Dear forum members,
we would like to ask for your advice regarding the planning of a townhouse. We have already signed a house construction contract with free floor plan design. We will soon have a meeting with the architect. Beforehand, we wanted to carefully consider everything and have created a FIRST draft. Since we are complete beginners in this field, it is not easy for us to keep track of all the important aspects of such a planning process. We hope you can provide us with some helpful tips. Thank you in advance. Please note that the dimensions in the floor plan are sometimes not exact. The staircase is also not correctly placed. Unfortunately, I could not do better with the software (Architect 3D).
Development plan/restrictions/plot details
Plot size: 1000 sqm (28 m (92 feet) wide x 36 m (118 feet) deep)
Slope: slight, at the rear, from west to east
Floor area ratio: 0.2 according to regulations
Building regulations: otherwise according to building code §34
West: quiet street with low traffic, no sidewalk
South and North: neighboring plots
East: meadow, forest
Client requirements
Style, roof shape, building type: townhouse, approx. 168 sqm (1,808 sqft) according to DIN standard, hipped roof, 25% pitch, faced exterior, 11 m x 9.50 m (36 feet x 31 feet) external dimensions
Basement, floors: no basement, 2 full stories, each with a clear ceiling height of 2.745 m (9 feet)
Number of occupants, age: 3 persons (37, 37, 1), no further children planned
Overnight guests per year: 5
Office: commercial use
Open kitchen
Number of dining seats: 6
Carport
House design
Origin of the plan: self-designed
Preferred heating system and other details: gas heating with solar panels, underfloor heating, shutters on all windows, central ventilation system with heat recovery
What we like especially: large room for our daughter, terraces on the east and south sides, many windows, symmetry of the exterior on the west and south sides, upper corridor with window (natural light) and additional storage space
Important to us:
Room layout and arrangement should roughly remain as follows: utility room on the east side facing the garden, living room to the south, kitchen with access to the terrace on the east side, large children’s room to the south, bedroom should not adjoin the bathroom or the children’s room (can be exchanged with the office later if necessary)
What we don’t like / issues:
What we can do without: everything not shown in the plan (e.g. fireplace, walk-in closet, kitchen window, large bathroom)
we would like to ask for your advice regarding the planning of a townhouse. We have already signed a house construction contract with free floor plan design. We will soon have a meeting with the architect. Beforehand, we wanted to carefully consider everything and have created a FIRST draft. Since we are complete beginners in this field, it is not easy for us to keep track of all the important aspects of such a planning process. We hope you can provide us with some helpful tips. Thank you in advance. Please note that the dimensions in the floor plan are sometimes not exact. The staircase is also not correctly placed. Unfortunately, I could not do better with the software (Architect 3D).
Development plan/restrictions/plot details
Plot size: 1000 sqm (28 m (92 feet) wide x 36 m (118 feet) deep)
Slope: slight, at the rear, from west to east
Floor area ratio: 0.2 according to regulations
Building regulations: otherwise according to building code §34
West: quiet street with low traffic, no sidewalk
South and North: neighboring plots
East: meadow, forest
Client requirements
Style, roof shape, building type: townhouse, approx. 168 sqm (1,808 sqft) according to DIN standard, hipped roof, 25% pitch, faced exterior, 11 m x 9.50 m (36 feet x 31 feet) external dimensions
Basement, floors: no basement, 2 full stories, each with a clear ceiling height of 2.745 m (9 feet)
Number of occupants, age: 3 persons (37, 37, 1), no further children planned
Overnight guests per year: 5
Office: commercial use
Open kitchen
Number of dining seats: 6
Carport
House design
Origin of the plan: self-designed
Preferred heating system and other details: gas heating with solar panels, underfloor heating, shutters on all windows, central ventilation system with heat recovery
What we like especially: large room for our daughter, terraces on the east and south sides, many windows, symmetry of the exterior on the west and south sides, upper corridor with window (natural light) and additional storage space
Important to us:
Room layout and arrangement should roughly remain as follows: utility room on the east side facing the garden, living room to the south, kitchen with access to the terrace on the east side, large children’s room to the south, bedroom should not adjoin the bathroom or the children’s room (can be exchanged with the office later if necessary)
What we don’t like / issues:
- Entrance hall: I am not sure if the staircase fits here; view of a wall upon entering; niche and doors to utility room, guest room, and WC
- Bathroom upstairs: no further considerations yet about where fixtures could be placed
- Living room: dead space in the middle; quite narrow width of about 3.70 m (12 feet) in the TV corner; entrance to the living room (possibly sliding door?)
