ᐅ Floor plan design for a new build modern semi-detached house with 6-meter ceiling height and 239 square meters of living space

Hello everyone,

I am planning to demolish my existing semi-detached house and build a modern residential building on my property.
The new house will again be attached directly to the existing neighboring half.

The plot measures 1,027 sqm (about 11,060 sq ft), and the design comes from my architect.
I would appreciate honest and constructive feedback on the floor plan and room layout.
Elevations and floor plans are attached.

Development plan / restrictions

• Plot size: 1,027 sqm (half share use for semi-detached house)
• Slope: no slope, flat area
• Site coverage ratio: 0.3
• Floor area ratio: 0.5
• Building envelope / building line / building boundary: according to development plan, semi-detached house permitted
• Edge development: attached to existing neighboring half
• Number of parking spaces: 2
• Number of floors: 1.5 floors
• Roof type: gable roof
• Architectural style: modern, clean lines
• Orientation: garden facing southwest
• Maximum building height: 10 m (33 ft)
• Other requirements: only one full storey allowed

Client requirements

• Building type: semi-detached house, new build after demolition
• Basement: no
• Living area: approx. 239 sqm (2,572 sq ft)
• Occupants: 5 persons (2 adults, 3 children)
• Ceiling height in living area: approx. 6 m (20 ft)
• Living/dining area: approx. 44 sqm (473 sq ft), open and bright
• Office: home office on ground floor
• Guest bedrooms: rare use (max. 2–3 times per year)
• Architecture: open, modern, large windows
• Construction method: solid construction
• Kitchen: open with cooking island
• Seating capacity: 6–8 people
• Fireplace: not planned
• Music/stereo wall: possible
• Balcony / roof terrace: currently not planned
• Garage / carport: double carport
• Garden: low maintenance, for family use
• Special features: high, open living area with gallery

House design

• Designed by: independent architect
• Positive aspects: the open living area with gallery and high ceiling, generous lighting
• Less favorable aspects: access to the gallery not yet optimal
• Price estimate according to architect: approx. 850,000 euros (including fittings, excluding landscaping)
• Personal budget limit: approx. 900,000 euros
• Heating system: air-to-water heat pump with underfloor heating
• Could be omitted: guest room on ground floor
• Must have: high ceiling in living area, open kitchen, gallery
• Reason for design: combination of modern living concept and development plan requirements (only 1 full storey, mandatory attachment)
• Special features: despite semi-detached structure, a spacious feel through 6 m ceiling height and open gallery

I look forward to honest criticism and suggestions for improvement, especially regarding:

• Floor plan layout
• Lighting and window areas
• Proportions with 1.5 floors
• Practical everyday use (family with three children)

Thank you in advance for your feedback!

Best regards,
lucaskilam

Hi, since we recently planned a single-family house with three children's rooms ourselves, I might be able to contribute a few thoughts.

1. The hallway on the ground floor feels poorly lit. You probably want to set up a coat area next to the stairs. Think carefully about whether you want your three kids walking through half the ground floor with dirty shoes.

2. I like the open plan layout of living, dining, and kitchen areas – those who have it, can enjoy it. However, in my opinion, to really highlight it, you would need a wider passageway.

3. Kitchen: The island looks great, but the distance from the stove to the rest of the kitchen seems too large for efficient everyday use. That would annoy me in the long run.

4. Three children and no bathtub? And yes, a separate kids’ bathroom definitely makes sense, especially since your main bathroom is quite compact. I would treat myself to that luxury.

5. Do you really love your kids? Don’t get me wrong – but given the size of the house, you could easily gain 1–2 m² (11–22 sq ft) more space for the children’s rooms upstairs, for example by skipping the walk-in closets. Also, I would reconsider the window sizes in the children’s rooms.

6. Do you really want to live in such a dark, block-like building?

7. Your budget might be tight.

The exterior of the house reminds me somewhat of our own early phase, when we wanted everything to be as big and distinctive as possible; in hindsight, I think it resembled a small church. I get a similar impression here, as I really don’t like this bulky exterior. The entrance on the gable side seems lost in this tall wall, which so far is not a good solution.

