ᐅ Single-family house floor plan with basement, 150 sqm, only one single-story level permitted

GeraldG schrieb:

I thought this forum was for practical tips on how to improve what already exists.

Well, first of all, the issues you mentioned need to be identified and accepted by you before a solution-oriented approach can begin.
Basically, the architect is paid to address objections and fix the identified flaws.
For example, the entrance area does not allow for any coat storage space at all. You would essentially need to create a new design for that.
Overall, you have received several pieces of advice. Not everyone here wants to judge you by the same standard just because you dislike one or two comments.
I’m not a fan of the Tuscan-style villa with Greek columns either, but your house is far from that, and calling it awkward in Swabia seems misplaced. Whether you would associate the house with the far north, whether it is clad in brick or not, I doubt it. In that case, I would rather consider a covered front entrance under the gable with a captain sitting on a bench.

Yes, I also think that a red brick facade alone doesn’t make this house a traditional Northern style. It would need a half-hipped roof with a thatched covering and a bat dormer, right?

You are free to do whatever you like, and yes, that could ultimately be a Frisian house in Tyrol; nobody here has any say in that!
However, it makes sense to publish your project here, and of course you will receive all kinds of reactions, just like in a brainstorming session. Praise alone won’t get you anywhere. If I only read what I find acceptable, I would consider my thread useless.

GeraldG schrieb:

A complete Northern-style house in our region is of course unusual. We accept that it doesn’t quite fit here. But that doesn’t diminish the good feeling we get when we spend our holidays in the north every year. We would like to bring that feeling home with us, so that it might feel a bit like a holiday when we come home.

The special value of my house comes from the fact that the floor plan seems made exactly for the residents. That is individuality, which provides a noticeable added value for the occupants; an extra gable or similar less so.

GeraldG schrieb:

I thought this forum provides practical tips on how to improve what you already have (for example, swap room x with room y, make wall z at a 45° angle to soften the corner in child’s room 2).

I have read many sensible tips and suggestions here. Your understandable wish for some embellishments here and there, however, just doesn’t work with a floor plan. If you pull one string in one corner, something will drop off somewhere else. A seemingly insignificant change can cause the floor plan to stop functioning properly. For this reason, I have repeatedly read that you should start again from scratch, which you probably do not want to see as advice.
Naturally, people also address the basement you want because they are looking at your budget, which in probably 90% of all cases is exceeded anyway — in your case as well. It would be unfair not to mention this.

GeraldG schrieb:

That’s something, too. On one hand, people point out issues like sill heights or how the couch is positioned or the shower. So far, I have deliberately overlooked that since it will be dealt with in detailed planning.

Give me a reasonable explanation why, as a planner, you would not include a key piece of furniture like a couch accurately in the layout.
You are very mistaken. In almost every similarly themed thread, you will read multiple times that the actual furnishings with real dimensions should be drawn in. You should not think that these are just compulsive participants. These are people who know exactly the problems caused by late-stage thinking about the interior design. Your detailed planning can only take place within a fixed "rough plan," and you will quickly hit limitations. You would do well to take this seriously and not dismiss it as nonsense.

GeraldG schrieb:

I think I joined at the right time.

What knowledge leads you to that belief?
It’s not too late yet; so far it’s just a plan and possibly some money, but that applies to every builder who wants to build a beautiful house. Therefore, I count this among the construction costs.

GeraldG schrieb:

That’s something, too. On one hand, people criticize things like the height of the windowsill or how the couch is positioned or the shower layout. So far, I have deliberately looked past these, since I thought these details belong to the final planning stage. I don’t expect every plan to be fully developed if it’s going to be changed anyway. On the other hand, according to some, I’m already too late.
I think I arrived at the right time. Although some energy has gone into the floor plan, it’s not so much that it can’t be changed anymore. And I didn’t want to present just a hand sketch, because many things aren’t detailed enough yet to have a proper discussion about them.
For example, I haven’t really looked at the basement yet; it can be arranged quite quickly.

I find it unfortunate that you don’t engage with the comments other than to take them the wrong way. The windowsill height was not criticized per se; rather, you were informed that the plan shows it at a technically unrealistically low level, and apparently there are misconceptions about how this is determined. I personally didn’t notice this consciously, only briefly spotted the comment about it while skimming (otherwise, I wouldn’t even know what you mean by that term). I didn’t get as far as the couch or shower, because I quickly realized that you and your planner have taken a wrong turn. You only get a detailed plan in a dead end if the proud client does not recognize it as such (and dismisses the warnings as misunderstanding, envy, or ill will), considers it improvable, and so on. A true wrong-way driver drives angrily honking into the silly police barricade blocking the way. That’s what they say, as a Munich local in heaven.
You would have been better off presenting a hand sketch — precisely because that allows for a proper discussion of the issues first before making them “detailed enough.”

I’ll check back later when you present a new draft.

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GeraldG schrieb:

On the one hand, railing heights are often criticized

If you don’t mind a step onto the balcony, go ahead, but it should be included in the plans. Unfortunately, there have been several disappointed homeowners here because they overlooked this detail. The floor structure on the upper floor can be raised to create a level exit, but this also results in a lower ceiling height and an additional stair step if you don’t want the stairs to become steeper. That extra stair step also makes the staircase longer, which affects the layout and is not always favorable for the overall floor plan. Even small details like this can influence your preliminary planning.

Arauki11 schrieb:

What knowledge leads you to this belief?

Well, because the house has not been built yet. Therefore, I would still consider the current moment as the right moment. And without the initial planning, you don't even know what to pay attention to in the next steps 😀

11ant schrieb:

I find it very unfortunate that you don’t do anything with the comments except take them the wrong way.

I reread all the posts, and indeed, the comments seemed much less harsh to me than they did at first.
Especially comment #14 from K a t j a. She later showed with her floor plan that she can certainly afford to have such an opinion. At the moment I read it, however, I didn’t see it as an "informative answer," but rather just a snide comment.

11ant schrieb:

I’ll check back later when you present a new preliminary design.

Sure. Tomorrow I will forward Katja’s floor plan to my designer. Let’s see what he makes of it. I actually spent the last 1–2 hours studying this floor plan intensively and think I like it better than the one we showed. Especially the upper floor with the staircase in the bay window is definitely nicer for us, even if the rooms now only get light from one side.

hanse987 schrieb:

If you don’t mind having a step to the balcony, then go ahead, but it should be shown in the plan.

The comment about the railing height was not actually directed at you, and your hint was important and interesting enough that I immediately shared it with my wife since I hadn’t thought of it before.