classic detached house with a gable roof
Basement, floors: With basement, 2 floors
Number of occupants, age: 2 adults, 2 children (planned)
Room requirements on ground and upper floors
Office: Family use or home office?: 1 office for permanent home office use, 1 workspace for part-time home office (could be integrated in another room)
Guest bedrooms per year
Open or closed layout: Open living/dining area, preferably L-shaped so that the kitchen is somewhat separated
Conservative or modern construction style
Open kitchen, kitchen island
Number of dining seats: Space for a large table (8 people) desired
Fireplace
Music / stereo setup: Stereo system left and right of the TV
Balcony, rooftop terrace: Not needed
Garage, carport: Possibly carport
Utility garden, greenhouse
Other wishes/special features/daily routine, also reasons why some things should or should not be included

House Design
Who created the plan:
- Do-it-Yourself

What do you like especially? Why?

We wanted:
* Parents’ wing with walk-in closet as a “distribution space” (shift work: One should be able to sleep in the bedroom while the other uses the closet/bathroom)
* 2 children’s rooms, ideally acoustically separated by buffer rooms from each other and separated from the parents’ wing
* Living space in L-shape so you don’t always look directly into the kitchen from the sofa
* 2 workspaces
* In case of need, living on the ground floor later should be possible (office turns into bedroom, guest toilet to bathroom with shower)
* You should not have to walk through the living room to get upstairs.

The hard requirements seem to be met for now 😎

We tend to avoid the sun rather than seek it. Garden use mainly for grilling or sitting in the evening sun, possibly on a second terrace further back in the garden if the shade otherwise gets in the way.

What do you not like? Why?

We have no idea if what we planned will work and make sense, even if the hard criteria are met.
We are also unsure if the kitchen space is sufficient.

Price estimate from architect/planner:
Personal price limit for the house, including equipment:
Preferred heating technology: Air-to-water heat pump

If you had to give up something, which details / expansions
- could you give up:
- could you not give up:

Why is the design like it is now? For example
Standard design from the planner?
Which wishes were implemented by the architect?
A mix of many examples from various magazines...
What makes it particularly good or bad in your view?

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

We played a lot of Tetris, but have no idea if the rooms
a) feel right and
b) are practical.
What could be done in terms of design to enhance or improve the house?
Will the house be bright enough?

Thank you in advance for your input!
Happy New Year.

Addendum: You would access the storage/pantry room by walking under the stairs. To the right under the stairs, there would also be space for a cabinet where you could potentially store groceries or kitchen appliances one step closer to the kitchen.

chrimu27 schrieb:

Hello everyone,

we would really appreciate feedback on our floor plan draft. We have not yet met with the architect, but we want to be well prepared for the meeting 🙂

Development Plan / Restrictions
Plot size: 400 sqm, approx. 15x27m (161 ft², approx. 49x89 ft)
Slope: No
Site coverage ratio: 0.4
Floor area ratio
Building envelope, building line and boundary: 3m (10 ft) distance from street and neighbors (resulting in 9m (30 ft) house width), max. 14m (46 ft) toward the garden
Edge development: See attachment; viewed from the street, there is a semi-detached house on the left, a single-family house on the right, and a row of single-story bungalows behind the garden
Number of parking spaces: 2
Number of floors: 2
Roof type: No preference
Style: No preference
Orientation: No preference
Maximum heights/limits: eaves height 6.50m (21 ft), ridge height 11.0m (36 ft)
Other requirements

Homeowner Requirements
Style, roof shape, building type: Classic detached house with gable roof
Basement, floors: With basement, 2 floors
Number of people, ages: 2 adults, 2 children (planned)
Room requirements on ground and upper floors
Office: 1 office for permanent home office use, 1 workstation for part-time home office (could also be integrated into another room)
Guest bedrooms per year
Open or closed architecture: Open living/dining area, preferably in an L-shape so the kitchen is somewhat separated
Conservative or modern construction
Open kitchen, cooking island
Number of dining seats: space for a large table (8 people) desired
Fireplace
Music/stereo wall: stereo system on both sides of the TV
Balcony, roof terrace: not needed
Garage, carport: possibly a carport
Utility garden, greenhouse
Other wishes/particulars/daily routine, also reasons why some things are wanted or not

House Design
Who created the design:
- Do-it-Yourself

What do you particularly like? Why?

