ᐅ Floor plan design for a single-family house on a 10% south-facing slope. Entrance with a landing staircase.
Created on: 2 Aug 2025 23:15
H
Hanger1
Hello everyone,
Some time ago, I created a post about the layout and optimal use of our approximately 600 sqm (6460 sq ft) plot of land with about a 10% south-facing slope.
We have now spent some time drawing, considering, erasing, and so on, and have developed the following floor plan.
Since we have about a 10% slope, I want to make optimal use of the hillside. My idea is that the main entrance is on the landing staircase, meaning on the level between the ground floor and the first floor, but with an enlarged landing.
From there, half a flight of stairs leads up to the upper floor (sleeping area) or half a flight down to the ground floor (living area).
This idea comes from the split-level concept.
Development Plan / Restrictions
Size of the plot: 600 sqm (6460 sq ft)
Slope: 10% south-facing slope
Site coverage ratio: 0.3
Floor area ratio: 0.6
Number of parking spaces: not yet decided, probably 2
Number of stories: currently planning 2 full stories
Roof type: gable or hip roof
Architectural style: classic
Orientation: north-south
Owners’ Requirements
Style, roof type, building type
Basement, number of floors
Number of residents, age: 2 adults, currently 1 child, 2-3 children planned in future
Space requirements on ground floor and upper floor
Office: family use or home office? The office could alternatively be used as a third child’s bedroom
Overnight guests are negligible
Open or closed architecture: open design
Conservative or modern construction: conservative
Open kitchen, cooking island: U-shaped kitchen, already planned at the kitchen studio. The optimal size for us is 3 x 4 m (10 x 13 ft). We want a hidden door on the short side leading to the storage/pantry.
Number of dining seats: 1
Fireplace: no
Guest WC should include a shower, as my wife will be working shift work again in the future and having a shower away from the bedrooms is convenient.
House Design
Who created the plan:
- Planner from a building company: ideas from a builder, but we are doing it ourselves (DIY)
What do you like about it? Why?
What do you not like? Why? We are uncertain whether the north side near the entrance on the intermediate level looks too disjointed, because the upper floor windows start at the height where the front door ends.
Personal budget limit for the house, including fittings: 500k
Preferred heating technology: heat pump
If you have to give up anything, which details or extras
- could you give up? Preferably less square meters.
- cannot do without? WC/shower on the ground floor.
The following rooms are planned:
1: Living room with sliding door to dining area
2: Dining area
3: Kitchen with sliding door to dining area
4: Utility room
5: Guest WC/shower
6: Corridor
7: Landing staircase with enlarged landing
8: Storage room
9: Bathroom
10: Child I
11: Child II
12: Parents’ bedroom, possibly with a partition wall so you enter the bedroom through a small dressing room
13: Corridor (the landing staircase is not shown here)
14: Office / Child III
I look forward to your feedback!
Some time ago, I created a post about the layout and optimal use of our approximately 600 sqm (6460 sq ft) plot of land with about a 10% south-facing slope.
We have now spent some time drawing, considering, erasing, and so on, and have developed the following floor plan.
Since we have about a 10% slope, I want to make optimal use of the hillside. My idea is that the main entrance is on the landing staircase, meaning on the level between the ground floor and the first floor, but with an enlarged landing.
From there, half a flight of stairs leads up to the upper floor (sleeping area) or half a flight down to the ground floor (living area).
This idea comes from the split-level concept.
Development Plan / Restrictions
Size of the plot: 600 sqm (6460 sq ft)
Slope: 10% south-facing slope
Site coverage ratio: 0.3
Floor area ratio: 0.6
Number of parking spaces: not yet decided, probably 2
Number of stories: currently planning 2 full stories
Roof type: gable or hip roof
Architectural style: classic
Orientation: north-south
Owners’ Requirements
Style, roof type, building type
Basement, number of floors
Number of residents, age: 2 adults, currently 1 child, 2-3 children planned in future
Space requirements on ground floor and upper floor
Office: family use or home office? The office could alternatively be used as a third child’s bedroom
Overnight guests are negligible
Open or closed architecture: open design
Conservative or modern construction: conservative
Open kitchen, cooking island: U-shaped kitchen, already planned at the kitchen studio. The optimal size for us is 3 x 4 m (10 x 13 ft). We want a hidden door on the short side leading to the storage/pantry.
Number of dining seats: 1
Fireplace: no
Guest WC should include a shower, as my wife will be working shift work again in the future and having a shower away from the bedrooms is convenient.
House Design
Who created the plan:
- Planner from a building company: ideas from a builder, but we are doing it ourselves (DIY)
What do you like about it? Why?
What do you not like? Why? We are uncertain whether the north side near the entrance on the intermediate level looks too disjointed, because the upper floor windows start at the height where the front door ends.
Personal budget limit for the house, including fittings: 500k
Preferred heating technology: heat pump
If you have to give up anything, which details or extras
- could you give up? Preferably less square meters.
