Hello everyone,
it's me again. But now things are getting concrete. We have actually found OUR plot of land and had it surveyed. The preliminary contract is already here. 🙂
The architect is currently preparing the first draft after I clarified everything with him on Tuesday. For this plot, he also suggested placing the entrance to the basement level there and is now designing accordingly... I find the idea very interesting. My husband is a bit skeptical. What do you think? Practical or rather inconvenient, or how? Has anyone planned like this before or maybe already lives in such a house and can share their experience?
About the plot: It is a 700 sqm (7,535 sq ft) plot, about 17 m (56 ft) wide and 42 m (138 ft) long. It slopes upward towards the back by about 4-5 m (13-16 ft) along the full length, with the first 3 m (10 ft) of height difference rising within the first third. It is a south-facing slope, so the garden will be at the back, facing north (which doesn’t bother us given the length of the plot, and we find a north-facing terrace quite pleasant). We have only one immediate neighbor on the right side (east). The left side (west) is completely undeveloped, and the neighbor at the back (north) is about 100 m (328 ft) or even further away. The street, along with the driveway and planned main entrance, will be at the front (south).
House concept: To use the full buildable width of 11 m (36 ft) and since a double garage is a must for us, the architect suggests placing it in the basement. This means essentially a full basement where you can drive into the garage at street level. Next to it, the architect plans to position the main entrance with a nice foyer and stairs leading up. The basement will otherwise mostly contain storage rooms, with the living room, kitchen, etc., located on the upper floors. From there, you can access the garden at the back on the same level.
I would appreciate hearing about some experiences and any feedback.
it's me again. But now things are getting concrete. We have actually found OUR plot of land and had it surveyed. The preliminary contract is already here. 🙂
The architect is currently preparing the first draft after I clarified everything with him on Tuesday. For this plot, he also suggested placing the entrance to the basement level there and is now designing accordingly... I find the idea very interesting. My husband is a bit skeptical. What do you think? Practical or rather inconvenient, or how? Has anyone planned like this before or maybe already lives in such a house and can share their experience?
About the plot: It is a 700 sqm (7,535 sq ft) plot, about 17 m (56 ft) wide and 42 m (138 ft) long. It slopes upward towards the back by about 4-5 m (13-16 ft) along the full length, with the first 3 m (10 ft) of height difference rising within the first third. It is a south-facing slope, so the garden will be at the back, facing north (which doesn’t bother us given the length of the plot, and we find a north-facing terrace quite pleasant). We have only one immediate neighbor on the right side (east). The left side (west) is completely undeveloped, and the neighbor at the back (north) is about 100 m (328 ft) or even further away. The street, along with the driveway and planned main entrance, will be at the front (south).
House concept: To use the full buildable width of 11 m (36 ft) and since a double garage is a must for us, the architect suggests placing it in the basement. This means essentially a full basement where you can drive into the garage at street level. Next to it, the architect plans to position the main entrance with a nice foyer and stairs leading up. The basement will otherwise mostly contain storage rooms, with the living room, kitchen, etc., located on the upper floors. From there, you can access the garden at the back on the same level.
I would appreciate hearing about some experiences and any feedback.
Here is my first impression...
Basement
Positive:
Negative:
Ground Floor
We do not like this at all.
Upper Floor
Unfortunately, not 100% successful either.Hallway space is too large and wastes too much room. Therefore, the rooms are relatively small, although the total living space is over 160m² (1720 sq ft). The bathroom lacks a bidet. The bedroom should ideally not directly adjoin a child’s room, and if so, the shared wall should be the one where a large wardrobe will be placed. Do you notice anything else? We would really appreciate any criticism or suggestions. Should we actually provide improvement proposals to the architect, or just point out the issues and let them continue working?
Basement
Positive:
- Overall successful, we can quite well imagine it visually
- Nice staircase with landing, as far as we can tell.
Negative:
- The staircase might be too dark? How large is the window opposite the stairs?
