ᐅ Floor plan for a 160 sqm urban villa – Requesting advice!
Created on: 28 Jan 2019 09:23
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Bauherrin92
Hello everyone,
we are planning to build an urban villa with 160 sqm (1720 sq ft) plus a basement in rural Bavaria. Since we are now in the crucial phase of floor plan design, we would really appreciate your opinions and suggestions for improvements.
The following issues concern us the most:
1. Arrangement of the house and garage on the plot: The garage has been deliberately placed on the west side to create distance from the neighbor. To catch the evening sun, the house has been set back. However, I wonder if this looks "good," as I have never seen such an arrangement before. We are also undecided whether the garage should be detached or attached to the house (possibly with access through the pantry?). On the plans, the garage is at the neighbor’s boundary. There is currently no house there.
2. The cloakroom and dressing room seem too small to comfortably place proper wardrobes and move around freely.
3. In general, I feel the overall design could still be improved, including the arrangement of windows.
Here is the questionnaire:
Development plan / restrictions
Plot size: 800 sqm (8,600 sq ft)
Slope: no
Floor area ratio: 0.35
Floor space index: 0.7
Building window, building line and boundary: 3 m (10 ft) to the street
Edge development: garage yes
Number of parking spaces: 2
Number of storeys: 2
Roof style: open construction
Homeowners’ requirements
Style, roof type, building type: urban villa, 2 full storeys, hipped roof
Basement, storeys: basement, ground floor, first floor
Number of people, age: two adults, schoolchild, expecting a baby
Space requirements ground floor, upper floor: three bedrooms, spacious living-dining area, separate cloakroom, shower toilet on the ground floor
Office: none
Guest bedrooms per year: none
Open or closed architecture: open
Conservative or modern construction: modern
Open kitchen, kitchen island: yes
Number of dining seats: 4–10 (when guests visit)
Fireplace: yes
Garage, carport: prefabricated double garage
Other wishes / special features / daily routine, also reasons why this or that should or should not be included:
- Cloakroom in a niche
- Shower toilet on the ground floor, later for the teenage daughter
- Large children’s rooms with floor-to-ceiling windows facing the garden
- Dressing room in the master bedroom
- Pantry for yellow bags (recycling waste bags), vacuum cleaner, cleaning supplies, pasta stock, etc.
House design
Who made the plan: planner from a construction company
What do you particularly like? Why?
- Basement: fine as is
- Ground floor: large pantry, L-shaped kitchen/living/dining area
- Upper floor: large children’s rooms
What don’t you like? Why?
- Ground floor: layout of toilet and cloakroom
- Upper floor: dressing room and bathroom possibly too small
- detached garage
Preferred heating technology: undecided so far
If you had to give up something, which details/upgrades would you skip?
- Could give up: access from garage into the house
- Could not do without: pantry, dressing room, cloakroom
Why has the design turned out as it is now? Our wishes were implemented by the planner
We look forward to your advice!!!
P.S.: The red circle is supposed to indicate north, sorry, it couldn’t be done otherwise!


we are planning to build an urban villa with 160 sqm (1720 sq ft) plus a basement in rural Bavaria. Since we are now in the crucial phase of floor plan design, we would really appreciate your opinions and suggestions for improvements.
The following issues concern us the most:
1. Arrangement of the house and garage on the plot: The garage has been deliberately placed on the west side to create distance from the neighbor. To catch the evening sun, the house has been set back. However, I wonder if this looks "good," as I have never seen such an arrangement before. We are also undecided whether the garage should be detached or attached to the house (possibly with access through the pantry?). On the plans, the garage is at the neighbor’s boundary. There is currently no house there.
2. The cloakroom and dressing room seem too small to comfortably place proper wardrobes and move around freely.
3. In general, I feel the overall design could still be improved, including the arrangement of windows.
Here is the questionnaire:
Development plan / restrictions
Plot size: 800 sqm (8,600 sq ft)
Slope: no
Floor area ratio: 0.35
Floor space index: 0.7
Building window, building line and boundary: 3 m (10 ft) to the street
Edge development: garage yes
Number of parking spaces: 2
Number of storeys: 2
Roof style: open construction
Homeowners’ requirements
Style, roof type, building type: urban villa, 2 full storeys, hipped roof
Basement, storeys: basement, ground floor, first floor
Number of people, age: two adults, schoolchild, expecting a baby
Space requirements ground floor, upper floor: three bedrooms, spacious living-dining area, separate cloakroom, shower toilet on the ground floor
Office: none
Guest bedrooms per year: none
Open or closed architecture: open
Conservative or modern construction: modern
Open kitchen, kitchen island: yes
Number of dining seats: 4–10 (when guests visit)
Fireplace: yes
Garage, carport: prefabricated double garage
Other wishes / special features / daily routine, also reasons why this or that should or should not be included:
- Cloakroom in a niche
- Shower toilet on the ground floor, later for the teenage daughter
- Large children’s rooms with floor-to-ceiling windows facing the garden
- Dressing room in the master bedroom
- Pantry for yellow bags (recycling waste bags), vacuum cleaner, cleaning supplies, pasta stock, etc.
House design
Who made the plan: planner from a construction company
What do you particularly like? Why?
- Basement: fine as is
- Ground floor: large pantry, L-shaped kitchen/living/dining area
- Upper floor: large children’s rooms
What don’t you like? Why?
- Ground floor: layout of toilet and cloakroom
- Upper floor: dressing room and bathroom possibly too small
- detached garage
Preferred heating technology: undecided so far
If you had to give up something, which details/upgrades would you skip?
- Could give up: access from garage into the house
- Could not do without: pantry, dressing room, cloakroom
Why has the design turned out as it is now? Our wishes were implemented by the planner
We look forward to your advice!!!
P.S.: The red circle is supposed to indicate north, sorry, it couldn’t be done otherwise!
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Bauherrin921 Apr 2019 07:28kaho674 schrieb:
However, you should definitely redesign the windows in that case.And how??
Bauherrin92 schrieb:
And how?? Just furnish the rooms already. You’ll quickly realize that the cabinets might block the windows if you don’t move them.
And yes, it’s part of the architect’s job to sometimes include the furniture in the plans, also to check if you might bump into kitchen cabinets when opening the door. Optimizing the layouts at the end is also their responsibility. And if they still don’t do this for the hundredth time, then one of you two has a problem.
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Bauherrin921 Apr 2019 09:20kaho674 schrieb:
Finally furnish the roomsI have. Cabinets don’t block the windows. You don’t bump into kitchen cabinets either.
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Bauherrin923 Apr 2019 08:21kaho674 schrieb:
Maybe you could show your plan.
I still see this as problematic here:

Bedroom: The wardrobe would actually never be placed there.
Kitchen: But theoretically, a cabinet is supposed to go exactly there. However, this is not final.
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Bauherrin923 Apr 2019 16:0311ant schrieb:
I didn’t mean that the structural engineering would become problematic: [..]
What I meant was: the structural engineer will be the first one, after 40 discussion pages of standstill, to finally make a small adjustment or add a minor changeCould you explain what is meant by this? Why would the structural engineer need to make any changes?
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