Regarding the floor plan:
I would move the guest room closer to the entrance area and the guest bathroom, so guests don’t have to walk through the house to reach the bathroom, and so any visitor can quickly wash their hands without having to enter deep into the home. The hallway is huge but especially long, while at the same time the entrance area is narrow and lacks natural daylight. It would be better if the front was wider and provided space right after entering the house to take off shoes and coats; storage options are missing and are hard to create properly despite the large space. I’m actually a bit surprised that all of this is from an architect.

The large entrance area with six door openings and no windows will be difficult to prevent from feeling like a basement. Additionally, there is the already mentioned narrow access into the otherwise generous living area, although I do like the lowered living room itself. The plot is straight, right? So the house is "artificially" elevated at the front and lowered at the back, just to accommodate the currently planned upper-floor living space? This probably explains the, in my opinion, unattractive ramp to the barely visible front door.
On the ground floor, it feels like the leftover space was just split into three parts to fit in the utility room etc. Were these room sizes deliberately designed and customized for actual needs?

In such a large house, I would also like to see a beautifully integrated staircase as a central feature, which would also give the gallery a nice presence. But all of that is completely missing. The staircase is somehow just attached to the side and leads straight into a wall on the upper floor, instead of opening into a bright, open area or at least toward a glass surface with a view. Moreover, the staircase landing and the entrance to the living area meet directly, which I find equally unfortunate and poorly planned.
I’m certainly no kitchen expert, but the direct path here leads right to the edge of the island, which probably relates to the currently trendy pantry. Otherwise, the kitchen could have been set back a bit from the entrance area. On the opposite side of the room, however, there is a huge "free space" with no apparent use. Somehow it seems the architect accidentally made this too large, which is why the dining table has just been pushed into a distant corner; this does not look like a deliberate or sensible room design.
I fully understand the desire for an extraordinary living space and personally like high ceilings. Still, I feel the special style of living that should fit the uniqueness of the space is missing here. The TV is somehow awkwardly placed on the side wall, allowing only angled viewing when sitting on the sofa. What happens to the other side of this wall panel next to the TV, or will it just remain empty? At least the cook would have a direct view of the TV. Is there no idea to move the TV out of the living room and into one of the other, otherwise dark, rooms?
The fact that the two windows/doors in the dining area open towards each other is not good.
The 6.12m (20 feet) ceiling height results from the planned upper-floor room layout. We ourselves have a sloping roof up to 7m (23 feet) high, so I strongly recommend planning the lighting carefully in advance and taking the extra cost into account. With ordinary spotlights, it will be difficult, and this otherwise generous and wonderful space can quickly lose its charm.

lucaskilam schrieb:

What I like less: access to the gallery is not yet optimally solved

Currently, there is hardly any access to the gallery, but that’s actually the beauty of a gallery: being able to look down into the living room and outside to the green. Such a space requires special attention regarding lighting and acoustics; otherwise, it quickly echoes like a hall. Therefore, in my opinion, proper interior planning and design are needed here, which is easier to accomplish with more typical room sizes. As mentioned, we also have such an open area, so I can imagine this well.

I’ve already mentioned the staircase on the upper floor. The bathroom has no window or natural light, and I see having more than one door to the bathroom as a design flaw. The also trendy "T" shape in the bathroom results in a very small shower and a toilet recess, which could easily be solved with a different layout. Our bathroom is about the same size and still quite spacious with a large walk-in shower, a bathtub, and even a washing machine. Therefore, I would remove the bathroom door to the hallway and plan a nice bathroom, along with the children’s bathroom on the other side. I find the children’s rooms sized absolutely adequate and don’t think more square meters necessarily make a better room.

I understand your basic desire for special rooms but so far see this only weakly realized or not achieved. With the available 240 sqm (2,583 sq ft), this can certainly be done much better, which is why I would want a different design. I don’t think I want to work on this one much more, as fundamental aspects, in my opinion, were not well or properly implemented. Nothing is set in stone yet... and somehow I have the feeling that the architect can’t do better.

By the way: the elevations do not match the floor plan.

roteweste schrieb:

I like the division into living-dining-kitchen

That is due to the extension. It seems it has changed somewhat during the planning.