We wanted:
* Parent area with dressing room as a "distribution space" (shift work: in the bedroom, one person can sleep while the other uses the dressing room/bathroom)
* 2 children's rooms, ideally acoustically separated by buffer rooms from each other and the parent area
* Living room in L-shape so you don’t face the kitchen directly from the sofa
* 2 workstations
* If needed, living on the ground floor should be possible later (office becomes bedroom, guest toilet becomes bathroom with shower)
* You shouldn’t have to go through the living room to get upstairs.

The key requirements seem to be met so far 😎

We tend to avoid the sun rather than seek it. Garden use is mostly for barbecuing or sitting in the evening sun, possibly on a second terrace further back in the garden if the shade would otherwise interfere.

What do you not like? Why?

We have no idea if what we planned is effective or practical, even though the key criteria are met.
We are also unsure if the kitchen has enough space.

Price estimate according to architect/planner:
Personal budget limit for the house including fittings:
Preferred heating technology: Air-to-water heat pump

If you have to give up, which details/extensions
- You can do without:
- You cannot do without:

Why did the design turn out as it is now? For example:
Standard plan from the planner?
Which requests were implemented by the architect?
A mix of many examples from different magazines...
What do you think makes it particularly good or bad?

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

We played a lot of Tetris, but no idea if the rooms
a) feel right and
b) are practical.
What could be done design-wise to enhance or improve the house?
Will the house be bright enough?

Thanks in advance for your input!
Happy New Year.

Two or rather three points that stand out to me:
1. Dining room > living room. So you often sit with 8 people in the dining room but only 2 in the living room currently? Consider how often you really use each and whether space-saving solutions might be possible.
2. The window in the guest toilet and the shower, in my opinion, do not fit well together.
3. You plan for 2 children who are not yet there. Life is unfortunately not always as planned. I would remove the children's bathroom and instead make the main bathroom upstairs larger.

Tom1978 schrieb:
Two things, actually three, that stand out to me: 1. Dining room > Living room. So you often sit with 8 people in the dining room but only 2 of you (currently) in the living room? Consider how often you use each space and whether more space-saving solutions are possible.

We have a very small living room since we will only use it with two people, or later (hopefully) four. The dining room is large. We get a lot of guests, and then the table is extended or even a second one is added. It works great for us :-)

Hausbautraum20 schrieb:

We have a tiny living room since we will only use it for two people, or hopefully four later on.
The dining room is large. We get a lot of guests, and then the table is extended or even a second one is added. It works great for us 🙂

Numbers 2 and 3 are missing.
And number 4. In the dressing room there are THREE doors. You will then have less closet length than we do in our roughly 6m² (65 sq ft). What is the armchair for? Is there going to be a fashion show there?

First of all:
Apart from minor details, which can be adjusted by shifting some walls, I would consider the design buildable as well as functional and pleasant.
(if it weren’t for the north-south orientation)

chrimu27 schrieb:

We avoid the sun rather than seek it.

Then everything is fine 🙂

chrimu27 schrieb:

If necessary, living on the ground floor should be possible later (office converted to bedroom, guest WC to bathroom with shower)

I don’t see that working, because the office is too narrow.

chrimu27 schrieb:

Price estimate according to architect/designer:
Personal price limit for the house, including fixtures:

Please fill this in! If the basement is not within the budget, we don’t need to discuss details here, because everything will change.

If you want to know the changes I suggest (once the budget is known), let me know and I will take a moment to show you the revisions.
Regarding @Tom1978’s remark: The neighbors initially did not finish the room (children’s bathroom) but waited for the children to arrive — meanwhile, the room served as storage.