- Currently no windows drawn on the north side in the office and bedroom (not sure if we really need them, see next point)
- View into the bedroom from outside (if shutter is down, it is dark); maybe still a window on the north side
What we can do without: everything not shown in the plan (e.g. fireplace, walk-in closet, kitchen window, large bathroom)
Masipulami14 Oct 2016 13:44Bieber0815 schrieb:
Do you really need or want a "townhouse"? Why? Why not? Why should the homeowners' preference for a specific house style be questioned?
In the same way, one could ask in any other thread:
"Do you really need a gable roof house?"
"Do you really need a bungalow?"
"Flat roof? Do you really like that?"
Thank you for the responses. It’s a shame that the immediate suggestion is to discard the floor plan. We have listed the things that are important to us (see above), and this is our first draft. We want to have something to bring to the architect.
@BeHaElJa
The lawn won’t need fertilizer until the house is built. We will look at more floor plans. If you have any recommendations for, for example, a book, that would be welcome.
@ypg
Thanks for the tip about the stairs. I’ll try to look at other floor plans and maybe copy some ideas. Yes, the children’s room should be at least 25 sqm (270 sq ft). I find 8 sqm (86 sq ft) for teenagers way too small. That’s only enough space for a double bed, a wardrobe, and a desk.
@Bamue89
Typical German. The garage for the car (an inanimate object) can never be big enough, especially since the nice vehicle might have to freeze outside. But your own flesh and blood should live in a small room and deal with it. We set our priorities on family members. So the rooms can be nice and large. Otherwise, you don’t really need a house. You can always make rooms smaller later on, for example with partitions. But it’s true, 30 sqm (320 sq ft) isn’t necessary either.
@Bieber0815
We have already signed for a townhouse. Why? We don’t want sloped walls. That rules out both a traditional family house and the Frisian/captain’s house style. With a bungalow, the floor area ratio of 0.2 might be a bit tight if you want a terrace, driveway, walkways, and maybe an extension later. That leaves the townhouse. We then narrowed our choice down to 143 or 168 sqm (1,540 or 1,810 sq ft). During a visit to the 143 sqm (1,540 sq ft) house, it became clear we wanted more space. So we chose the larger house.
@Masipulami
Thanks!
@BeHaElJa
The lawn won’t need fertilizer until the house is built. We will look at more floor plans. If you have any recommendations for, for example, a book, that would be welcome.
@ypg
Thanks for the tip about the stairs. I’ll try to look at other floor plans and maybe copy some ideas. Yes, the children’s room should be at least 25 sqm (270 sq ft). I find 8 sqm (86 sq ft) for teenagers way too small. That’s only enough space for a double bed, a wardrobe, and a desk.
@Bamue89
Typical German. The garage for the car (an inanimate object) can never be big enough, especially since the nice vehicle might have to freeze outside. But your own flesh and blood should live in a small room and deal with it. We set our priorities on family members. So the rooms can be nice and large. Otherwise, you don’t really need a house. You can always make rooms smaller later on, for example with partitions. But it’s true, 30 sqm (320 sq ft) isn’t necessary either.
@Bieber0815
We have already signed for a townhouse. Why? We don’t want sloped walls. That rules out both a traditional family house and the Frisian/captain’s house style. With a bungalow, the floor area ratio of 0.2 might be a bit tight if you want a terrace, driveway, walkways, and maybe an extension later. That leaves the townhouse. We then narrowed our choice down to 143 or 168 sqm (1,540 or 1,810 sq ft). During a visit to the 143 sqm (1,540 sq ft) house, it became clear we wanted more space. So we chose the larger house.
@Masipulami
Thanks!
robert79 schrieb:
Thank you for the responses. It’s a pity that the immediate advice is to discard the floor plan. We have listed the things that are important to us (see above), and this is the result of our first attempt. We don’t want to come to the architect empty-handed.But that is exactly the point being made here. I can only say the same: Do not go to the architect with a finalized floor plan. List your needs, and the architect will develop a design from that. That is their job, that’s what you pay them for. It makes no sense at all to bring a self-drawn amateur floor plan as the starting point. On the contrary, it complicates the whole process.
The search box is located in the top right corner, while on Tapatalk it is in the top left.
If you enter "appointment architect," you will find the same question from nini09 dated October 5th and some answers.
Searching is encouraged, not only on Google.
Regarding the architect: write down your room requirements, print out some photos of your preferred urban villa style, and bring the site plan with you. Also, list your major wishes as well as your deal-breakers. The architect will be paid well for everything else.
If you don’t trust this approach, consider whether you would trust the architect to do _your_ job.
Best regards
If you enter "appointment architect," you will find the same question from nini09 dated October 5th and some answers.
Searching is encouraged, not only on Google.
Regarding the architect: write down your room requirements, print out some photos of your preferred urban villa style, and bring the site plan with you. Also, list your major wishes as well as your deal-breakers. The architect will be paid well for everything else.
If you don’t trust this approach, consider whether you would trust the architect to do _your_ job.
Best regards
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