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
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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!
Papierturm8 Sep 2025 07:31Unsorted thoughts:
- The access to the bedroom/walk-in closet is not functional. You end up facing a wall and have to step into the closet first to close the door before entering the bedroom.
- The living room feels very cramped. It reminds me of a blind alley. Please try furnishing it to scale to see if it works for you.
- The rooms adjacent to the carport are negatively affected due to the windows. What are the priorities?
- I’m not sure if the kitchen layout will work. With so many doors, it will feel even smaller. Again, try furnishing it to see if it suits your needs.
- For the floor area (11.11 x 9.49 meters (36.5 x 31.1 feet), as far as I can tell), the layout seems overly fragmented. I believe larger rooms could be realized here.
- The access to the bedroom/walk-in closet is not functional. You end up facing a wall and have to step into the closet first to close the door before entering the bedroom.
- The living room feels very cramped. It reminds me of a blind alley. Please try furnishing it to scale to see if it works for you.
- The rooms adjacent to the carport are negatively affected due to the windows. What are the priorities?
- I’m not sure if the kitchen layout will work. With so many doors, it will feel even smaller. Again, try furnishing it to see if it suits your needs.
- For the floor area (11.11 x 9.49 meters (36.5 x 31.1 feet), as far as I can tell), the layout seems overly fragmented. I believe larger rooms could be realized here.
M
MachsSelbst8 Sep 2025 08:02The door swing in the walk-in closet definitely needs to be reversed.
The carport doesn’t block any light because the bathroom only has roof windows and there is a window planned for Kid3’s room anyway. However, the carport with a gable roof is quite large and therefore probably rather expensive. Only for those who really need it...
To be honest, you wouldn’t want to be Kid3. Even Kid2 is quite small at 13m² (140 sq ft), considering that eventually, it won’t be a 3-year-old living there, but a 16-year-old teenager...
Not much has changed on the ground floor. The utility room (HAR) is impractically large, and the living area, divided into many small rooms, feels more like a bunker than a cozy, open space. The pantry is usually unnecessary; canned goods and groceries can be stored better at the supermarket around the corner. The extra 4m² (43 sq ft) from the pantry would definitely benefit the kitchen’s size.
And yes, the dining area now looks impressive, but because it is so narrow and extends around a corner, it will feel cramped once a dining table is placed inside. You always have to navigate around it for your entire life when you want to get to the living room or the terrace. Also, part of the room is wasted space since the dining table can’t be placed around the corner. Once you’ve squeezed past it, you’re back in a cramped passageway...
The carport doesn’t block any light because the bathroom only has roof windows and there is a window planned for Kid3’s room anyway. However, the carport with a gable roof is quite large and therefore probably rather expensive. Only for those who really need it...
To be honest, you wouldn’t want to be Kid3. Even Kid2 is quite small at 13m² (140 sq ft), considering that eventually, it won’t be a 3-year-old living there, but a 16-year-old teenager...
Not much has changed on the ground floor. The utility room (HAR) is impractically large, and the living area, divided into many small rooms, feels more like a bunker than a cozy, open space. The pantry is usually unnecessary; canned goods and groceries can be stored better at the supermarket around the corner. The extra 4m² (43 sq ft) from the pantry would definitely benefit the kitchen’s size.
And yes, the dining area now looks impressive, but because it is so narrow and extends around a corner, it will feel cramped once a dining table is placed inside. You always have to navigate around it for your entire life when you want to get to the living room or the terrace. Also, part of the room is wasted space since the dining table can’t be placed around the corner. Once you’ve squeezed past it, you’re back in a cramped passageway...
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hanghaus20238 Sep 2025 10:20Thanks for the feedback. At least my comment #26 is confirmed here. In my opinion, you should still slim down a bit. 160m2 (1722 sq ft) * 3000 = 480k plus carport and ancillary structures, it will be tight. The living and dining area is, in my view, very generous.
This way you can make the house a bit wider, which, in my opinion, benefits the layout of the upper floor.
I would raise the house by 1-2 steps if the height allows. This is also better for the thermal balance.
