ᐅ Floor Plan Design for New Single-Family Home, Narrow Plot, Initial Architect Draft
Created on: 10 Nov 2025 22:30
I
Ian_Mer
Hello everyone,
we are currently planning our single-family home. We now have the first draft of our floor plan, but it is not perfect yet. So I thought I’d ask for your advice on what we could still change or improve. Everything is still possible at this stage.
Development Plan / Restrictions
Plot size: 450 m² (4,844 sq ft)
Slope: no
Floor area ratio (FAR): 0.3
Site coverage ratio: 0.6
Building envelope, building line, and boundary: see plan
Edge development: not yet present, as the building area is currently being developed
Number of parking spaces: 2
Number of full stories: 2
Roof type: flat roof with mandatory green roofing
Architectural style: modern
Orientation: south
Maximum heights / limits
Other requirements: 10.5 m (34 ft 5 in) maximum height, Hessian building regulations (Hesse, Germany), new: 2.5 m (8 ft 2 in) setback from neighboring property.
Client Requirements
Modern house for 2 adults and two children aged 4 and 6, including basement, 2 full floors.
Space requirements on the ground floor: office, kitchen, pantry, dining area, living room, guest bathroom with shower. Upper floor: 2 children’s bedrooms, master bedroom with walk-in closet, bathroom with bathtub and double sinks. Basement: technical room, utility room, second office, creativity room for crafts, playing, or making music.
Office use: family use or home office? Home office; both parents work three days per week from home.
Number of overnight guests per year: 6, regular overnight visitors.
Open or closed layout:
Conventional or modern construction:
Open kitchen with cooking island: yes
Number of dining places: usually 4, more for guests, birthdays, etc.
Fireplace: no
Music / stereo wall: only TV wall
Balcony or roof terrace: no
Garage or carport: garage plus bike storage
Vegetable garden or greenhouse: yes, vegetable garden
Other wishes / special features / daily routine preferences, including reasons why something should or should not be included: built-in closet in the entrance hall, lots of storage space.
House Design
Planner: (interior) architect
What do you particularly like? Why?
Window seat in the kitchen, living room somewhat separated in the bay window, space for an outdoor kitchen on the covered terrace.
What don’t you like? Why?
Location of the shed, we would prefer the staircase as a platform staircase or with straight steps, we wonder if the kitchen is large enough and provides enough storage space. The utility room is too small. Instead of the skylight, we would rather plan a window in the stairwell.
Cost estimate according to the architect/planner: unknown
Personal budget for the house including fittings: 650,000
Preferred heating system: heat pump
Why was the design developed this way? Needs analysis with the architect, after which she created the first draft.
Which wishes were implemented by the architect? From the sofa, there should be a view of the garden, lots of storage, master bed 1.60 m x 2 m (5 ft 3 in x 6 ft 7 in) (no need for 2 m x 2 m bed), walk-in closet accessible from the bedroom, covered terrace, covered entrance gate.
What do you think makes it particularly good or bad? We find the layout basically good but not yet perfect.
[ATTACH type="full" width="500px" alt="2D floor plan of a house with living area, kitchen, dining area, bedroom, and garage">
we are currently planning our single-family home. We now have the first draft of our floor plan, but it is not perfect yet. So I thought I’d ask for your advice on what we could still change or improve. Everything is still possible at this stage.
Development Plan / Restrictions
Plot size: 450 m² (4,844 sq ft)
Slope: no
Floor area ratio (FAR): 0.3
Site coverage ratio: 0.6
Building envelope, building line, and boundary: see plan
Edge development: not yet present, as the building area is currently being developed
Number of parking spaces: 2
Number of full stories: 2
Roof type: flat roof with mandatory green roofing
Architectural style: modern
Orientation: south
Maximum heights / limits
Other requirements: 10.5 m (34 ft 5 in) maximum height, Hessian building regulations (Hesse, Germany), new: 2.5 m (8 ft 2 in) setback from neighboring property.
Client Requirements
Modern house for 2 adults and two children aged 4 and 6, including basement, 2 full floors.
Space requirements on the ground floor: office, kitchen, pantry, dining area, living room, guest bathroom with shower. Upper floor: 2 children’s bedrooms, master bedroom with walk-in closet, bathroom with bathtub and double sinks. Basement: technical room, utility room, second office, creativity room for crafts, playing, or making music.
Office use: family use or home office? Home office; both parents work three days per week from home.
Number of overnight guests per year: 6, regular overnight visitors.
Open or closed layout:
Conventional or modern construction:
Open kitchen with cooking island: yes
Number of dining places: usually 4, more for guests, birthdays, etc.
Fireplace: no
Music / stereo wall: only TV wall
Balcony or roof terrace: no
Garage or carport: garage plus bike storage
Vegetable garden or greenhouse: yes, vegetable garden
Other wishes / special features / daily routine preferences, including reasons why something should or should not be included: built-in closet in the entrance hall, lots of storage space.
