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

I managed to come up with something like this while experimenting:

with a large hallway on the upper floor – as far as I know, Scandinavians like this quite a bit. If that’s not Nordic...

What does your wife want? Do you have an example picture?

GeraldG schrieb:

By the way, the originally shown plan was the third iteration, with only two days between the second and third, and we hadn’t discussed the second one.

Ah, as soon as I see “iteration,” I know they’re using the “Infinite Monkey” approach to planning here...

GeraldG schrieb:

when I called him to ask how many cycles and attempts are usually made before someone decides to actually build a house.

... which inevitably leads to countless “loops” (and a “result” that looks like “patchpatchpatch” – the opposite of clean design). The effect is exactly the same as in software development. As far as I know, the record for loops is held by Princess @Shiny86 ;D

GeraldG schrieb:

I have to fight on three fronts now (the planner—I showed him with your plan that it can be done better—the internet, which advises me to be even more flexible with the approach—and my wife, who is already disappointed that the house looks different from what she wanted and is losing interest in comparing floor plans) 😀).

In that case, the wife should not look at alternative floor plans or their intermediate versions but instead provide her wishes and feedback in a way she finds more comfortable or suitable.

GeraldG schrieb:

although now I don’t know what to do with the extra room 😀

If an unnecessary room is discovered during plan cleanup, then it simply doesn’t go into the next draft (or is automatically discarded in a fresh start).

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However, there were points speaking against the house as it is:

• Two-story (the town hall rules out that we are allowed that, even though a two-story building was permitted right next to us. We are locally the first in the corner that has to build single-story (the Knödellinie boundary runs in between)).
• There were too many rooms inside for us; we preferred larger rooms (11sqm (120 sqft) for the children is quite small when they grow older). I would place the home office on the ground floor or in the basement. The children should rather have the nicer view, since we only really sleep in the bedroom. The teenagers (not yet here) will probably spend more time in their rooms.

My wife’s wishes: kitchen on the right side, living room on the left side (from the street view). We only have neighbors on the right, and on the left there is initially no one “in sight” who might build. They should see us cooking rather than relaxing in the living room.
At the same time, we were advised against having the central bay window at the back because of the sun (actually by several companies before we chose the current builder). It splits the terrace. It was then always shifted north so that there is one continuous terrace. This is usually impractical, as the table would actually fit nicely between kitchen and living room there.
My wish (since I am not short) was to get the knee wall quite high. With a 30° roof pitch, it takes a while before you can stand there comfortably.
For the shower, I prefer solutions where you don’t have to clean glass panels so often.

We don’t really need a walk-in closet, but my wife wants one and intends to equip it with wardrobes to store all kinds of bedding and what we currently keep in our closet. It is more like an extended wardrobe plus storage for foldables. She is quite stubborn about that. However, she does not want a separate storage room. My suggestion was to make a children’s bathroom upstairs instead of the walk-in closet (currently we keep all clothes, bedding, rarely worn clothes, etc. in a 2.6m (8.5 ft) long wardrobe), and reduce the ground floor to just one WC so there might be a broom closet next to the pantry, which she also rejected.
She doesn’t like in your proposal that the door is next to the bay window. (I would have even placed it on the side, which would make the entrance less convoluted.) But she would accept that, as it keeps symmetry with the windows on the other side. She is a big fan of the hallway in your proposal. Personally, I am more practical and want it to be as small as possible (without it feeling cramped, of course).

We still need to look at your new proposal more closely. Overall, the house is quite long now (the plot is 18m (59 ft) wide and we have to keep a 3m (10 ft) distance on the right and left), upper floor without walk-in closet or additional storage, but with generous rooms. On the ground floor, the living room and dining room now seem smaller, so my initial tendency (among all proposals) is still towards the first one.

GeraldG schrieb:

They prefer the children to have the nicer view,

But the children don’t benefit from that. I don’t know any child who enjoys looking at a beautiful landscape or view. As kids in school and playing age, they need brightness; they prefer playing over looking out the window, and later on, as is often mentioned here, the shutters tend to be closed rather than open – even during the day.

GeraldG schrieb:

She is quite stubborn about that.

More realistic, considering the family’s ceilings and laundry.

GeraldG schrieb:

… so that we can also store all kinds of bed linens and whatever else is currently in our closet there). It’s more like an extended wardrobe plus storage space for foldable items.

However, you shouldn’t forget that you are planning a basement for storage. While the broom should be stored on the ground floor, the mop either there or upstairs, all foldable seasonal and changeover items could go in the basement.

GeraldG schrieb:

She doesn’t like that the door is next to the bay window in your proposal.

The design is more symmetrical than yours. In your layout, the door isn’t centered and is very noticeable next to the bay window, and the windows themselves are not symmetrical either.

GeraldG schrieb:

From the outside, it was the best among all those we have seen here:

According to the website, the Kern Aura model with a 40 cm (16 inches) wall thickness / knee wall height of 75 cm (30 inches) is already considered "two-story" in almost all federal states.

GeraldG schrieb:

My wife's wishes: kitchen on the right side, living room on the left side (as seen from the street). We only have neighbors on the right, and on the left side there is no one "in sight" who might want to build. They would better see us cooking than in the living room. [...] We don’t really need a walk-in closet, but my wife wants one and plans to fill it with wardrobes, [...] She doesn’t want a separate storage room though. [...] (Currently, we store all clothes, bedding, rarely worn clothes, etc. in a 2.6 m (8.5 feet) long wardrobe), [...] She doesn’t like in your proposal that the door is next to the bay window. [...] But she would accept it (since it is symmetrical with the windows on the other side).

If you have a wife who wants "a lot of clothes but out of sight," then the planner (or better: an architect) has to handle that. The design brief needs to include sections like "Boss’s orders" and "Boss’s restrictions." That also explains the basement—you probably need a mancave, and a "hobby room" means a zone where everything can be left messy. But the basement will still be expensive, and I don’t need to repeat myself about symmetry.

GeraldG schrieb:

My suggestion to replace the walk-in closet upstairs with a kids’ bathroom [...] was also rejected by her.

I don’t see a causal connection between a walk-in closet and a kids’ bathroom, but since you mention a kids’ bathroom, I have to smile: a significant part of Shiny’s "finishing touches" (which I think I stopped tracking around post 480 in the main thread) went to that.

GeraldG schrieb:

Two-story (the town hall prohibits us from building that, even though two-story construction was allowed directly next to us. We are locally the first in the area required to build single-story (the Knödellinie runs in between)) [...] My wish (since I’m not short) was to get the knee wall quite high.

If the Knödellinie had to be shifted by only your property and your house should legally be two-story while maintaining an appropriate architectural form rather than a mansion-like building, I see good chances for an exemption. However, this urgently needs to be clarified (also here, an architect will have better contacts with the authorities than a draftsman). So the decision to forgo a proper preliminary design so far already backfires at the pre-approval stage. Do you now see the advantages of my seemingly old-fashioned approach?

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https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/

11ant schrieb:

I don’t see a causal connection between the walk-in closet and the children’s bathroom.

Both need space, and unfortunately, space is limited. 🙂

11ant schrieb:

I would see good chances for an exemption. However, this urgently needs to be clarified (here the architect will probably have better contacts with the authorities than a draftsman).

I already clarified this at the town hall. They are generally quite flexible here when it comes to changes or exemptions. The official said that practically no exemptions are granted regarding the number of floors, and since the “text preceding the development plan” (forgot the exact term) explicitly justifies the single-story design, she ruled it out.