ᐅ Floor Plan Design for a Single-Family Home for Four People on a 390 sqm Plot
Created on: 5 Apr 2021 17:44
C
Crixton
Hello House Building Forum,
What do you think about the floor plan (see attachment)? This is a first draft, and I am open to any feedback!
Thank you in advance!
Development Plan / Restrictions
Plot size: 390 sqm (approx. 4200 sq ft) with 16.5 m (54 ft) width x 23.5 m (77 ft) depth
Slope: none
Site coverage ratio: 0.4
Floor space index: 0.8
Building envelope, building line and boundary: minimum 3 m (10 ft) setback from the street, linked building in a continuous row. Boundary building allowed.
Edge development: Grouped houses are required: house, garage, house, garage…
Windows: On the ground floor, windows are only allowed on the southwest and northeast sides due to the house grouping. On the upper floor, windows are allowed on the southwest, southeast and northeast sides.
Number of parking spaces: 2 in carport/garage + 2 in front
Number of floors: minimum 2 full stories
Roof shape: hipped roof with max 25° pitch (hence square floor plan)
Orientation: southwest-facing
Maximum heights / limits: max wall height 6.5 m (21 ft). Knee walls not allowed.
Other requirements: A tree must be planted in front and behind the house. This may affect the distance of the house to the street. According to the development plan, minimum 3 m (10 ft) setback is required; I am not sure if this is sufficient for the tree. A free-growing hedge with 3 m (10 ft) depth must be planned behind the house.
Client Requirements
Style, roof shape, building type: city villa with 2 full stories
Basement, floors: no basement planned for now, possibly if really needed
Number of people, age: Currently 2 (male 28, female 25), planning 2 children soon
Space requirements ground floor, upper floor:
Office: several home office days per week, small office (around 9 sqm (97 sq ft)) sufficient
Guests per year: 5
Open or closed architecture
Conservative or modern design
Open kitchen, kitchen island: open kitchen, kitchen island if space permits
Number of dining seats: at least 5
Fireplace: if space and budget allow
Balcony, roof terrace: possibly on top of the garage, but not mandatory
Garage, carport: double garage planned with 6.5 m x 8 m (21 ft x 26 ft). Max length allowed 9 m (30 ft). Only flat roof allowed on garage.
House Design
Who designed it: Do-it-yourself, with some floor plans as templates
Cost estimate according to architect/planner: not yet determined
Personal price limit for house including fixtures: 350k € plus garage and landscaping
Preferred heating technology: If not KfW 40plus standard, connection to district heating is mandatory. If KfW 40plus standard is met, connection is voluntary.
If you have to give up something, on which details/extensions
- can you forgo: straight staircase (if other staircase types are better suited for 10 x 10 m), roof terrace
- cannot forgo: office, guest WC + shower on ground floor, bedroom not directly adjacent to children’s room, pantry, access from garage to house, children’s rooms at least 15 sqm (160 sq ft)
Why did the design turn out this way?
What is the most important/fundamental question about the floor plan in 130 characters?
What do you think about the floor plan (see attachment)? This is a first draft, and I am open to any feedback!
Thank you in advance!
Development Plan / Restrictions
Plot size: 390 sqm (approx. 4200 sq ft) with 16.5 m (54 ft) width x 23.5 m (77 ft) depth
Slope: none
Site coverage ratio: 0.4
Floor space index: 0.8
Building envelope, building line and boundary: minimum 3 m (10 ft) setback from the street, linked building in a continuous row. Boundary building allowed.
Edge development: Grouped houses are required: house, garage, house, garage…
Windows: On the ground floor, windows are only allowed on the southwest and northeast sides due to the house grouping. On the upper floor, windows are allowed on the southwest, southeast and northeast sides.
Number of parking spaces: 2 in carport/garage + 2 in front
Number of floors: minimum 2 full stories
Roof shape: hipped roof with max 25° pitch (hence square floor plan)
Orientation: southwest-facing
Maximum heights / limits: max wall height 6.5 m (21 ft). Knee walls not allowed.
Other requirements: A tree must be planted in front and behind the house. This may affect the distance of the house to the street. According to the development plan, minimum 3 m (10 ft) setback is required; I am not sure if this is sufficient for the tree. A free-growing hedge with 3 m (10 ft) depth must be planned behind the house.
Client Requirements
Style, roof shape, building type: city villa with 2 full stories
Basement, floors: no basement planned for now, possibly if really needed
Number of people, age: Currently 2 (male 28, female 25), planning 2 children soon
Space requirements ground floor, upper floor:
Office: several home office days per week, small office (around 9 sqm (97 sq ft)) sufficient
Guests per year: 5
Open or closed architecture
Conservative or modern design
Open kitchen, kitchen island: open kitchen, kitchen island if space permits
Number of dining seats: at least 5
Fireplace: if space and budget allow
Balcony, roof terrace: possibly on top of the garage, but not mandatory
Garage, carport: double garage planned with 6.5 m x 8 m (21 ft x 26 ft). Max length allowed 9 m (30 ft). Only flat roof allowed on garage.
