ᐅ Floor plan for a newly built two-story single-family house, 200 m² (2,150 sq ft)

Created on: 26 Dec 2024 16:14

Hello everyone and Merry Christmas,

after I posted a question about the heat pump to be used a few days ago, I now want to continue with the main and fundamental thread regarding the floor plan.

Development Plan / Restrictions
Plot size: 618 m² (6660 sq ft)
Slope: None
Site coverage ratio: 0.4
Floor area ratio: None
Building envelope, building line and boundary: See image
Peripheral development: No
Number of parking spaces: 2
Number of stories: up to 2
Roof shape: All allowed; for hip or gable roofs 25° - 50° pitch
Architectural style: None specified
Orientation: None specified
Maximum height / limits: 9 m ridge height (29.5 ft)
Other requirements: Photovoltaic system covering at least 50% of usable roof surface

Homeowner Requirements
Architectural style, roof type, building type: "Urban villa but Northern German style"
Basement, floors: 2 full stories, no basement
Number of occupants, ages: 4 people, 32, 32, 1, -2 years
Room requirements on ground and upper floors: Study (ground floor), Study/guest room (upper floor)
Office: Family use or home office? 1 office for full-time use, 1 additional as a guest room hybrid
Number of guest stay days per year: approx. 10-15 days, mostly family
Open or closed layout: Open
Conservative or modern construction: More modern
Open kitchen, kitchen island: Open kitchen, with island if it fits, otherwise U- or L-shaped
Number of dining seats: 8
Fireplace: No
Music / stereo wall: No
Balcony, roof terrace: No
Garage, carport: Carport for 1 car
Utility garden, greenhouse: No
Additional wishes / special features / daily routine, also reasons why certain things are wanted or not: Nothing noteworthy

House Design
Who designed the plan: Planner (Architect?) of the general contractor (GC)
What do you particularly like and why?

Straight staircase
Covered entrance and terrace
Spacious enough for our needs

What do you dislike and why?

Ground floor WC probably too small
Pantry doesn’t make much sense (maybe omit)
Layout of the bathroom upstairs (we already have alternative ideas)
Unsure if there is enough light in the living/dining area
Slightly too big / bulky
A bit too expensive

Price estimate according to architect/planner: 565,000 EUR
Personal price limit for the house, including fittings: 730,000 EUR (including garden, carport, photovoltaics, kitchen, additional costs)
Preferred heating technology: Heat pump is basically a must (no gas connection)

If you have to give up, which details / extras

Can be skipped: open atrium, pantry, if necessary the type of covering on entrance and terrace (set back under the upper floor)
Cannot be skipped: Storage space

Why did the design turn out the way it did?
Three-hour meeting with the architect at the general contractor, starting from a similar model house (this was a 1.5-story house with a gable roof), several iterations on tracing paper, then a week later the digital design was received.

Which wishes were implemented by the architect? Covered entrance and terrace set back under the upper floor, bedroom with dressing room, 2 studies (1 ground floor, 1 upper floor).

What do you think makes the design good or bad? Overall we quite like the whole package.

I’m looking forward to your opinions and am curious about what you think. If we still like the design in January, we will probably proceed with further planning with the general contractor.

Ground floor plan including kitchen, dining, living, workspace, entrance hall, WC and carport

Upper floor plan with bedroom, dressing room, children's room, guest room, bathroom, hallway

Section through two-story house with roof structure, underfloor heating, windows and doors

Two-story brick house with gable roof; four facades (east, south, north, west)

Site plan of a plot: red boundary, green area, blue borderlines, scale 0–20 m (0–65 ft), neighboring buildings

HaseUndIgel27 Dec 2024 12:49

#25

nordanney schrieb:

Honestly? One word in that sentence doesn’t fit at all. And that’s the word “I.”
I’m not a floor plan expert. That’s why I would never presume to design a floor plan myself.
And that’s exactly what I recommend to you. Not “I,” but an architect hired and paid by you should do the planning.

nordanney schrieb:

YOUR architect is paid by you and works in your interest according to your wishes.

That’s true, of course. However, I don’t care about the “how” as long as a floor plan comes out that we like. My guess is that my wife and I tend to micromanage too much to just let an architect do their job, no matter how good they are. Also, the current “Christmas holidays” are a great opportunity to work on our own drawings, with no need to wait for appointments. Working late at night on the plans ourselves is much less effort for me than organizing childcare for a baby again or sitting through an architect meeting with a potentially stressed baby.

roteweste schrieb:

Overall, I think the design is successful, although it is definitely quite wasteful.

Yes, it could certainly be smaller, but it doesn’t have to be. As long as it fits the budget, we’ll probably keep it this size.

roteweste schrieb:

Especially the cloakroom behind the stairs seems out of place to me and would be better located near the entrance. Maybe you could swap the guest toilet with the cloakroom. However, then you would need access to the toilet or study through the living room.

We are still considering that. But the guest toilet next to the study was originally the reason for the winding path/the labyrinth. The simple solution would be to center the main entrance on the north side. Then the toilet can stay where it is, and there would be a cloakroom in front of it. The idea of a main entrance through the carport makes me uneasy, though.

roteweste schrieb:

Think about how you want to access the garden on a daily basis.

