ᐅ Floor Plan Review for a Semi-Detached House – General Optimization and Storage Solutions
Created on: 8 Dec 2024 18:28
A
AllaFein
Development Plan / Restrictions
Plot size: 342 sqm (11 m x 31 m / 36 ft x 102 ft)
Floor area ratio: -
Floor space index: -
Building envelope, building line and boundary: 80 sqm footprint (external dimensions)
Edge development: The first builders submitting a building permit / planning permission may decide on house dimensions
Number of parking spaces: 2
Number of floors: 2 full floors, 1 attic, 1 basement
Roof type: gable roof
Architectural style:
Orientation: kitchen northeast, living room southwest
Maximum heights/limits: wall height 6.75 m (22 ft)
Additional requirements
Owners’ Requirements
Architectural style, roof type, building type: semi-detached house, gable roof
Basement, floors: see above
Number of occupants, ages: 2 adults, 2 children
Space requirements on ground floor and upper floor: room layout as desired in the floor plan
Open or closed architecture: open
Conservative or modern construction: modern
Open kitchen, kitchen island: kitchen with island in the northeast
Number of dining seats: 6
Fireplace: yes, as shown
Music / stereo wall: no
Balcony, roof terrace: yes, max. 16 sqm (172 sq ft) terrace and 8 sqm (86 sq ft) balcony as per plan
Garage, carport: no garage, parking space only
Utility garden, greenhouse: no
Additional wishes / special features / daily routine, also reasons why some features are included or excluded:
To the northeast, there is a view of open fields where no construction is expected for the next 10-15 years and likely will remain open. We want to make use of this view while also addressing the senses in the southwest, where the living room is located.
House Design
Planner:
- Planner from a construction company: no
- Architect: yes
- Do-it-yourself: yes
What do you like most and why?
What do you dislike and why?: We really like that the room layout matches our wishes exactly. However, the plan was copied 1:1, and we would appreciate feedback on whether what we have drawn is sensible.
Preferred heating system: air source heat pump
If you had to give up certain details or features, which ones?
- Can give up: hallway width
- Cannot give up: ground floor bathroom, corner terrace + balcony
Why was the design made this way? For example:
Standard design from planner?: no, customized
Which wishes were implemented by the architect?
Room layout, corner terrace
What do you think makes it particularly good or bad?
Good: wishes were taken into account. But is there room for optimization regarding storage? Are the bathrooms large enough?
Important to know: on the ground floor, the pantry is planned on the left side without a wall. That means the kitchen is 460 cm (181 inches) wide and the pantry 120 cm (47 inches). The bathroom on the upper floor in the northeast is also planned to have a partition wall for a utility room about 140 cm (55 inches) wide.
Looking forward to your feedback!
Plot size: 342 sqm (11 m x 31 m / 36 ft x 102 ft)
Floor area ratio: -
Floor space index: -
Building envelope, building line and boundary: 80 sqm footprint (external dimensions)
Edge development: The first builders submitting a building permit / planning permission may decide on house dimensions
Number of parking spaces: 2
Number of floors: 2 full floors, 1 attic, 1 basement
Roof type: gable roof
Architectural style:
Orientation: kitchen northeast, living room southwest
Maximum heights/limits: wall height 6.75 m (22 ft)
Additional requirements
Owners’ Requirements
Architectural style, roof type, building type: semi-detached house, gable roof
Basement, floors: see above
Number of occupants, ages: 2 adults, 2 children
Space requirements on ground floor and upper floor: room layout as desired in the floor plan
Open or closed architecture: open
Conservative or modern construction: modern
Open kitchen, kitchen island: kitchen with island in the northeast
Number of dining seats: 6
Fireplace: yes, as shown
Music / stereo wall: no
Balcony, roof terrace: yes, max. 16 sqm (172 sq ft) terrace and 8 sqm (86 sq ft) balcony as per plan
Garage, carport: no garage, parking space only
Utility garden, greenhouse: no
Additional wishes / special features / daily routine, also reasons why some features are included or excluded:
To the northeast, there is a view of open fields where no construction is expected for the next 10-15 years and likely will remain open. We want to make use of this view while also addressing the senses in the southwest, where the living room is located.
House Design
Planner:
- Planner from a construction company: no
- Architect: yes
- Do-it-yourself: yes
What do you like most and why?
What do you dislike and why?: We really like that the room layout matches our wishes exactly. However, the plan was copied 1:1, and we would appreciate feedback on whether what we have drawn is sensible.
Preferred heating system: air source heat pump
If you had to give up certain details or features, which ones?
- Can give up: hallway width
- Cannot give up: ground floor bathroom, corner terrace + balcony
Why was the design made this way? For example:
Standard design from planner?: no, customized
Which wishes were implemented by the architect?
Room layout, corner terrace
What do you think makes it particularly good or bad?
Good: wishes were taken into account. But is there room for optimization regarding storage? Are the bathrooms large enough?
Important to know: on the ground floor, the pantry is planned on the left side without a wall. That means the kitchen is 460 cm (181 inches) wide and the pantry 120 cm (47 inches). The bathroom on the upper floor in the northeast is also planned to have a partition wall for a utility room about 140 cm (55 inches) wide.
Looking forward to your feedback!
11ant schrieb:
Irony? – I get the impression that you don’t fully understand some of the responses or feel misunderstood by those giving advice. Slowly, I begin to grasp the reasoning behind your planning ideas. Oh dear.
Apparently, the development plan for your plot sets a fixed limit on the building footprint at 80 sqm (861 sq ft). You then planned a footprint of 85.6 sqm (921 sq ft) and (unfortunately naively) assumed you could deduct the cut-out terrace corner from that. Regarding the plot width of 11 meters (36 ft), you seem to have followed the old myth of subtracting a 3-meter (10 ft) building setback, resulting in a house width of 8 meters (26 ft). The wall height is limited to 6.75 m (22 ft), which you used to the maximum. However, with a ridge height of 9.475 m (31 ft), the average height of the gable wall is 8.1125 m (27 ft) (0.4h equals 3.245 m / 11 ft) – your house is thus 5.6 sqm (60 sq ft) too large in footprint and 24.5 cm (10 inches) too wide. Why hire a planner (and what do they do professionally?) if these issues only come to light during the building permit / planning permission application?
Your application will have to go through an additional review cycle. In the meantime, your neighboring half-plots may effectively get ahead of you, meaning you will no longer be the first to build (a risky situation, especially if the neighbors choose to build without a basement). You also lose your lead position for setting the house profile at the shared wall, and you may end up having to start over from scratch. Therefore, my urgent advice again: 1. Get to know your future neighbors, 2. hire a shared planner to coordinate the project – ideally, plan together and find a common shell construction contractor.
I also recommended reading the Goalkeeper thread (for those who don’t want to search: https://www.hausbau-forum.de/threads/reihenendhaus-mit-gue-in-eigenregie-bauen.31198/) and mentioned the keyword “underpinning.” With this and terms like “without basement” / “with basement,” you will find numerous threads explaining everything in detail. My (external) post “A Semidetached House Has TWO Halves” may also provide personal advice, and the same source contains “With or Without Basement: A Rule as a Decision Tool.” There is clearly no “thumbs up” for that build here. My posts about building for aging (another naive calculation) are nearby as well. There is currently no neighbor yet – the plot has not been sold. We are in communication with the sellers. That’s why the 36 cm (14 inch) adhesive wall is planned. There is another semidetached house on the street which after 3 years still stands alone.
Regarding the footprint: the development plan allows exceeding it for balconies and terraces (more dimension details are in the questionnaire), etc.