House Design
Who designed it: Do-it-yourself, with some floor plans as templates
Cost estimate according to architect/planner: not yet determined
Personal price limit for house including fixtures: 350k € plus garage and landscaping
Preferred heating technology: If not KfW 40plus standard, connection to district heating is mandatory. If KfW 40plus standard is met, connection is voluntary.
If you have to give up something, on which details/extensions
- can you forgo: straight staircase (if other staircase types are better suited for 10 x 10 m), roof terrace
- cannot forgo: office, guest WC + shower on ground floor, bedroom not directly adjacent to children’s room, pantry, access from garage to house, children’s rooms at least 15 sqm (160 sq ft)
Why did the design turn out this way?
- The maximum width of the house of 10.2 m (33 ft) is based on the plot width of 16.5 m (54 ft). 6.3 m (20 ft) is allocated for the double garage. The house depth is therefore 10 m (33 ft) (hipped roof: square floor plan is advantageous + if deeper than 10 m, the floor space index would be exceeded + hardly any garden space would remain)
- The office on the ground floor could be used as a third children’s room if needed (not currently planned) and later as a care room
- Bedroom is not adjacent to the children’s rooms
- Both children’s rooms have access to the roof terrace on the garage
- Direct access from the garage to the house
- Open living and dining area
- Large children’s rooms (approx. 17 sqm (183 sq ft))
What is the most important/fundamental question about the floor plan in 130 characters?
- Is the straight staircase suitable for a 10 x 10 m layout, or are there better options?
- Is the space sufficient for 4 people, or would you recommend a basement?
- Open to all comments
11ant schrieb:
For aerated concrete, 36.5 cm (14.4 inches) should be enough – but of course, keep in mind 11ant’s stone mantra ;-)Thanks for the tip. As far as I know, our planned builder only uses bricks. I’ve already asked if filled bricks are possible, but he only uses 36 cm (14.2 inches) and 42.5 cm (16.7 inches) hollow bricks. Partly because he can’t guarantee that the shell won’t absorb water during rain with filled bricks. Forcing aerated concrete probably won’t make sense either if he’s experienced with bricks.11ant schrieb:
P.S.: Avoid the square floor plan; it doesn’t suit a house of this size!We would also like that, but the local building plan forces us to have a pitched roof, and given the plot size, we can’t dig any deeper, or there would be no garden left.driver55 schrieb:
…and doors with incorrect hinges, and so on…That’s correct, I should have mentioned that this is strictly about the room layout. Please ignore doors and windows for now, as there may still be errors there.ypg schrieb:
I notice the poorly placed fireplace – it creates a major stumbling hazard in the walk-in closet. When a person is drunk or half-asleep, they’re likely to get stuck there. The entire route from the bedroom to the bathroom is affected by it.
I would move the chimney or fireplace to the exterior wall between the dining area and the sofa. I also question placing the sofa in the center, but short-sightedness might explain that. 😉 You’re right. The problem is that, because of the bay window, the space near the sofa is already tight. You need access to the window as well.
An external fireplace could be an option, but our building supervisor said it would look unattractive and that the chimney sweep would have to climb a ladder from outside to clean it.
From a floor plan perspective, having the fireplace external would be easier to integrate.
Crixton schrieb:
Forcing aerated concrete probably doesn’t make sense if he is experienced with bricks. Merit badge – You’re diligently following my stone mantra ;-)
Crixton schrieb:
Among other reasons, because with filled blocks he can’t guarantee that the shell won’t soak up water in the rain. Does he mean it’s too much trouble for him to cover the walls every evening?
Crixton schrieb:
However, the development plan forces us to have a hipped roof. You are supposed to settle for a maximum roof pitch of 25° roof slope (RS). Let’s assume you use 21° RS, which pushes the recommended minimum pitch for some roof tiles. Then a house with the same footprint of 10.30 x 10.30 m (33.8 x 33.8 ft) could still have unequal sides of 9.35 x 11.35 m (30.7 x 37.3 ft), allowing for a difference of two meters (6.6 ft) — neatly as a hipped roof without a ridge. So this does not necessarily mean a square layout, which is always a limitation for a floor plan, especially for less than 150 square meters (1,615 square feet) of livable space.
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
Crixton schrieb:
The problem is that the built-in window seat makes the space around the sofa quite tight. You still need to be able to access the window. Do I understand correctly that you are aiming for a suboptimal sofa placement or living room layout just to accommodate a window seat, instead of having a sofa where several people from a household could comfortably sit and enjoy the garden view (which would be possible with proper planning)? In that case, I would suggest a reset on Pinterest inspirations and unrealistic wishes, to find the comfort that should at least be standard, rather than blindly adding a nice-to-have feature that really doesn’t fit and ends up cluttering the corner where the sofa is squeezed in.
Crixton schrieb:
An external fireplace could be an option, but our builder said that first of all, it looks unattractive. The same applies to the fireplace: I agree with the builder that for a hip roof you generally don’t want the chimney on an outer wall. Still, its current position is problematic in every way. That’s a planning error. It’s simply in the wrong place. This is a path that will be crossed multiple times a day, including at night. Either this needs to be redesigned or the fireplace placement should be reconsidered entirely—that’s my opinion. Especially since with the proposed sofa position, using the fireplace would be impossible because that corner will get too hot, unless it’s an ethanol or gas fireplace?
Similar topics