ᐅ Floor Plan and Orientation of a Gable Roof House: Experiences?

Hello, I’m interested in your opinions on our project described below:

1. About us:
2 adults (30 years old). No children planned.

2. Our space requirements:
- Living/dining area
- Separate, closed kitchen
- Bedroom
- Bathroom
- 2 offices (one used as home office)
- Guest WC
- Utility/technical room (HTR)
- Storage space within the house as a basement alternative & usable crawl space
- 1.5- to double garage with a small workshop
- Covered main terrace on the southeast side & secondary terrace on the southwest side

3. Preferred house style:
- Approximately 125-130 m² (1,345-1,400 sq ft)
- 1.5 stories (max. 1 full story allowed by the building regulations / planning permission)
- Traditional rectangular shape with a pitched roof, ridge oriented southeast-northwest for photovoltaic panels on the southwest side
- Timber frame construction or solid (masonry), depending on price; cost estimates are still pending. Do you have experience including the current steep increase in building material prices?

4. Desired additional features:
- Roofed terrace on the southeast side
- Barrier-reduced / accessible design

5. Building regulations / constraints:
- Building gap (vacant lot)
- Plot size: 660 m² (7,100 sq ft)
- Approx. 4% slope, descending from southwest to northeast → about 0.5 m (1.6 ft) height difference on a 10x10 m (33x33 ft) footprint

Building regulations / planning:
- 1 full story, floor area ratio 0.3, floor space index 0.3, open building form
- Building setback: 3 m (10 ft) from the street on the east, 5 m (16 ft) from the street on the south
No other restrictions

6. Planned building services:
- KfW 55 energy standard if the additional investment costs are covered by subsidies

We are still undecided about the actual technical systems. Preferably as cost-effective in initial purchase as possible, but also economically viable over 20 years.

Considerations:
- Air-to-water heat pump with underfloor heating featuring a low flow temperature and photovoltaic readiness (to be implemented later after 5 years with government funding, if the house is then considered existing property)
We would like to use the popular J-Geisha Panasonic Aquarea WH-MDC05J3E5, but it’s uncertain if the general contractor (GC) will accommodate individual requests.
- Undecided whether to include a controlled ventilation system or not

Recommendation from the GC:
- Air heating with controlled ventilation

Ideas on this topic are very welcome.

7. House design:
DIY, but strongly based on a general contractor’s floor plan (at least on the ground floor)

8. Cost estimate:
300,000 euros (approximately) for the house only (excluding landscaping, garage, and kitchen) in the Lower Saxony region

Is this roughly at the lower end given current price developments? We want to build cost-conscious without much extra.

9. Questions:
- Is a kitchen door under the stairs practical? We want to create storage space under the stairs (for example, as a pantry).
- Is the layout of the utility/technical room (HTR) unfavorable for the technical requirements?
- Is the bathroom layout sensible? (We do not want a bathtub, but a large walk-in shower approx. 1 x 1.4 m (3.3 x 4.6 ft))
- Are the positions of the doors practical? Are the doors on the first floor too cramped, or is the space generally sufficient?
- Are windows in the crawl space useful to prevent mold and reduce moisture? Or how would you solve this?
- We would be interested to hear your overall opinion of the floor plan and which orientation on the plot you would prefer (and why). We have two possible orientations in mind: parallel to the street or parallel to the neighbor.

Advantages from our point of view for orientation parallel to the street:
- From the living area, the garden is visible through the large window front in the center
- Easier to comply with setback distances (with the other option, the eaves side would be 3 m (10 ft) from the western neighbor and the street. If the eaves height exceeds 6 meters (about 20 ft) (which is likely), the 3 m setback to the west neighbor would not be sufficient)

Advantages from our point of view for orientation parallel to the neighbor:
- Garage is easier to realize (otherwise oblique angles = more expensive, or an unused triangular area towards the north neighbor)