Hello forum,
we are now starting our house building project. After a long search, we found a nice, completely flat plot of land measuring 520 m² (5600 sq ft). It’s the last undeveloped lot in the area. That means we can be confident about the neighboring buildings. Everything around is open (maximum 1.5 stories), no trees, and therefore no shading—ideal for a passive house design.
What we want:
A passive house with 2 children’s bedrooms and 2 offices (one small office is enough for me, but not for my wife!). A double garage was also a must, with access to the house, preferably through a pantry. A straight staircase would be nice, along with a direct view from the front door through to the garden. An open living area with kitchen, living room, and dining room was very important to us. We are building without a basement (for cost reasons). After a few visits to prefabricated house centers and consultations with various architects, we decided on the following floor plan. It should remain roughly the same, but we are open to practical suggestions from you. Maybe we have overlooked something… probably 😉
The garage has already been extended toward the garden in the house elevations to gain more storage space. We are still undecided about the position of the terrace; it will probably be located over the south/southwest corner and will be covered in the kitchen area (basically connected to the garage facing the garden).
Looking forward to your feedback and thanks in advance!
we are now starting our house building project. After a long search, we found a nice, completely flat plot of land measuring 520 m² (5600 sq ft). It’s the last undeveloped lot in the area. That means we can be confident about the neighboring buildings. Everything around is open (maximum 1.5 stories), no trees, and therefore no shading—ideal for a passive house design.
What we want:
A passive house with 2 children’s bedrooms and 2 offices (one small office is enough for me, but not for my wife!). A double garage was also a must, with access to the house, preferably through a pantry. A straight staircase would be nice, along with a direct view from the front door through to the garden. An open living area with kitchen, living room, and dining room was very important to us. We are building without a basement (for cost reasons). After a few visits to prefabricated house centers and consultations with various architects, we decided on the following floor plan. It should remain roughly the same, but we are open to practical suggestions from you. Maybe we have overlooked something… probably 😉
The garage has already been extended toward the garden in the house elevations to gain more storage space. We are still undecided about the position of the terrace; it will probably be located over the south/southwest corner and will be covered in the kitchen area (basically connected to the garage facing the garden).
Looking forward to your feedback and thanks in advance!
Y
youpy19785 Sep 2014 07:56Thanks for the creative suggestions and improvement ideas. We roughly intended to use the garage more frequently (also with children at some point) as the place to leave shoes, jackets, etc. The main entrance will probably be reserved more for guests, family, and so on. That’s why the usable area (garage/utility room) turned out to be quite spacious.
We’ve seen it with acquaintances: some are fine with a regular coat closet, while others need a dedicated room for that. The more space you have, the more tends to be stored... Well, everyone is different :-)
We will probably revisit the floor plan for the upper floor, possibly reduce the size of the office and maybe remove one room to provide more space for the children. However, we will stick to the bathroom size. Besides, I haven’t yet come up with the perfect idea on how to fit everything into 16m² (172ft²) 🙁
We’ve seen it with acquaintances: some are fine with a regular coat closet, while others need a dedicated room for that. The more space you have, the more tends to be stored... Well, everyone is different :-)
We will probably revisit the floor plan for the upper floor, possibly reduce the size of the office and maybe remove one room to provide more space for the children. However, we will stick to the bathroom size. Besides, I haven’t yet come up with the perfect idea on how to fit everything into 16m² (172ft²) 🙁
If you want to use the side entrance as your "main entrance," you’ll need to think this through carefully.
I know people who use their side entrance as their main access point. It’s convenient, that’s true, but they come directly from the street through that door, so it doesn’t matter to them whether they unlock the main front door or the side entrance. However, I doubt that with your floor plan you will always take the long way through the garage. If you come home by car—yes, that makes sense—but what about when you arrive on foot? Or when the children come home from school? They won't unlock the garage first—it’s probably already full of cars, bicycles, and other stuff—then go through the utility room (which children often find scary) into the laundry room and the house.
It’s also worth considering whether you really need such a large utility room. Our utility room (air source heat pump, all connections) is barely 4m² (43 sq ft), while our laundry room is over 12m² (130 sq ft), where we store rubber boots and muddy clothes. We can also access the street directly via the laundry room around the corner of the house. You’ll lose about 2m² (22 sq ft) of your 8m² (86 sq ft) space due to doors and windows.
My suggestion would be to add an entrance to the laundry room where the storage space under the stairs is located. It might also make sense to close off the laundry room with a wall at the level of the kitchen, creating sort of a corridor between the kitchen, laundry room, and utility room. I would place the entrance from the utility room to the garage at the back, towards the garage (possibly even just an exterior door), so you don’t have to walk awkwardly around the room when coming in from the garden. Maybe you could also enlarge the laundry room towards the utility room.
I know people who use their side entrance as their main access point. It’s convenient, that’s true, but they come directly from the street through that door, so it doesn’t matter to them whether they unlock the main front door or the side entrance. However, I doubt that with your floor plan you will always take the long way through the garage. If you come home by car—yes, that makes sense—but what about when you arrive on foot? Or when the children come home from school? They won't unlock the garage first—it’s probably already full of cars, bicycles, and other stuff—then go through the utility room (which children often find scary) into the laundry room and the house.
It’s also worth considering whether you really need such a large utility room. Our utility room (air source heat pump, all connections) is barely 4m² (43 sq ft), while our laundry room is over 12m² (130 sq ft), where we store rubber boots and muddy clothes. We can also access the street directly via the laundry room around the corner of the house. You’ll lose about 2m² (22 sq ft) of your 8m² (86 sq ft) space due to doors and windows.
My suggestion would be to add an entrance to the laundry room where the storage space under the stairs is located. It might also make sense to close off the laundry room with a wall at the level of the kitchen, creating sort of a corridor between the kitchen, laundry room, and utility room. I would place the entrance from the utility room to the garage at the back, towards the garage (possibly even just an exterior door), so you don’t have to walk awkwardly around the room when coming in from the garden. Maybe you could also enlarge the laundry room towards the utility room.
B
Bauexperte5 Sep 2014 10:33Hello,
Best regards, Bauexperte
youpy1978 schrieb:You should; also clarify the terms with both. Your drawing suggests more of a low-energy house (LEH) rather than a true passive house (PH) 😉
A passive house and east-facing windows are not exclusion criteria, right?! I will discuss this again with the architect and the energy consultant.
Best regards, Bauexperte
Y
youpy19785 Sep 2014 20:58Manu1976 schrieb:
What do you need your office for? Do you use it professionally or just privately? I mostly use my office privately and only very little for work, but my wife can deduct it for tax purposes and spends most of her time there as a teacher... so having an office is definitely necessary and it’s quite large. It’s also intended to serve as a guest room. I might repaint mine and create just an open office corner, so the hallway gets some direct natural light as well.
The layout of the ground floor is relatively fixed for us despite all the suggestions we've received. However, the idea of direct access from the garage to the utility room is making us think... We’ve also seen it like this in family homes, and with our lifestyle, this option requires the least compromises.
If anyone has any creative ideas about the bathroom layout, I would be grateful, since we are really stuck on that one. Thanks!
B
Bauexperte5 Sep 2014 22:32youpy1978 schrieb:
If anyone has any creative ideas regarding bathroom layout, I would really appreciate it because it’s quite a puzzle for us. Thanks!The shower, sauna, toilet, and cabinets can also be rearranged.
Best regards, Bauexperte
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