- cannot do without? WC/shower on the ground floor.
The following rooms are planned:
1: Living room with sliding door to dining area
2: Dining area
3: Kitchen with sliding door to dining area
4: Utility room
5: Guest WC/shower
6: Corridor
7: Landing staircase with enlarged landing
8: Storage room
9: Bathroom
10: Child I
11: Child II
12: Parents’ bedroom, possibly with a partition wall so you enter the bedroom through a small dressing room
13: Corridor (the landing staircase is not shown here)
14: Office / Child III
I look forward to your feedback!
ypg schrieb:
Your house is a two-story building with the front door positioned on a shift between the levels. It’s an absolutely crazy effort that benefits no one here and isn’t sensible.
Recently, there was also a split-level idea with no actual third level—though not great, at least manageable.
https://www.hausbau-forum.de/threads/grundriss-zweifamilienhaus-nebeneinander-am-suedhang.49076/Why should a front door located on an intermediate level at the height of the stair landing be considered an absolutely crazy effort in this case? Whether the entrance is located on the ground floor, upper floor, or the intermediate landing level makes no difference in terms of implementation. I am using the landing as the entrance area. The only extra effort is making the landing slightly longer.The split-level floor plans I have looked at always lose a lot of space both below and above the intermediate split-level. The idea was to keep the intermediate level as small as possible to minimize space loss.
hanghaus2023 schrieb:
11 by 8 meters with 2 full stories. Over 8 meters you only have a 0.8 m slope. That doesn’t really justify a hillside house or split-level design.But if I place the house 5 meters from the property boundary and level the area between the north-facing entrance and the property boundary at ground level to get a flat entrance, I end up with an offset of 1.3 meters on the terrace side (5 + 8 = 13 meters from the property boundary). Since I want to access the terrace at ground level, that would require a lot of fill, especially since the property slopes down by 2.5 meters (total length 25 meters) toward the boundary.
Papierturm schrieb:
Basically, I don’t think the original idea is bad at all. The execution though… it reminds me of stories where people blindly followed GPS (in this case, the idea) and ended up in the sea or on the subway stairs.At least someone sees something positive in it, even if only a small detail 😉I’ve worked on your approach with 11 by 8 meters and have now at least reached 11 by 9 meters where I tried to implement your advice.
My second idea regarding the approach with the entrance at the landing level is to have the entrance on the upper floor so that guests enter and then go down one floor into the living and dining area. This would require the house to be set slightly higher and more earth to be excavated on the terrace side.
I have simply sketched a new design for this variant. Hopefully this time it is somewhat better than a disaster 😉
A few more words about my thoughts:
The entrance, as mentioned above, is on the upper floor. To the right is a niche and cloakroom. A stroller and similar items could be stored in the office, which is only for a limited period anyway. The office could also serve as a potential third child’s bedroom.
The staircase leads directly down to the living area.
I am still keeping the utility room at 17.7 square meters, but this now includes the pantry with a door leading into the kitchen and the storage room.
We want to keep the possibility to separate the living (couch/TV area) and kitchen physically, so I planned sliding doors here. I think the corner layout of the dining area this time is much more open than in the first version. Also, the area is brighter due to the stairwell plus a loft door into the dining area with a view into the garden.
As always, I look forward to your feedback.
M
MachsSelbst5 Aug 2025 12:00So, you want to enter the house on the private side, open the mail there, let guests through, and so on?
The place where you might run naked from the shower to the bedroom? Where clothes, toys, and such are often left lying around? And then you just jump over the stairs to get to the office?
Personal taste, but think it over...
Without the walls, the space would feel generous; with the walls and sliding doors between kitchen, dining, and living areas, everything feels very cramped and, in my opinion, won’t work well.
Where will the TV go? Where will you put cabinets for books, dishes, glasses, etc.? There is hardly any space.
If the shower is next to the entrance as part of the main bathroom, you don’t need another one in the living area.
I still find the utility room ridiculously large. My neighbors have 10m² (108 sq ft), which is already quite spacious. I have 6m² (65 sq ft), which is a bit small but still manageable.
What exactly is supposed to go in there? Bicycles? Garden tools?
To me, it looks like a bunker plan, where no room can be larger than 20m² (215 sq ft) for security reasons and all must be separable.
Your walk-in closet in the bedroom is too small; 60cm (24 inch) cabinets don’t fit properly or you can barely fit 2m (6.5 ft) due to the door. That’s very, very little.
The small children’s room is also awkwardly shaped because of the entrance corridor; that 2m² (22 sq ft) is pure, useless walkway. And the beds—hopefully that’s a joke? In the bedroom, you only have about 50cm (20 inches) of space next to the bed?
I don’t think the bathroom is bad at all.
The place where you might run naked from the shower to the bedroom? Where clothes, toys, and such are often left lying around? And then you just jump over the stairs to get to the office?
Personal taste, but think it over...