Where it says carport/entrance, is that supposed to be a covered terrace? Otherwise, you should consider extending the carport to include storage rooms.
This way you can make the house a bit wider, which, in my opinion, benefits the layout of the upper floor.
I would raise the house by 1-2 steps if the height allows. This is also better for the thermal balance.
Where it says carport/entrance, is that supposed to be a covered terrace? Otherwise, you should consider extending the carport to include storage rooms.
H
hanghaus20238 Sep 2025 12:05Here is my ground floor plan, with the carport moved 40cm (16 inches) to the east. The house is slightly wider as a result.
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hanghaus20238 Sep 2025 12:14Here is the upper floor.
Here is the same without the existing structures.
Here is the same without the existing structures.
MachsSelbst schrieb:
The door swing in the walk-in closet definitely needs to be reversed.
The carport doesn’t block any light because the bathroom only has roof windows anyway, and the child’s room 3 has a window planned. But with a hip roof, the carport looks quite bulky and will probably be expensive. Whoever needs that...
Honestly, you wouldn’t want to be child 3. Even child 2 is quite small at 13m² (140 sq ft), especially considering that someday it won’t be a 3-year-old but a 16-year-old teenager living there...
Not much has changed on the ground floor. The utility room is impractically large, and the living space feels more like a bunker because of the many small rooms, rather than a cozy, open area. The pantry is usually pointless; canned goods and preserved food are better stored at the supermarket around the corner. Those extra 4m² (43 sq ft) allocated to the pantry would definitely benefit the kitchen’s size.
And yes, the dining area now looks impressive, but because it's narrow and around a corner, it will feel cramped once a dining table is in place. And you’ll always have to awkwardly squeeze past it for the rest of your life whenever you want to get to the living area or the terrace.
Part of the space is wasted because the table doesn’t fit around the corner. After you’ve squeezed by, you’re back in the tight passageway again... The carport roof seems too bulky to us as well. We’ve already added that to our list of things to adjust.
Papierturm schrieb:
Unsorted thoughts:
- The access to the bedroom/walk-in closet is not functional. You walk into a wall and have to step into the closet first to close the door and then enter the bedroom.
- The living room is very tight. It feels like a dead end. Please try furnishing it to scale to see if it really works for you.
- The rooms adjacent to the carport will be devalued due to the windows being affected. Priorities?
- I’m also not sure if the kitchen will work well. So many doors will make it feel small. Again: furnish and check if it suits your needs.
Good point about the door. That really makes little sense.
We will furnish the floor plan in the coming days. Definitely a good tip.
We have already met with a kitchen planner and designed a kitchen about 3 x 4 meters (10 x 13 feet), 12m² (130 sq ft), and it feels rather large to us.
It was also planned to have a narrow hidden door on the east side of the kitchen that would save space.
We currently have a pantry ourselves and find it very practical for storing certain items, like beverage crates, coffee machines, and so on.
hanghaus2023 schrieb:
Thanks for the feedback. At least it confirms my point from post #26. In my opinion, you should still cut back a bit. 160m² (1,722 sq ft) * 3000 equals 480k plus carport and outbuildings, so the budget will be tight. The living and dining areas seem very generous to me.
You could make the house a bit wider, which in my opinion would improve the upstairs layout.
I would raise the house by 1-2 steps if the height allows it. That’s also better for the energy balance.
Where it says carport/entrance, there’s probably supposed to be a covered terrace? Otherwise, you should extend the carport with storage rooms. Could you please explain in more detail why you would raise the house by 1-2 steps? I don’t quite understand that.
Carport/Entrance
The street is on the east side, so we would rather extend the carport with storage rooms than build a terrace there.
hanghaus2023 schrieb:
Here is my ground floor plan, carport moved 40cm (16 inches) east. House is a bit wider then.
We like it wider.
But would you not put a wall between the hallway and dining/living/kitchen area?
We see a big disadvantage here: when guests are in the dining area and the children come home in the evening, you can hear everything from the hallway.
Looking at the floor plan, I don’t think a wall will fit, or what do you think?
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