ᐅ New Single-Family Home Construction – Join Us on Our Journey!
Created on: 4 Aug 2022 16:13
G
gregman22
Dear community,
We are finally getting a step closer to realizing our dream of building a single-family home.
The plot has been purchased, building plans have been reviewed, construction method decided, and so on. We have now commissioned the architect of the general contractor (GC) of our choice with the planning task and are currently fine-tuning the house design. I would love to take you along on this journey and incorporate your valuable feedback.
At this stage, the focus is on the house design.
Basic data:
Plot: 1062m2 (11,433 sq ft); approx. 25.5m x 41.64m (84 ft x 137 ft)
Orientation: Northwest -> The arrow in the screenshot of the 3D view points south
Desired room layout:
Ground floor:
First floor:
Attic:
Note: I am still discussing this with the architect. Due to the hipped roof shape, the actual living area has shrunk too much. Therefore, further discussion is needed to accommodate the other rooms. I had underestimated the ratio of gross floor area to usable living space.
Basement:
Additional plans:
Now to my first questions for you:
My biggest construction challenge at the moment is the layout of the attic. There are two alternatives:
- Change the roof type, which would increase costs but provide more usable living space in the attic
- Give up the playroom on the first floor, convert it into a guest room, and build only the two offices in the attic (no guest room or bathroom)
Thank you in advance for your comments.
We are finally getting a step closer to realizing our dream of building a single-family home.
The plot has been purchased, building plans have been reviewed, construction method decided, and so on. We have now commissioned the architect of the general contractor (GC) of our choice with the planning task and are currently fine-tuning the house design. I would love to take you along on this journey and incorporate your valuable feedback.
At this stage, the focus is on the house design.
Basic data:
Plot: 1062m2 (11,433 sq ft); approx. 25.5m x 41.64m (84 ft x 137 ft)
Orientation: Northwest -> The arrow in the screenshot of the 3D view points south
Desired room layout:
Ground floor:
- Large living/dining area with adjacent (but separable) kitchen at the bottom left, plus a gallery overlooking the first floor
- Utility room
- Guest toilet
- Garage
- Separate apartment at the top right with its own entrance for parents-in-law
First floor:
- Gallery overlooking the ground floor
- 2 children’s bedrooms with a shared bathroom
- 1 playroom (initially a home cinema room, later to be repurposed) above the garage
- Master wing with main bedroom, dressing room, and bathroom
Attic:
Note: I am still discussing this with the architect. Due to the hipped roof shape, the actual living area has shrunk too much. Therefore, further discussion is needed to accommodate the other rooms. I had underestimated the ratio of gross floor area to usable living space.
- 2 separate offices
- 1 guest bedroom
- 1 small guest bathroom
Basement:
- 1 technical room
- 1 laundry room
- 1 storage room
- Large fitness room
- Wellness room with sauna
Additional plans:
- Air-to-air heat pump or air-to-water heat pump
- Photovoltaic system with/without battery storage
- Possible pool (3.5/4m x 8m or 3.5/4m x 12m) with heat pump (and countercurrent system)
- Sauna in the basement room
- Air conditioning for various rooms
- Smart home system – most likely via KNX
- Garden: Currently planning 2 terraces – one to the left, slightly more to the south, and one facing the main part of the plot further north
Now to my first questions for you:
- How do the floor plans strike you? Do they make sense in terms of the dynamics of family life?
- The location of the separate apartment was chosen based on our wish. We wanted a strict, clearly defined spatial separation with a separate entrance. Do you have any comments on this?
- Do you consider the utility rooms in the basement to be adequately sized (considering KNX, heat pump, etc.)?
My biggest construction challenge at the moment is the layout of the attic. There are two alternatives:
- Change the roof type, which would increase costs but provide more usable living space in the attic
- Give up the playroom on the first floor, convert it into a guest room, and build only the two offices in the attic (no guest room or bathroom)
Thank you in advance for your comments.
G
gregman2224 Sep 2022 17:54alles3d schrieb:
What if you place the WC with shower in the cloakroom on the ground floor? If there is a door leading outside, you could shower before bathing, and guests wouldn’t have to walk through the whole house while wet.In principle, that’s a good idea. However, we really like the view from the entrance through the cloakroom to the terrace. I can’t imagine how to preserve that view while also fitting a WC there.G
gregman2224 Sep 2022 17:58I would like to take a step back in this discussion. The criticism of the architect is very subjective. We have chosen him and are personally satisfied. Therefore, I want to use all impressions and feedback to make the next design version simply better.
The following points have been identified as criticism or adjustment requests:
Ground floor
Upper floor
Attic
Basement
Exterior
What do you think?
The following points have been identified as criticism or adjustment requests:
Ground floor
- Fireplace in the living room section
- Shift the entrance corridor upwards so that the main entrance is aligned with the interior staircase -> view into dining room + gallery + kitchen separation
- Separate the kitchen with a sliding door
- Expand pantry & storage room under the stairs?
- Remove the pass-through window from corridor to kitchen
- Secondary apartment:
- Remove shower in the half bath in favor of a full bathroom in the secondary apartment
- Small wardrobe/dressing area and small storage room in the secondary apartment
- Terrace facing north from the secondary apartment + screening (privacy)
Upper floor
- Main bathroom:
- New / better wardrobe solution – no closet in bedroom
- Open and more attractive shower design
- Bedroom: Possibly add a fireplace, since the ground floor has a fireplace in the same position (only 1 flue?)