Without the walls, the space would feel generous; with the walls and sliding doors between kitchen, dining, and living areas, everything feels very cramped and, in my opinion, won’t work well.
Where will the TV go? Where will you put cabinets for books, dishes, glasses, etc.? There is hardly any space.
If the shower is next to the entrance as part of the main bathroom, you don’t need another one in the living area.
I still find the utility room ridiculously large. My neighbors have 10m² (108 sq ft), which is already quite spacious. I have 6m² (65 sq ft), which is a bit small but still manageable.
What exactly is supposed to go in there? Bicycles? Garden tools?
To me, it looks like a bunker plan, where no room can be larger than 20m² (215 sq ft) for security reasons and all must be separable.
Your walk-in closet in the bedroom is too small; 60cm (24 inch) cabinets don’t fit properly or you can barely fit 2m (6.5 ft) due to the door. That’s very, very little.
The small children’s room is also awkwardly shaped because of the entrance corridor; that 2m² (22 sq ft) is pure, useless walkway. And the beds—hopefully that’s a joke? In the bedroom, you only have about 50cm (20 inches) of space next to the bed?
I don’t think the bathroom is bad at all.
Hanger1 schrieb:
Why should installing a front door at the landing level in this case require such an extreme effort? Whether I position the front door opening on the ground floor, upper floor, or exactly at the landing level makes absolutely no difference in execution. I am using the landing as the entrance area. The only extra effort is a slightly longer landing.
The split-level floor plans I have looked at always lose a lot of space below and above the split-level landing. I do not share the criticism of this idea. However, it is pointless to compare this special solution with “true split-level” building proposals.
Hanger1 schrieb:
I have worked on your approach with an 11x8 m (36x26 ft) footprint and have now at least reached 11x9 m (36x30 ft) trying to implement your advice. In your drawings, you should also be able to clearly see why I recommend developing floor plans “top down.” Starting with a fixed frame of “X by Y meters” leads nowhere good (usually to unsatisfactory results and the false conclusion that it must be made bigger after all). Why do you want to impress yourself as a novice designer apprentice by hoping for beginner’s luck? Do you seriously dream of saving an architect’s fee with a community-refined self-design (and perhaps even that this would pay for the increased house size)?
What holds you back from simply following the advice for a conceptual approach? Sometimes I feel like I am talking to a wall; also, not least with the advice to look at standard building proposals as a normal family.
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
Arauki11 schrieb:
So why not at least use one of the countless floor plans available online as a starting point and then customize the desired details?That was actually done ...Hanger1 schrieb:
Planner from a construction company: ideas from a construction company but do it yourself... and then, following my suggestion ...11ant schrieb:
Their version before the do-it-yourself modifications would be interesting.... no response yet to share the original (including a description of the changes made and the reasons for them).https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
Papierturm6 Aug 2025 15:49Hanger1 schrieb:
[...]First of all: I’m down with a fever and completely not in my right mind, which I am about to prove!I have been thinking about the new plan, and I realized that if I were to pursue the idea, I would go all the way with it. For me (assuming a south-facing slope = south-facing view, which is quite nice), this would mean considering swapping the levels and slightly lowering the house to allow for a west-facing terrace. This would have several advantages:
- The entrance would be in the public area, not the private area.
- The dining area would have a much better view.
- In summer, from a thermal protection standpoint, having the bedrooms downstairs is more comfortable.
- The terrace could then be designed as a west-facing terrace, aligned at the same level as the house. The evening sun is always pleasant anyway.
There would also be some drawbacks. A south-facing terrace would no longer be possible. West-facing windows downstairs would be more difficult since only narrow bands of windows would be feasible (with the rearrangement of rooms downstairs to be considered! So utility room/bathroom/office would have to be on the west side). Since the layout is rather unusual, I don’t know how others would react to it.
So. Now, putting Papierturm’s miserable ideas aside, let’s look at the actual floor plan. I like it better already. However, I still see two big problems:
1. I don’t think the living room area actually works well. If this were my planned house, I would actually try to recreate it in the parking lot or something similar using ropes and placeholders (e.g., boxes) to think about how to furnish and use it sensibly. No matter how much mental Tetris I play, I can’t find a good solution.
2. The utility room is still extremely large. I suspect one reason might be the idea of using the utility room as a substitute for a basement: a place for storage, including a pantry. But modern utility rooms are often only partially suitable for this. With the right equipment in the utility room, depending on the setup, it can get quite warm in there, which is unfavorable for storing certain items (e.g., drinks, potatoes, and the like). Another observation is that the utility room (a functional space) is larger than the living room (a living space). Also, there is a lot of “dead” space in the middle of the utility room. To put it bluntly: what the utility room has in excess, the living room lacks.
Personally: There must be reasons why the separation with sliding doors between kitchen/dining/living areas is desired. Without knowing these reasons, it is difficult for me to assess how practical or impractical this is for everyday use.
I also don’t know how easily accessible the office is with the staircase as planned.
Similar topics