ᐅ Floor plan design for a four-gable house with a main gable and a double garage

Hello everyone,
we are about to submit our building application. The floor plan is now ready, and I would like to ask if you possibly have any suggestions for improvements! (Sometimes you become a bit blind to things and don’t notice everything anymore.)

Development plan / restrictions:
Plot size: 1200 sqm (24m x 50m / 79ft x 164ft)
Slope: NO
Plot ratio (floor space index): 0.2
Floor area ratio: unknown
Building envelope, building line and boundary: 21m wide, 18m deep (69ft x 59ft)
Number of floors: single-story
Roof shape: no requirements
Architectural style: no requirements
Orientation: no requirements
Other: Access to the plot over a small ditch.

Client requirements:
Architectural style, roof shape, building type: gabled front
Number of people, age: 2 adults (27–28) + planned 2 children in the next 2–3 years
Space requirements on the ground floor: kitchen facing the street with utility room next to garage, guest WC with shower, living room with fireplace. (I am still thinking about the TV corner. The sofa is too far from the TV, but if I move it closer, it might collide with the fireplace? On the floor plan, it’s hard to judge the size.) Do you have any ideas?

Space requirements on the upper floor: 1 bedroom, 2 children’s rooms, (walk-in closet should NOT be directly connected to the bedroom! I get up earlier in the morning and want to quietly pick out my clothes.)
Office: family use or home office?: office / guest room
Open kitchen, kitchen island: no open kitchen. Kitchen island possibly like drawn? We haven’t been to a kitchen studio yet...
Number of dining seats in kitchen: 5
Number of dining seats in living room: 9+
Fireplace: yes, in the living room (we want to keep the masonry)
Music / stereo wall: I will consider during the shell construction whether to install speaker cables
Balcony, roof terrace: NO
Garage, carport: yes, double garage 6m x 9m (20ft x 30ft) on the boundary
Utility garden, greenhouse: planned, but we are not in a hurry.

I hope this is detailed enough to hear your opinions.

Thank you in advance.

Do you have measurements? I have some doubts, for example, whether there is enough circulation space in the master bedroom.
The walk-in closet has very little practical storage area – it might work with a custom carpenter, but not with IKEA furniture.
The children’s rooms are relatively small – here, the exact dimensions would also be interesting to know. Are these the living areas or the floor areas of the rooms?
Have you fallen in love with the gable ends? If so, I might consider leaving them out and instead raising the knee wall and making the house one meter (3 feet) wider.

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That's right, it will then collapse...

I wouldn’t want the children’s room next to our bedroom – I would swap it with either the walk-in closet or the office.

Ground floor: Having to go from the kitchen to the living room through two doors or via the hallway is an absolute no-go for me.
Top floor: The children's rooms are even too small for my taste! This could also apply to the bedroom. The guest gets by far the largest room? Children's rooms should be at least 12sqm (130 sq ft).

The building type is intended to be a country house with a gable front (?), which almost inevitably requires floor plan symmetry and façade symmetry, correct? As is often the case, the floor plans are then forced into a predetermined shape, resulting in functional compromises and awkward design solutions. I would develop the floor plan based on functional relationships: spatial program, usage flows, and family habits. This creates an organizational chart of the layout, which then needs to be realized in three dimensions and adapted to the site conditions (zoning/planning permission requirements, building regulations) as well as to a design concept that defines the architecture of the house. Naturally, the construction budget must also be considered.

I see many of these constraints in the floor plan, which in my opinion should be improved before submitting the building permit application. The house can be constructed and aesthetically understood as an external form. Inside, it does not work.

- Entrance area is too large, with an overly space-consuming staircase typical of a grand staircase
- Kitchen and living room are separated by the hallway
- Terrace facing northwest. No terrace doors on the southwest side
- Odd room shapes caused by staircase layout. I am not in favor of 45° angles, slanted walls, or clipped corners. These usually indicate spatial makeshift solutions, also noticeable on the upper floor. This results in poorly usable and difficult-to-furnish corners
- Dressing room, bathroom, and master bedroom should form a spatial sequence, especially if one enjoys the luxury of a dressing room. At the very least, dressing room and master bedroom should be adjacent and connected
- Bathroom/upper floor: I find the bidet/urinal unnecessary and too tightly positioned. I would swap the toilet and the shower
- Kitchen, ground floor bathroom, and upper floor bathroom are not located next to or above each other. How are the plumbing lines supposed to be routed, e.g., without lowered ceilings on the ground floor? Also, from this perspective, the bathtub and bidet/urinal in the upper floor bathroom are challenging to connect. Where is the soil pipe with roof vent planned for all drainage points? Where is the utility room located?
- The two main roof ridges have a minimal height difference. This is an undecided design choice and complicated to construct. Depending on the roofing material, the junction can lead to unattractive details and extensive use of flashing.

Is this floor plan the result of professional planning by the contractor/general builder, or is it a self-drawn sketch?