ᐅ Dissatisfied with the architect’s design plan

To me, it seems like the original poster (OP) likes the appearance of an urban villa but doesn’t really like the interior or the typical layout. The layout strikes me as rather simple.

However, I’m not very experienced in this field, so I could be completely wrong. That said, the approximately 7.10-meter (23 feet 4 inches) urban villas I looked at back then all had a similar layout.

I’m currently wondering why you would even need an architect when building an urban villa—assuming they charge based on a fixed fee schedule.

In my opinion, the layout looks relatively standard and quite good, except for the staircase.

Thank you all for your responses!

By irregularly shaped rooms, I mean the many recesses and projections. There isn’t a single simple rectangular room. This becomes even more pronounced in the kitchen/dining area.

I think the architect started the entire design with the hallway (since he says that this exact shape is necessary for the structural stability) and then arranged the rooms around it, even though it doesn’t really fit well...

I’m currently wondering whether you need an architect for this. What would be the alternative if you don’t want a prefabricated house?

One more question: what do you think about the split-level solution for a sloped site? So, from the front door, there are 5 steps up to the ground floor level.

I probably can’t help you much, but I also don’t like the floor plan. The projections and recesses in all the rooms would bother me a lot. This can be done occasionally when everything else fits and there’s no other option. But in your case, it runs throughout the entire floor plan. I wouldn’t like that either. I prefer simple, rectangular rooms.

Those projections probably aren’t necessary. Structural reasons or not, you don’t have a complicated layout with large open spaces. For us, it was never a structural issue, and we don’t have these projections (except one in a kids’ room, somewhat like the one you have by the bathroom door, which wasn’t due to structure!). But our house is smaller, of course.

Unfortunately, I don’t have any improvement suggestions since I’m not really an expert in this. But one tip: if you’re unhappy with your architect, aren’t making progress, and they’re not delivering what you want, consider cutting ties and finding another architect. We experienced the same. With our first architect, none of our wishes or suggestions were accepted—they were all shot down with “it’s not possible.” We fought for a long time and tried, but it didn’t lead anywhere. We made no progress for months. We then ended our collaboration, which wasn’t easy and we lost some money in the process. But it’s better than living in a house you don’t like for the rest of your life. Our new architect was much better. The first draft already hit the mark perfectly, and only minor adjustments (like windows) were needed. Everything else was suitable.

Have you told your architect that you don’t like the current plan? Do they have any suggestions on how to improve it?

Linda85 schrieb:
One more question: what do you think about the split-level solution for a sloped site? So, from the front door, five steps up to the ground floor level.

That was exactly my first thought when I saw the staircase.

I have actually considered pulling the plug and looking for a new architect. However, we are understandably reluctant to incur the additional costs that would come with that. Our compromise now is to come up with a solution ourselves. It seems quite common that you give the architect a fully developed design. I originally understood his role to be helping us with that, but okay...

At least it’s good that everyone here agrees that this fixed corridor layout isn’t absolutely necessary. So, in principle, I can just start rethinking everything mentally...