House Design
Planner: (interior) architect
What do you particularly like? Why?
Window seat in the kitchen, living room somewhat separated in the bay window, space for an outdoor kitchen on the covered terrace.
What don’t you like? Why?
Location of the shed, we would prefer the staircase as a platform staircase or with straight steps, we wonder if the kitchen is large enough and provides enough storage space. The utility room is too small. Instead of the skylight, we would rather plan a window in the stairwell.
Cost estimate according to the architect/planner: unknown
Personal budget for the house including fittings: 650,000
Preferred heating system: heat pump
Why was the design developed this way? Needs analysis with the architect, after which she created the first draft.
Which wishes were implemented by the architect? From the sofa, there should be a view of the garden, lots of storage, master bed 1.60 m x 2 m (5 ft 3 in x 6 ft 7 in) (no need for 2 m x 2 m bed), walk-in closet accessible from the bedroom, covered terrace, covered entrance gate.
What do you think makes it particularly good or bad? We find the layout basically good but not yet perfect.
Arauki11 schrieb:
Basically, I like the floor plan. Even if you only need a 160cm (63 inches) bed, I would still design the room to accommodate a 2m (79 inches) bed at any time; things change – people change.
Although the basement is expensive, it naturally offers more planning options for the ground floor, so the calculation WITH basement should be thoroughly and carefully reviewed. Simply saying "we still have some buffer" would not be sufficient for me and should be supported with numbers. Ultimately, you have too much space (in the basement), which you have to pay for, and often the actual living area ends up feeling cramped elsewhere. Here, the garage could also be sacrificed for a parking space so that the money can be used for comfort INSIDE the house. In my experience, I see huge double garages and expensive outdoor areas, while interior space is lacking; I find that unfortunate.
I see no storage options in the upstairs bathroom, and this awkward “T” shape also takes up space that the interior designer could probably use more cleverly, especially since 13sqm (140 sq ft) is quite large.
I would also omit floor-to-ceiling windows in the kids’ rooms, as practical experience often outweighs theory in this case.
The parking space issue is important as well. If two parking spaces would actually be used in tandem, the window there would be unnecessary since you probably wouldn’t want to look out at the parked Opel Senator from inside. How have the neighbors in the area solved this?
Despite the not very large plot, I would at least try to get a design without a basement and invest the “saved” money into real living comfort (maximum insulation, controlled ventilation system, air conditioning, external blinds on the sunny side, furniture, lighting, two terrace coverings, and much more). Thank you for your ideas. Since we have to build a flat roof, we lack storage if we plan without a basement. Because living space is more expensive than the basement and we want to keep as much of our garden as possible, we are strongly leaning towards including a basement. We have also noticed the large bathtub and the space around it. Swapping the bathroom and bedroom is an option we are considering as well. The T-shaped bathroom was actually our preference since we often use the bathroom together.
Where do you see the second terrace covering?
N
nordanney11 Nov 2025 10:32ypg schrieb:
He certainly made a typo there.
I’m at 180,000€ for the basement. That’s over 100,000€ for the floor area in an L shape. Half of it is finished, so the full basement is within the thermal envelope. The habitable rooms with light wells are not considered living spaces. The client probably won’t get approval for that. For approval as living spaces, the windows need to be more open, and one must serve as a second emergency exit. Yep. I assumed a simple utility basement. So it’s fair to say the budget won’t work out.
House with living spaces in the basement + utility rooms in the basement = budget for the entire house (or more) plus additional construction costs, garage, shed, landscaping, and so on.
Solution: either sensibly enlarge the house design and skip the basement, or adjust the budget/financing significantly. Living space in the basement is just as expensive as living space above ground.
H
hanghaus202311 Nov 2025 10:41Ian_Mer schrieb:
What do you think about a partial basement?No thanks.The stairwell should have a generous window on the upper floor. This is quite easy to plan with a half-landing staircase. The skylight is a poor choice for a flat roof. If anything, a roof window with sloped glazing is better. However, you don’t need this if you have a window.
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hanghaus202311 Nov 2025 10:50Ian_Mer schrieb:
Since we have to build a flat roof,I don’t believe that. A pitched roof is also possible with the building height. Or is only a flat roof explicitly allowed according to the building permit / planning permission? You need a roof anyway. That way you also get the storage space.
H
hanghaus202311 Nov 2025 10:58In my opinion, T is also possible, but then you have the bathroom located above the kitchen.
hanghaus2023 schrieb:
I don’t believe you.
A pitched roof is possible with the building height as well. Or is only a flat roof explicitly allowed according to the planning permission / building permit? You need a roof anyway. That way, you also get storage space. According to the planning permission / building permit, a flat roof with green roofing is mandatory, so unfortunately we have no other option.
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