ᐅ Floor Plan Design for KfW 40 Single-Family Home in an Established Residential Area with Fully Finished Basement

Created on: 11 Aug 2025 20:39
A
AnnaChris88
Hello everyone,

After reading many posts here and following the discussions closely, we would like to use the collective knowledge and your input to reconsider our design. Attached are the basic data.

Development Plan / Restrictions
Plot size: 414 sqm (4455 sq ft)
Slope: hardly any – 1.5 m (5 ft) gradient from northwest to southeast
Site occupancy index: 0.4
Floor area ratio: 0.8
Building envelope, building line and boundary: entire plot buildable, including a 4 m (13 ft) wide strip along the eastern property boundary, parcel 743/22
Edge development:
Number of parking spaces: 2
Number of floors: 2 full stories mandatory
Roof type: 28-degree (28°) pitched roof mandatory
Architectural style: classic
Orientation: south/west
Maximum height / limits: none
Other requirements:

Owners’ Requirements
Style, roof type, building type: classic with pitched roof
Basement, floors: finished basement, 2 full stories
Number of occupants, ages: 4 persons (42, 37, 3, 1)
Room requirements on ground floor and upper floor: as in current design
Office: home office
Occasional overnight guests: few
Open floor plan
Conservative building method
Open kitchen with island
Number of dining seats: at least 6
Fireplace: no
Music / stereo wall
Balcony, roof terrace: originally planned above the terrace, canceled for cost reasons
Garage / carport: garage for storage purposes

Additional wishes / special features:
- There should be a large living-dining area separated from the stairwell by a door (sound insulation), a large kitchen with island, one bathroom with shower in the basement including two rooms to likely be used when the children move to the basement later; currently playing room and office/guest room, separate walk-in wardrobe from master bedroom, two large children’s rooms upstairs each larger than 15 sqm (160 sq ft)

House Design
Design by: architect and DIY
What do you particularly like?
- Ground floor is especially liked due to the combination of a large room with clearly defined areas
What do you dislike?
- Bathroom layout upstairs is not optimal so far, since window should actually be larger and face east
- Master bedroom should ideally be separated from children’s bathroom or walk-in wardrobe
- Window of guest WC faces north and not next to entrance door
Price estimate based on initial offer: €500,000–520,000
Personal price limit for house including equipment: €550,000
Preferred heating technology: heat pump with photovoltaic system

If you had to give up something, which details or additions
- You could give up: pantry on ground floor
- You cannot give up: separate walk-in wardrobe upstairs, shower bathroom in basement, door to hallway on ground floor

Why is the design like this? For example:
First discussion with architect and 7 rounds of “corrections” / revisions based on our wishes

We look forward to your feedback!!


Floor plan of a house with hallway, bathroom, guest/playroom, office and heating/technical room.


Floor plan of a house: living room, dining, kitchen, hallway, cloakroom, WC, storage room, garage


Floor plan of a house with stairs, hallway, bathroom, walk-in wardrobe, bedroom, child 1, child 2 and garden.


Cross-section of a multi-story house: living/dining, office, hallways, stairs, garage, tree outside.


Two-story white house with pitched roof, entrance, garage and green front garden.


Two-story white house with gray roof and surrounding trees.


Front view of a two-story residential house with pitched roof, large windows and garden.


Two-story house with metal roof, staircase in floor plan and trees in background.


Property map: parcels 743/9, 743/22 (WBF) with gray residential/garage buildings; red boundary line.


Plot plan: building with gray roof, lawn, trees, boundary lines and north direction.
A
AnnaChris88
12 Aug 2025 11:53
hanse987 schrieb:

How large should the light well be? Try drawing the correct size into the floor plan.

I assume the light well is also supposed to be in front of the study window; then you will need either fixed glazing or a railing on the ground floor above it.
Thanks, good point. I wanted fixed glazing, but the architect said it would look strange from the outside. However, I will take another look at it.
A
Arauki11
12 Aug 2025 12:06
@AnnaChris88 You can quote and reply to the posts one by one in a single message; otherwise, it gets too confusing.
There were several fundamental and crucial questions raised, not just by me, that are still unanswered. A kink in the children’s room is rather insignificant in comparison.
The more important issues concern financing, the basement, etc., which could ultimately lead to a completely different outcome.
H
hanghaus2023
12 Aug 2025 12:33
I don’t see the 5.5-meter (18-foot) distance to the street on the plan.
H
hanghaus2023
12 Aug 2025 12:44
I cannot see the 1.5 m (5 feet) height difference on any plan.

I cannot imagine a zoning plan that requires 2 full stories. More likely it is limited.
Y
ypg
12 Aug 2025 12:44
hanghaus2023 schrieb:

I don’t see the 5.5 meter (18 feet) distance to the street on the plan.

Exactly, it’s only 5.35 meters (17.5 feet)… for whatever reason. But I wouldn’t use that as a basis for discussion anyway.
AnnaChris88 schrieb:

Do you have a suggestion for the bathroom layout on the upper floor without the T solution?

Sure! But for this reason
Arauki11 schrieb:

These are more significant questions regarding financing, basement, etc., which can ultimately lead to a completely different outcome.

I won’t be contributing on that.
11ant12 Aug 2025 13:15
Pretty but misleading drawings are of no use. If there is a height difference of one and a half meters, the site should not be shown as completely flat in the elevation drawings (or if it is going to be leveled, it will require a lot of expensive earthmoving; and possibly the landscaping itself becomes a construction element—including setback requirements). These are the typical serious oversights of discount architects who mainly want to provide their clients with superficially appealing, pseudo-professional images. Then there are the five and a half meters of setback in front of the garage or from the street, including or excluding the unexplained four meters mentioned at the beginning? And it continues with light wells that, in the floor plans, are shown merely as light shafts. At that point, it really seems pointless to move a T-shaped element in the bathroom. Rather than mostly duplicate images, I would have appreciated more if the plot included elevation points and if the drawings could be viewed in a separate tab, allowing for scaled inspection. At least for two otherwise helpful respondents, this has effectively hit the pause button. I also reiterate my doubts about the requirement for a two-story building.
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