ᐅ Floor plan and elevations of a single-family house with approximately 1,700 sq ft on a sloped site

Dear forum members, today we would like to present our floor plan and hope for positive feedback and suggestions on possible improvements. Our basic wish is for a bright house with 4 bedrooms on the upper floor and a living-level basement designed to accommodate 2 offices. We see the basement as necessary, especially due to the sloping site. The ground floor will then provide a spacious living and kitchen area. We have now received the first plans from the architect and would like to optimize them as much as possible with your help. The furniture layouts are only examples and still need to be finalized. Note: The room labeled as an office on the upper floor is intended to become Child 3’s bedroom. The guest room in the basement will be a combined guest/office room. The design of the outdoor areas, such as the terrace and the shape of the new property boundary, still needs to be planned in more detail.

Development plan/restrictions
Plot size: 702 sqm (7,555 sq ft)
Slope: yes, approximately 1.7 m (5.6 ft) higher at the street than at the rear of the property
Site coverage ratio: 0.35
Floor area ratio: none
Building envelope, building line, and boundary: garage minimum 5 m (16 ft) from street, house minimum 3.5 m (11.5 ft)
Number of parking spaces: no requirement
Number of floors: 2
Roof type: gable, hip, or pyramid roof with pitch between 22° and 43°
Orientation: southwest

Owner requirements
Roof type: preferably gable roof
Basement, floors: basement yes, preferably 2 full stories
Number of occupants, ages: 4 (35, 33, 4, and 2)
Room requirements on ground and upper floors: preferably 3 children’s bedrooms on the upper floor
Office: 2 home office spaces desired
Guest stays per year: about 10 times per year from grandparents, hence a guest room
Conservative or modern design: rather modern, I would say
Open kitchen, kitchen island: kitchen island
Fireplace: desirable
Balcony, roof terrace: possibly convert the garage roof later into a balcony
Garage, carport: garage for 1 car with sufficient storage space for bicycles

Additional wishes/details/daily routine, including reasons for choices:
We wanted the 3 children's bedrooms and the master bedroom on the upper floor. Additionally, a small bathroom for the parents there. The basement made sense to us because of the sloping site. It should provide one dedicated office and one combined office/guest room, both with daylight windows. Additionally, a large hobby room for versatile use is desired. On the ground floor, a pantry and laundry room connected to the garage were requested. Later on, it should be possible to convert the garage roof into a terrace.

House design
Origin of the design: Architect based on our detailed requirements (see above).

What do you particularly like? Why?
Our room layout wishes have been implemented.

What do you not like? Why?
The bathrooms on the upper floor and the living area on the ground floor may be too small.

Estimated cost according to architect/planner: not available yet. Probably around 650,000 - 700,000 € (including additional building costs)
Preferred heating technology: air or ground-source heat pump

If you had to give up some details/extras
- Could give up: fireplace, possibly 2nd bathroom on upper floor, walkable garage roof
- Could not give up: 4 bedrooms on upper floor, basement with 2 offices

Why is the design the way it is now?
Our basic considerations were passed on directly to the architect. He has largely implemented our specifications and added some minor touches.

What is the most important/basic question about the floor plan in 130 characters?
We find the existing floor plan generally well done and hope to receive constructive criticism and further suggestions from you to optimize it.

Personally, I would swap the children's bathroom and the master bathroom, and make both accessible from the hallway. I would also extend the garage to the maximum possible length of 9m (30 feet) to have enough space for all gardening tools, groceries, etc., since the utility room is quite small. Additionally, it makes sense to have the sofa area at least 4m (13 feet) wide to create a better sense of space.

How do you arrive at 160 sqm (1,722 sq ft)? If this is intended to be a basement with sufficient ceiling height for living space, then it would count towards the total square meters, right?

It also depends on whether you are referring to DIN standards or living area calculation.

Thank you for the feedback so far. We have also started discussing the bathroom arrangements internally. My wife and I are still not completely sure, and we understand that we currently have a somewhat unusual layout.

A sofa area of at least 3.75 m (12 feet 4 inches) was our request to the architect. I agree that 4.0 m (13 feet 1 inch) would be more comfortable...

I thought the basement is never included in the living area. The ceiling height there should be 2.40 m (7 feet 10 inches).

And a comment on the exterior appearance: I wouldn’t like all these many different narrow windows at all. Some are oriented horizontally, others vertically, which in my opinion creates a lot of visual clutter. I would choose much larger windows and also a 3m (10 feet) high window in the stairwell. With plenty of natural light, the house feels much more comfortable, and you’re not just looking through narrow slits.