ᐅ Preliminary Design Feedback for a Sloped Site: Basement/Ground Floor/First Floor/Attic with a Secondary Suite
Created on: 19 Feb 2017 22:48
P
Pommes01
Hello everyone,
First of all: Yesterday, we received our initial draft from a partner architect of a timber house construction company. He said that due to the sloped site, we would need 1 1/2 to 2 basement levels to build the timber house on. Meanwhile, we spoke with another timber house company, who, during an on-site meeting together with our excavator contractor, suggested a design with only one basement level. If that works out, the granny flat would be removed.
Unfortunately, the north arrow was drawn incorrectly on the house plans, but it is correct on the site plan.
Plot size: 1,044 sqm (11,231 sq ft)
Slope: yes
Floor area ratio (FAR): 0.3
Site coverage ratio: 0.9
Building window, building line, and boundary
Edge development
Number of parking spaces
Number of floors
Roof type: gable roof 27–37 degrees
Architectural style
Orientation
Maximum heights / restrictions: eaves height
Other requirements
Homeowner requirements
Architectural style, roof type, building type: gable roof with bay window, based on the Griffner Classic
Basement, floors desired: 1 basement, 1 ground floor, 1 upper floor
Number of occupants, ages: 2 adults, 2 children, currently 1 baby
Space needed on ground and upper floors: 150 sqm (1,615 sq ft)
Office: family use or home office? Family use
Number of overnight guests per year: 5
Open or closed architecture: open
Conservative or modern construction:
Open kitchen, kitchen island: yes
Number of dining seats: 6
Fireplace: yes
Music/sound wall
Balcony, roof terrace: balcony
Garage or carport: leaning towards carport
Utility garden, greenhouse
House design
Who created the plan:
- Planner from a construction company: yes
- Architect
- Do-it-yourself
What do you particularly like? Why?
What do you not like? Why? Access to the study as cabinets/TV should go there, differently sized children's rooms
Price estimate according to architect/planner: offer in progress
Personal price limit for the house, including fixtures: 450,000–490,000 EUR
Preferred heating technology: heat pump
If you had to give up, which details/extensions
- could you do without:
- couldn’t do without:
Why did the design turn out the way it did? For example:
Standard design from the planner?
Which requests were implemented by the architect? Open living area, bay window
A mix of many examples from various magazines…
What do you consider especially good or bad about it? Took 2 months for this draft (currently still in the free quotation phase)
First of all: Yesterday, we received our initial draft from a partner architect of a timber house construction company. He said that due to the sloped site, we would need 1 1/2 to 2 basement levels to build the timber house on. Meanwhile, we spoke with another timber house company, who, during an on-site meeting together with our excavator contractor, suggested a design with only one basement level. If that works out, the granny flat would be removed.
Unfortunately, the north arrow was drawn incorrectly on the house plans, but it is correct on the site plan.
Plot size: 1,044 sqm (11,231 sq ft)
Slope: yes
Floor area ratio (FAR): 0.3
Site coverage ratio: 0.9
Building window, building line, and boundary
Edge development
Number of parking spaces
Number of floors
Roof type: gable roof 27–37 degrees
Architectural style
Orientation
Maximum heights / restrictions: eaves height
Other requirements
Homeowner requirements
Architectural style, roof type, building type: gable roof with bay window, based on the Griffner Classic
Basement, floors desired: 1 basement, 1 ground floor, 1 upper floor
Number of occupants, ages: 2 adults, 2 children, currently 1 baby
Space needed on ground and upper floors: 150 sqm (1,615 sq ft)
Office: family use or home office? Family use
Number of overnight guests per year: 5
Open or closed architecture: open
Conservative or modern construction:
Open kitchen, kitchen island: yes
Number of dining seats: 6
Fireplace: yes
Music/sound wall
Balcony, roof terrace: balcony
Garage or carport: leaning towards carport
Utility garden, greenhouse
House design
Who created the plan:
- Planner from a construction company: yes
- Architect
- Do-it-yourself
What do you particularly like? Why?
What do you not like? Why? Access to the study as cabinets/TV should go there, differently sized children's rooms
Price estimate according to architect/planner: offer in progress
Personal price limit for the house, including fixtures: 450,000–490,000 EUR
Preferred heating technology: heat pump
If you had to give up, which details/extensions
- could you do without:
- couldn’t do without:
Why did the design turn out the way it did? For example:
Standard design from the planner?
Which requests were implemented by the architect? Open living area, bay window
A mix of many examples from various magazines…
What do you consider especially good or bad about it? Took 2 months for this draft (currently still in the free quotation phase)
North is where the balcony is? I find that less than ideal, even if the plot obviously slopes down to the north and a house on a hillside makes sense.
Have you considered orienting the entire layout more towards the west? For example, opening up the living area to the west and placing the main terrace or balcony there?
I wouldn’t be comfortable with the enclosed study, especially since it might also need to serve as a guest room, right?