- The door to the utility room should be higher to allow for a 60cm (24 inches) deep cabinet behind it.
- The two windows in the utility room would look better visually as a continuous strip of light positioned higher up.
Ground Floor
We do not like this at all.
- The living room lacks a chimney for a fireplace
- A full room is missing on the ground floor. It should be an office or guest room.
- We don’t like the washing machine in the bathroom. We need space for both washer and dryer. A niche in the storage room would be sufficient.
- We would prefer the kitchen on the west side with access to the terrace on the garage roof. Maybe the front area could be mirrored entirely on the ground floor, so you can bring groceries upstairs and enter the kitchen directly to the left?
- There is no LARGE door between the living room and kitchen! We planned to be able to place the dining table in the passage when we have more guests. As it is, there is too little space in both the living room and kitchen.
- Maybe extend the ground floor a bit forward, so the entrance area is covered and there is more space upstairs.
Upper Floor
Unfortunately, not 100% successful either.
Hello Kisska86,
I’m not allowed to post links here in the forum. That’s why I’m not sure if I’m allowed to mention the house names for you to find them yourself. I hope that’s alright!?
Try searching for “Haus Walz” and “Kundenhaus Heusel,” and you should find what I mean. I thought the floor plan of the first house was pretty well done.
Is the top right side north or south? (Sorry for the silly question.) If north is at the top, I find the orientation of the main living areas a bit odd since they would lack natural light. Otherwise, I don’t have much time right now; I’ll get back to you later and take a closer look at the floor plans. (However, I’m a complete beginner myself and am only just before the planning stage…)
The missing office would personally bother me as well, since I’m also planning to use the office as a ground-floor bedroom in old age. For that, you would need a stairlift for the stairs in the basement, but everything on the main floor would then be accessible on one level.
Good luck
I’m not allowed to post links here in the forum. That’s why I’m not sure if I’m allowed to mention the house names for you to find them yourself. I hope that’s alright!?
Try searching for “Haus Walz” and “Kundenhaus Heusel,” and you should find what I mean. I thought the floor plan of the first house was pretty well done.
Is the top right side north or south? (Sorry for the silly question.) If north is at the top, I find the orientation of the main living areas a bit odd since they would lack natural light. Otherwise, I don’t have much time right now; I’ll get back to you later and take a closer look at the floor plans. (However, I’m a complete beginner myself and am only just before the planning stage…)
The missing office would personally bother me as well, since I’m also planning to use the office as a ground-floor bedroom in old age. For that, you would need a stairlift for the stairs in the basement, but everything on the main floor would then be accessible on one level.
Good luck
Thanks, WildThink! I found the two house designs, but they don’t fit our plot 100%.
The orientation is actually towards the north (top right), but we don’t see that as a problem. However, we do want to mirror the front section. That way, the kitchen would face southwest and the living room northwest. I’m not entirely sure, though, if maybe the living room and kitchen should be swapped so that the living room faces forward (south) and the kitchen is at the back (northeast or northwest).
What would you prefer?
We want several seating areas in the garden: a north-facing terrace adjacent to the house for protection from heat, a south-facing terrace in the back left of the garden for sun loungers, and a kind of southwest balcony for breakfast guests in summer. Do you think that’s okay?
We sent all our comments to the architect last night and are now waiting for a response. 🙂
The orientation is actually towards the north (top right), but we don’t see that as a problem. However, we do want to mirror the front section. That way, the kitchen would face southwest and the living room northwest. I’m not entirely sure, though, if maybe the living room and kitchen should be swapped so that the living room faces forward (south) and the kitchen is at the back (northeast or northwest).
What would you prefer?
We want several seating areas in the garden: a north-facing terrace adjacent to the house for protection from heat, a south-facing terrace in the back left of the garden for sun loungers, and a kind of southwest balcony for breakfast guests in summer. Do you think that’s okay?
We sent all our comments to the architect last night and are now waiting for a response. 🙂
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