ᐅ First floor plan for an L-shaped house (190 m²) with a separate apartment (80 m²) and basement

hanghaus2023 schrieb:

The staircase in the granny flat doesn’t really work.

It should work. It’s just drawn incorrectly. Several staircase segments were simply lined up by the software, and the arrow on the ground floor is placed wrong.

hanghaus2023 schrieb:

Is there also a plan showing how the house is positioned on the plot?

Probably like this.

And you can see: it doesn’t fit. Not even with partition walls drawn as thin paper walls. Earlier calculations showed what might be possible, without accounting for parking spaces, a storage room for bicycles, possibly a porch at the entrance, and so on.

Fabian91 schrieb:

at least 3 m)

You said it yourself.
Sketching with paper-thin walls is fine, but everything should actually fit on the plot. Now add in theory and practice 45mm (1.75 inches) exterior walls plus “proper” interior walls, load-bearing walls for the staircase, and at least a 20mm (0.8 inches) wall between the living units. Your stairwell is about 160cm (63 inches) wide by nearly 2 meters (6.5 feet), which could fit a space-saving staircase. I personally don’t design smaller than 200 x 240cm (79 x 94 inches), except in very rare cases in row houses or very compact homes.

hanghaus2023 schrieb:

Show the surroundings. With a 34cm (13 inch) thick wall, that’s important to know.

Yes, that would be useful. Ideally a screenshot of the street and surrounding area from a map service.

On errors in thinking:

Fabian91 schrieb:

a lot of input from our side (it’s not exactly a standard construction method)

So far, what confuses me is the enormous space the house wastes because of the 36sqm (388 sq ft) terrace, leaving only 3 meters (10 feet) all around.
Also, in the granny flat meant for the father, this staircase to a basement that is labeled as living space only because there’s a light well drawn. The side windows must be basement windows with light wells, where potentially a car should (or must) park.

Fabian91 schrieb:

Open living area with a sufficiently large kitchen and cooking island.

If you calculate, you have 3 tall cabinets plus 180cm (71 inches) countertop/work surface plus the island. I find that rather limited. In a (tidy) two-person household, we need more workspace and storage.

Fabian91 schrieb:

Challenges: basement windows, especially in the granny flat; ideally no overlooking windows from the granny flat into the main house’s garden

You have no view from a basement window. A light well window only looks onto a wall or the sky. There are no sight lines.
Besides, there is no garden.

Fabian91 schrieb:

Main house bathroom: We want a nice, large shower bathroom downstairs as well.

Something “nice and large” like that requires space, which might be possible—but not on this, in my opinion, rather small ground floor area of the main dwelling.

Fabian91 schrieb:

Sufficiently large rooms available;

Are they really? Just because a calculated number is reached doesn’t mean the rooms are large enough. For me, the children’s room and the office at 2.40m (7’10”) wide by 6m (20 feet) long are minimal size and really shouldn’t be so small.

Fabian91 schrieb:

We are uncertain whether the kitchen and living area is too open (modern layouts nowadays favor an L-shape for this area)

What’s modern doesn’t matter. An L-shape is usually more practical because it zones the space and provides some visual separation. With four people, it also allows you to get “out of each other’s way.” No surprise cakes can be baked here, and constant presence of one resident may become annoying over the years simply because they are always there.

On the concept:

Fabian91 schrieb:

The granny flat should be completely separate from the main house and continue into a living basement

A completely separate granny flat is nothing new and should be that way. Whether a basement with a small light well window counts as “living basement” is another question. For me, that would be a playroom for kids, guest room, or office—but not a permanent living space for family members.

Fabian91 schrieb:

Request: no overlooking windows to the main house garden

As mentioned above: either there’s no view, or the issue can be addressed fundamentally with planting. The granny flat doesn’t even have a terrace yet!

Fabian91 schrieb:

The initial goal was to estimate whether everything would basically fit in the rooms and, for example, if the distance between the kitchen units and island would work.

I would say: no.
Again: no external walls considered for the plot, no parking spaces. Staircase too small, shower room too narrow, poorly zoned open area, no easily accessible storage room. Poorly laid out rooms upstairs, with bedroom and dressing room also quite narrow for their arrangement.
The basement is kind of pointless (disregarding the technical room).

Fabian91 schrieb:

(or self-entry if the kids take over the place 😉).

Do you really want to enter the gloomy staircase into the dark basement room, which is supposed to become your bedroom, when you’re 60?

Ps: It is possible that I scaled the plot incorrectly (typed 19 16 instead), but the main point of my post remains the same.

nordanney schrieb:

I’m only the financer.
270 sqm (2,900 sq ft) of living space for under 800k plus additional construction-related costs as well as landscaping and garage/carport will be difficult.
Especially since you have expensive requests.

I come to about 115 sqm (1,235 sq ft) on one level (living space, not footprint, since that isn’t feasible without walls). That results in an oversized 345 sqm (3,715 sq ft). Your general point is therefore further confirmed.
Even if a partial basement already exists, it simply doesn’t fit.

And if you rethink the concept, for example moving the separate apartment with a small roof terrace and a comfortable staircase that could be upgraded for later use, into the upper floor, and placing the main bedrooms in the basement with large light wells and possibly a part of the upper floor for office and lounge space, then you can question why a flat plot is being turned into a sloped plot by surrounding one side completely with light wells.
However, in my opinion, this makes more sense than sinking the separate apartment entirely into the basement, especially since an exit/terrace should be planned there as well.

Let’s ask it this way: how deep is the basement below ground level? How tall would the light wells need to be, and therefore how would they have to be secured in the garden? And the entrance platforms: how high would the entrances need to be, so that you would have to plan for space on the property?

Where to start. Many square meters but little comfort.

The granny flat will be dark, with no garden or terrace. A guest room of 7 sqm (75 sq ft) — where would bed and wardrobe fit? What did the father do wrong?

The office is a narrow corridor. What is the purpose of the lounge upstairs? Lots of circulation space: lounge plus hallway larger than the children's rooms. I find the rooms dark, especially Child 1’s with the two narrow windows.

In the dining area, chairs are pushed against the kitchen counter when in use. Minimum depth for a dining area is the table width plus 1 meter (3.3 ft) on each side, so 3 meters (10 ft) total for a 1 meter (3.3 ft) wide table. How deep are the kitchen cabinets?

Overall, it could be smaller and more efficient. I would change the shape. Privacy is nice, but you separate one family member more strictly than strangers are separated in an apartment building or in terraced/semi-detached houses. The price for that is extremely high.

It’s not as bad with the kitchen and dining table as it might seem.

For the kitchen, a 4m (13 feet) wall unit is possible, with a 3m (10 feet) island in front, and 3m (10 feet) for the table and chairs. This leaves 3m (10 feet) for the kitchen unit, the space between units, and the island. Many people only have 9m (30 feet) of room length for the kitchen, table, and sofa in a row.

With a room width of 8.65m (28 feet) and more than 50m² (540 ft²), this should be more than enough.

Here is my suggestion. A basement apartment is definitely not an option. Here, it is nearly 80 m² (860 sq ft) on the ground floor.