The walk-in closet seems almost too large, and having to always access it through the bedroom is less than ideal if the couple has very different wake-up times.
If the layout stays as is, I would move both children’s rooms to the west side (instead of the walk-in closet and bedroom), place the walk-in closet and bedroom on the east side (it’s nicer to wake up to sunshine than to fall asleep in a bedroom warmed by the evening sun), and put the bathroom in the north bay window. That would probably work better in terms of plumbing connections as well.
If the north side indeed faces the hillside, I would probably place the staircase there in a very open stairwell and position the rooms with a west/east orientation.
So a complete redesign—an entirely different concept.
Have you considered orienting the entire layout more towards the west? For example, opening up the living area to the west and placing the main terrace or balcony there?
I wouldn’t be comfortable with the enclosed study, especially since it might also need to serve as a guest room, right?
The walk-in closet seems almost too large, and having to always access it through the bedroom is less than ideal if the couple has very different wake-up times.
If the layout stays as is, I would move both children’s rooms to the west side (instead of the walk-in closet and bedroom), place the walk-in closet and bedroom on the east side (it’s nicer to wake up to sunshine than to fall asleep in a bedroom warmed by the evening sun), and put the bathroom in the north bay window. That would probably work better in terms of plumbing connections as well.
If the north side indeed faces the hillside, I would probably place the staircase there in a very open stairwell and position the rooms with a west/east orientation.
So a complete redesign—an entirely different concept.
Alright, so the balcony faces west, one of the children's rooms faces north, and the bedroom faces south. Upstairs, I would still rearrange the rooms as I suggested (children’s room facing south, bathroom west in the bay window, bedroom/walk-in closet north).
And the enclosed AZ wouldn’t be my preference...
And the enclosed AZ wouldn’t be my preference...
Here is our second version of the floor plan for the ground floor and upper floor.
The ground floor hasn't changed much. However, I still don't like the access to the study. My idea would be to remove the shower in the restroom, then mirror the staircase along with the restroom to create an access to the study through the hallway, including a wardrobe.
For the upper floor, I think the layout in the bay window area for the two children’s rooms (the nicest rooms) makes sense. I'm still considering whether the storage room is really necessary or if it would be better to have a larger bathroom instead. If the staircase on the ground floor is mirrored, of course, the staircase on the upper floor must also be mirrored.
Any opinions?
The ground floor hasn't changed much. However, I still don't like the access to the study. My idea would be to remove the shower in the restroom, then mirror the staircase along with the restroom to create an access to the study through the hallway, including a wardrobe.
For the upper floor, I think the layout in the bay window area for the two children’s rooms (the nicest rooms) makes sense. I'm still considering whether the storage room is really necessary or if it would be better to have a larger bathroom instead. If the staircase on the ground floor is mirrored, of course, the staircase on the upper floor must also be mirrored.
Any opinions?
I just realized that in the ground floor toilet, a sliding door is supposed to slide into a 14.5cm (5.7 inch) wall, behind a water pipe. The wall will have to be built with extreme precision for that to work ;-)
I consider showers in ground floor toilets accessed via the vestibule, without a guest room on the same floor, to be a waste—unless the dog likes to wallow there. Otherwise, it probably won’t be used.
The windows are shown on the plan as standard right-hinged when they are single-leaf. That doesn’t seem like the best choice in several rooms.
With two basement levels, there will hardly be a shortage of storage rooms, so you probably don’t really need to use the space behind the bathroom in the attic for that.
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
I consider showers in ground floor toilets accessed via the vestibule, without a guest room on the same floor, to be a waste—unless the dog likes to wallow there. Otherwise, it probably won’t be used.
The windows are shown on the plan as standard right-hinged when they are single-leaf. That doesn’t seem like the best choice in several rooms.
With two basement levels, there will hardly be a shortage of storage rooms, so you probably don’t really need to use the space behind the bathroom in the attic for that.
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
Without considering the building’s orientation, I noticed that the walk-in closet is 1.70 meters (5 feet 7 inches) wide. If you want to place wardrobes opposite each other, there will only be about 50 cm (20 inches) left in between, which is enough just to walk through but not enough for a wardrobe door to open or to comfortably dress or view your clothes.
I would also check the bathroom: 3 meters (10 feet) for the bathtub, main passage to the toilet, sink, and wall tiles – the passage there might become narrow.
On the other hand, I find 3 meters (10 feet) width in the living room plenty for a TV and related furniture, even enough space for a stylish wide shelf. I also don’t find a door to the home office bad, rather the opposite, I think it’s a good idea 🙂
Best regards in brief
I would also check the bathroom: 3 meters (10 feet) for the bathtub, main passage to the toilet, sink, and wall tiles – the passage there might become narrow.
On the other hand, I find 3 meters (10 feet) width in the living room plenty for a TV and related furniture, even enough space for a stylish wide shelf. I also don’t find a door to the home office bad, rather the opposite, I think it’s a good idea 🙂
Best regards in brief
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