ᐅ Floor plan of a 172 m² bungalow in Brandenburg, south of Berlin

Myrna_Loy schrieb:

Exactly. For the standard request "open-plan kitchen and living area, guest bathroom, utility room, three bedrooms, office, and bathroom with floor-to-ceiling windows and a regular facade," you really don’t need a custom build. It’s modular. Even if you consider yourself unique, you usually aren’t when it comes to living requirements under 1.5 million.

Sorrow87 schrieb:

That is intentional and helps us move forward. We’re still at the beginning of the process and, for example, don’t have your experience. Thanks for sharing it. First, I think we should try to maximize the potential and then make compromises.

The T-wall will remain. We want it that way and also like it from friends who have built with it. The bathroom is currently placed on the northeast wall since the bedroom also faces northeast (at least the view outside is toward sunrise). We’d prefer the bedroom facing east. That’s what you usually hear. Are there other reasons for different planning options?
We are also still trying to find alternatives with just one door, where the toilet faces the window. The shower or toilet room will remain darker.

A gable roof then. With a rectangular building shape, I’m still finding it difficult to create a sensible room layout. Switching to a gable roof wouldn’t be a problem if it offers advantages and makes roof construction cheaper while allowing a good room layout. We’d be happy with that.

Thanks, we will probably stick to the 60 cm (24 inches) depth guideline.

Yes. Friends built a monolithic city villa using unfilled T10 Poroton bricks. The footprint is about 80–90 m2 (860–970 sq ft). They decided against mechanical ventilation and have great indoor air quality. Many neighbors in the new development complain about dry air with decentralized ventilation and would never install it again. For us, that’s a no-go. Decentralized ventilation is out. Central ventilation seems better, but we’ve also heard about dry air and poor installation in cavity walls. I wouldn’t want any ventilation system installed. I’d like to see a well-founded and convincing argument that could persuade me of installing ventilation (whether central or decentralized) and how to do it properly and what to watch out for. Otherwise, manual ventilation as we do now is preferable. We have always managed our indoor climate well.

It’s open and made of wood. Just google “Gyrofocus” and “fireplace.” It may not be to everyone’s taste 😉 We like it.

I’m not saying otherwise either. I welcome the exchange of opinions. We already consider where to save costs. The bedroom, dressing room, and toilet have already been reduced in size.

Sorry. The window dimensions weren’t finished yet. For now, I set the usual minimum widths per room. They should be made more consistent. Are there any recommendations concerning window sill heights in the bathroom, technical room, utility room, and dressing room? We’re still debating between 90 cm (35 inches) and concerns about neighbors and privacy. It’s important for us to have floor-to-ceiling windows in the living area and for all windows to be about 35 cm (14 inches) below the ceiling.

Until now, my understanding was that bungalows are advantageous because they don’t require load-bearing walls. Does this depend on our total floor area? Please clarify why this is often stated online and explain why it might be cheaper. I lack experience there.

A one-and-a-half-story house is our exit strategy if the bungalow doesn’t work at all, even with compromises. But that would be a half-baked house. Our number one priority is to have a bungalow. We want a single level. If that’s not possible, we’d build something we don’t actually want.

Now regarding the floor plan and lighting: Do I understand correctly that you would place the home theater (assuming you wanted one) on the northeast side? Closer to the lower corner by the technical room or the upper corner near the bedroom, or centrally near the bathroom/kitchen?
I don’t understand where you would plan the bedroom/bathroom/dressing room/technical room — towards the southeast or on the northwest wall? Then you’d probably plan the dining area, fireplace, and kitchen as an open living space in the entire southwest corner with enough windows. Wouldn’t that create a long, narrow space that feels cramped? The office and utility room would also be questionable then. Wouldn’t it be better to place those close to the kitchen and bathroom, and the utility room as close as possible to the building front?

You would make the house narrower but longer and put a gable roof on it?

Back to the neighboring plots — they don’t appear here. Our neighbor to the left builds 3 meters (10 feet) from the boundary. His house starts 4 m (13 feet) from the front and extends about 9 m (30 feet) deep. That means the southwest corner faces the neighbor’s house front and fence. I don’t find it appealing to put the carport on the right side and then build only 3 m (10 feet) from the neighbor on the left, so when sitting by the fireplace, eating, or cooking, you look at the house and fence or hedge. On the terrace, there would be no lawn in front of us because it goes right up to the garden fence. I’m not concerned about the south sun shining directly on the terrace — it’s too hot in summer anyway. Our lot is almost 33 m (108 feet) long, so there’s enough space in the lawn to avoid the relatively small shadow the bungalow casts. I prefer to enjoy the west sun in the upper left corner and look in that direction while eating.

Swapping the cinema room and kitchen for a rectangular layout — I’m open to persuasion, especially since the cinema currently blocks valuable natural light in the living area. But the lower corner near the office, even if it’s the brightest spot, faces either the neighbor’s boundary to the southwest or the street to the southeast. I can imagine nicer views. I’d rather keep the brightness in the work/hobby room because the view of the neighbor’s house doesn’t bother me as much.