- Improve window situation (roof dormers?)
- Enlarge gallery (greater overlap with dining room) to make it a nicer, more usable space
- Possibly the idea of a balcony at the bedroom front -> would exceed maximum floor area -> possibly reduce size of other rooms (offices, children's rooms) -> open
Attic
- Potential use: 1 office room, 1 play/reading room?
Basement
- Enlarge fitness room by moving the sauna into the wellness area
Exterior
- New design and building material suggestions for non-wood construction
- Consideration of photovoltaic plans
What do you think?
gregman22 schrieb:
What do you think? As for me, I'm out of this. Your priorities are just too unclear to me. All my suggestions were ignored, so I suppose it goes both ways. Still, I’m curious to see the final outcome. Good luck moving forward.
That’s probably finished
Why is the terrace of the granny flat only by the bedroom? You should also consider a terrace on the southeast corner of the living room... I wouldn’t want to walk through the bedroom with guests to get to the terrace in a granny flat.
For the rest, I have to say that, for me, a living concept should try to position the kitchen near the main terrace, there should be a connection rather between kitchen and dining, and the living area should be more secluded. A gallery might still work, although I really wonder what kind of room usage you “have” to assign there given the number of rooms you have, but a gallery means a hall on the floor below... to me, that feels uncomfortable. Overall, I don’t really relate to your needs. I understood correctly that you are still just two people at the moment, right? It’s unfortunately not in the checklist where it would be easy to check quickly. To me, the whole project feels somewhat too large.
gregman22 schrieb:
Terrace facing north from the granny flat + screening (privacy)
Why is the terrace of the granny flat only by the bedroom? You should also consider a terrace on the southeast corner of the living room... I wouldn’t want to walk through the bedroom with guests to get to the terrace in a granny flat.
For the rest, I have to say that, for me, a living concept should try to position the kitchen near the main terrace, there should be a connection rather between kitchen and dining, and the living area should be more secluded. A gallery might still work, although I really wonder what kind of room usage you “have” to assign there given the number of rooms you have, but a gallery means a hall on the floor below... to me, that feels uncomfortable. Overall, I don’t really relate to your needs. I understood correctly that you are still just two people at the moment, right? It’s unfortunately not in the checklist where it would be easy to check quickly. To me, the whole project feels somewhat too large.
G
gregman2224 Sep 2022 18:54K a t j a schrieb:
As for me, I’m out of this. Your priorities are simply too unclear to me. All my suggestions were ignored anyway, so I guess that goes both ways. Still curious to see how it turns out in the end. Best of luck. I can’t fully understand that, since almost all my points came from our discussions here. But okay...
kbt09 schrieb:
Why have the patio for the secondary apartment only at the bedroom? One should also consider a patio at the southeast corner of the living room... I wouldn’t want visitors to have to walk through the bedroom to get to the patio in the secondary apartment. Good point. I’ll definitely take that into account!
kbt09 schrieb:
placing the kitchen by the main patio, It’s been hard for us to make a decision here. I left it as it was because:
- In the mornings, we want to enjoy the idea of a long breakfast facing south
- We want to keep the kitchen somewhat separate from the dining room
- In the evenings, the walking routes between living/dining room and patio seem appropriate
Also, we really like the view from the living room to the garden and pool!
At the same time, I completely understand your suggestion. I think we still need a few nights to think it over.
kbt09 schrieb:
Unfortunately, it’s not in the checklist where one could quickly check. To me, the whole project feels somewhat too big. Yes, there are currently two of us, but we want to be four (apart from the secondary apartment residents).
To be honest, the house has gotten bigger than we initially planned. That was a surprise for us as well – the target was 400–440m² (4,305–4,736 sq ft) of living plus ancillary space instead of 470 m² (5,057 sq ft). So we need to discuss how to reduce the size a bit.
gregman22 schrieb:
The following points have been selected as criticism or requests for adjustments: (a very long list of criticisms follows) that cast doubt on the conviction ...
gregman22 schrieb:
We [...] are personally satisfied. ... raises doubts.
gregman22 schrieb:
Therefore, I want to process all impressions and feedback so that the next draft version simply becomes better. Hoping that the roulette ball will land on the chosen number in the next round is not “planning,” but gambling. A next draft version cannot get better because with so many points of criticism (even counting only the accepted ones), what results will be patchwork. A dozen patches are “the death of clean code” 🙂 — in my opinion, a new design is needed. It doesn’t have to differ in n or xy points but must be radically reengineered: even a modified Infinite Monkey remains an Infinite Monkey ;-)
gregman22 schrieb:
New design and building material suggestions for non-wood construction methods You yourself claimed the design was not fixed on the construction method. So why don’t you understand that construction material, surface material, and design in terms of appearance do not necessarily have to be linked? It is more the technical design (structural framework and other statics) and the building composition that correlate. What was shown here as a wooden core with a dark brown wooden surface could also be built from frog-green aerated concrete.
gregman22 schrieb:
To be honest, the house has also become larger than we initially specified. That was a surprise for us as well — the target was 400–440 m² (4300–4700 ft²) of living plus ancillary space instead of 470 m² (5100 ft²). So we need to discuss how to slightly reduce the size. How much the house costs should not play like a Rolex at this size — and the size itself was exactly what you wanted. 470 to 440 is not really an objectionable increase; the planner’s reaction time just grows with the size of the house. Achieving (much) higher precision here is hardly possible.
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