Arauki11 schrieb:

....and somehow I get the feeling the architect can’t do better.

Oh yes, definitely. This is just one possible approach to show the client and to question everything. Maybe the architect is also stuck in their ways.

lucaskilam schrieb:

Further specifications: only one full storey allowed

Let’s trust the architect’s calculations that this still counts as a single storey building.

lucaskilam schrieb:

Plot size: 1,027 sqm (shared use for semi-detached house)

So you mean you own about 510 sqm (5,486 sq ft) now? What does the plot look like? Do you have a site plan showing the street, orientation, and the plot with the building design? Which state or region is it in?

lucaskilam schrieb:

What I like less: access to the gallery is not quite optimally solved yet

What do you mean by gallery here? Where exactly is the gallery?

lucaskilam schrieb:

Definitely not for: high ceiling in the living area,

A high ceiling in the living area is different from having no ceiling at all, as is the case here.

roteweste schrieb:

Kitchen: The island is cool,

I don’t like it as it is. But I can imagine it’s just a placeholder kitchen. It offers very little workspace, and the breakfast bar is quite modest.

Arauki11 schrieb:

At least the cook would have a direct view of the TV. Is there no idea to move the TV out of the living room into one of the other, anyway darker rooms?

When I looked at the design yesterday evening, I immediately thought there should be a wall exactly where the three stools are, to give structure to the room.

But back to the beginning:
You have to like the bulky cube. Many want it exactly like this. I am ambivalent about it – but if I know that inside there is only an atrium, a void that is taller than a healthy atrium, then I would want to change it. Both inside and outside would benefit from more creative thought. The atrium also mainly serves to justify the single storey?
Entrance to the "old house": the three rooms on the ground floor come from the children’s rooms upstairs. The location of the street and parking on the plot is unknown. It feels like I would swap the guest room with the technical room. Maybe I would also swap utility room/storage/entrance. Originally the utility room would become the entrance with wardrobe cabinets, a direct view axis towards the open-plan living/dining area, and the bathroom visible from the entrance. The guest/hobby room would then be at the corner (south corner?) near the shower bathroom. The hallway would be more structured overall.
Extension: the open-plan area lacks elements that give the room structure. As I said, my first thought was: “there needs to be a wall there.” Anyone who wants to watch TV while cooking can step aside a bit to the side.
BUT: the kitchen is pitch dark! And it has a ceiling. It basically doesn’t benefit from the atrium or the natural light coming in.
I would consider putting the kitchen on the external wall for daylight, letting the lounge area be a bit darker, designing a stylish three-meter (about 10 feet) island or similar, removing the pantry access through the tall cabinet, and positioning the pantry as a structural and stabilizing element centrally within the large open area.
I would also consider an atrium above the kitchen and dining area, but one that is intentionally planned and not just left open upwards. The parents’ area can still be freely adapted, etc.

Quick and rough, I would place it more like this. However, planning usually needs to be done from top to bottom when it comes to the open space and bedrooms, since the bathroom also needs ventilation and natural light. I wouldn’t position the living area within the open space.

But I’m showing it anyway, so you can see the hallway area and the concept for the pantry.

At the top right of the plan is a children’s corner; if needed, the dining table can be extended.

First of all: I love high rooms with lots of open space.
For a tall room to feel right, there needs to be a good balance between length, width, and height. I don’t see that balance in your design. The ceiling height is 50% greater than the width. This ratio seems unfavorable to me – it creates a “shaft-like” effect.
To make large rooms comfortable, acoustics play a crucial role. The room geometry you are aiming for will require measures to address this, which can be quite costly. I hope this has been taken into account. Otherwise, you will end up with a space that constantly puts pressure on the ears, since with this geometry, too many smooth wall surfaces allow even quiet sounds to amplify and overlap through reverberation effects.

As others have already mentioned, the kitchen and hallway receive very little natural light. I would find that unsatisfactory.

Upstairs, the bathroom for the children’s rooms will be tight, but having a “secondary bathroom” with a toilet, a sink, and some shelf space for brushing teeth would be useful. It doesn’t necessarily need to include a shower. In case of double occupancy, there is still one on the ground floor.