As I already wrote in post #17, ideally I don’t want to access the garden at all. But for the other residents and special occasions, a door in the kitchen would probably be really useful.

roteweste schrieb:

Personally, I’m not a fan of covered patios. The corner will be quite small and probably won’t fit a large table with many chairs around it. With a depth of 2 meters (6.5 feet), the patio will likely only provide about 1 meter (3 feet) of shade at midday in summer.

I have an example right here outside the window with similar dimensions, and we just like it. Even combined with an external pergola, we find the covered patio better than without.

roteweste schrieb:

Also, I personally don’t see the point of a walk-in closet. I can’t understand the trend at all.

A big advantage is the possibility to turn on the light and get dressed while the other person is still sleeping—without needing to go into the bathroom or disturbing the other person with bright light.

Arauki1127 Dec 2024 12:54

#26

Apart from the cramped space near the dining area/counter/sliding door with 8 seats, I would reject this layout outright at first glance because, given the current planned situation with the house entrance/carport, it is only a matter of time before someone ends up under the car, even if it’s just a foot.

Having the driveway running directly past the front door can only be considered "unacceptable" from my perspective. Therefore, the floor plan will definitely need to be changed.

I see this as a clear design mistake, since you need to allow at least a usable area in front of the entrance, and this reduces the driveway to an impractical width.

We have a similar setup, but in front of the entrance there is first an elevated platform with a step, where you can move around “safely.”

I would never design a carport including the entrance area to be only 3.85 meters (12.6 feet) wide.

HaseUndIgel27 Dec 2024 13:27

#27

Arauki11 schrieb:

I would never build a 3.85m (12.6 ft) wide carport including the main entrance situation.

Maybe it was overlooked that only one car is supposed to park there, not two side by side? A width of 4 m (13.1 ft) without the exterior wall still leaves plenty of space next to the car.

In the original plan, the entrance was designed differently, but that just wastes even more space. Even if I were starting from scratch, I wouldn’t see a significantly better option on the plot. We have ruled out an entrance in the middle of the east side (facing the street). We want only one entrance, which should have short walking distances both on foot and from the carport. So at the northeast corner.

I think if the walkway is marked clearly with different paving stones, it should be clear for everyone involved.

HaseUndIgel27 Dec 2024 13:30

#28

Arauki11 schrieb:

Apart from the tight space around the dining area/bar/terrace door with 8 seats

The drawing shows the table extended. That might happen about 4 days a year. Normally, the table is 65cm (25½ inches) shorter, and there are only 6 chairs. We set it up like that and compared it with other houses, and it fits well.

ypg27 Dec 2024 13:48

#29

Arauki11 schrieb:

Since you have to consider at least a usable area for the main entrance in front of the door, this then narrows the driveway until it becomes impractical.

HaseUndIgel schrieb:

I think if you subtly differentiate the walkway with different paving stones, it’s definitely better for everyone involved.

Yes, I have already been keeping an eye on that. You basically have a platform, often a nice one, in front of the front door – and it should also allow enough space to move around so that you don’t accidentally fall off it. There are options, for example by positioning the storage room between the carport and the house. Ultimately, you also try to create access to the garden there.

HaseUndIgel schrieb:

I’m currently sitting in almost the same living room (also with a recessed terrace) and I find that quite good, including the natural light and the view.

Then please explain to me why there has to be a window above the sofa. You can call it decoration or reading light – there must be some reason. Personally, I would feel more comfortable with a solid wall on a sofa wall that wouldn’t cause any reflections on the TV.

HaseUndIgel schrieb:

Additionally, the “Christmas holidays” are currently a great time to work on your own drawings

HaseUndIgel schrieb:

as long as a floor plan emerges that we like.

HaseUndIgel schrieb:

simply doing their job

The thing is: the architect’s job is to design the optimum solution based on the knowledge from their studies. A layperson doesn’t have that knowledge. So you or you all are just cycling through the usual repertoire of model homes and popular house-building heroes – but not through the knowledge of individuality. That’s why you currently end up with messed-up facades and a non-functional entrance situation, especially when you are more repairing and patching than considering something new. A layperson is usually reluctant to delete or radically change things.

HaseUndIgel schrieb:

To be honest, I find kitchen planning the hardest part, especially regarding spatial awareness and layout. You can see that in the design with the small kitchen island.

The person who uses the kitchen with passion is the expert. That can also be a kitchen planner.

HaseUndIgel27 Dec 2024 13:57

#30

ypg schrieb:

The person who uses the kitchen with passion would be the expert. That could also be a kitchen planner.

In this case, I am definitely the heavy user. But all the kitchens I have cooked in so far (and there have been quite a few) have been too small for me, especially regarding workspace and space for kitchen appliances. That’s why I’m still not sure what my optimum kitchen size would actually be.

ᐅ Floor plan for a newly built two-story single-family house, 200 m² (2,150 sq ft)

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