ᐅ Floor Plan Design for a Single-Family Home of Approximately 150 m²

Created on: 12 Feb 2018 18:09
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chrisw81
Hello,

After a long search, we signed the notarized contract for the land purchase at the end of December. We are now actively planning the floor plan. Unfortunately, the plot is somewhat awkwardly shaped (not rectangular), which creates some limitations for the layout from our perspective. We already have a first draft, but there are several areas we don’t like and are unsure how to improve. Maybe you have some ideas; we would appreciate your input.

Development Plan / Restrictions
Plot size: 601 m² (6465 sq ft)
Building envelope, building line, boundary: Building line with the house on the west side
Peripheral setbacks: 7 m (23 ft) from the street (north), otherwise the usual 3 m (10 ft)
Number of parking spaces: 2 desired
Number of floors: 1 full story allowed
Roof style: Gable roof
Design style: open construction method
Orientation: South
Maximum heights / limits: Ridge height max. 8.5 m (28 ft)
Additional requirements: Max. 100 m² (1076 sq ft) of built-up area

Client Requirements
Style, roof form, building type: Solid construction house, rectangular, no bay windows, no projections, etc., gable roof
Basement, floors: no basement; 1.5 stories
Number and age of residents: 2 people, age between 30 and 40, possibly children later
Space needs on ground floor and upper floor: Ground floor – living/dining room, kitchen, guest toilet, utility room, office
Office: family use or home office?: family use
Guest stays per year: 20 days
Open or closed architecture: open living area, closed hallway
Conservative or modern style: conservative
Open kitchen, kitchen island: open kitchen, island without cooktop
Number of dining seats: 2-4
Fireplace: yes, chimney planned
Music/stereo wall: no
Balcony, roof terrace: no
Garage, carport: carport
Utility garden, greenhouse: no
Further wishes, special features, daily routine, and reasons for preferences:
- A wardrobe area on the ground floor is important where coats can be stored relatively out of sight.
- On the upper floor, it would be nice to have an open gallery with a desk or similar (not a must and not necessarily next to the stairs).
- A walk-in closet would be nice but not essential.
- A storage room on the upper floor is very important since we do not have a basement.

House Design
Who created the design:
- Basic design by the construction company (FIBAV Stadthaus Vision Studio)
- DIY modifications based on online floor plans (especially Viebrockhaus Maxime 330)
What do you particularly like? Why?:
- Layout of the living/dining area and the narrowing kitchen reduces the hallway effect a bit
- Many windows in the living/dining area
- Wide hallway on the ground floor
What do you dislike? Why?:
- Few options to place furniture (dresser, wardrobe) in the ground floor hallway due to many doors
- Very large hallway upstairs, considered wasted space
- Bedroom is quite small; should be the largest room upstairs (preferably 16 m² (172 sq ft), children’s rooms rather 14 m² (151 sq ft))
- Stair placement limited by chimney location
- Door placement upstairs limited by chimney
- A staircase rotated 90 degrees (entrance next to front door) would appeal more
- Difficult to align windows upstairs and downstairs on the gable end vertically
- Floor-to-ceiling windows upstairs; wider windows with a sill height around 100 cm (40 inches) would be preferred
Price estimate by architect/planner: 200,000 €
Personal price limit for the house including equipment: 210,000 €
Preferred heating technology: gas heating

What details or expansions could you give up?
- Can do without: gallery next to stairs upstairs. Living area could also be narrower (e.g., 4.20 m (14 ft) instead of 4.47 m (15 ft))
- Cannot do without: storage room upstairs, shower in guest toilet, extra natural light in the ground floor hallway (e.g., side panel on front door or window)

Why was the design made this way? For example, standard plan from planner?
- Since the house has very little space on the south side, the house should be very narrow in order not to waste more space to the south. It should be wider so that living, dining, and kitchen areas face south as much as possible.
Were corresponding wishes from the architect implemented? No architect meeting has taken place yet.

What is the most important/basic question about the floor plan summarized in 130 characters?
How can the ground floor hallway be better designed to fit a wardrobe? Can the stairs be positioned better or replaced? Should the hallway be enlarged and living space reduced? How can the upstairs hallway be better utilized? Can the bedroom be enlarged? Is it possible to swap the bedroom with another room, e.g., move it to the southeast to allow a walk-in closet?

Thank you very much in advance for your criticism and suggestions!

Lageplan eines Baugrundstücks mit Parzellen, Straßenverlauf und Gebäudestrukturen.


Grundriss: Kochen/Essen/Wohnen, HWR, WC, Diele, Gast, Treppenhaus, Schornstein.


Grundriss Obergeschoss: Zimmer 1, Zimmer 2, Schlafen, Bad, Flur/Galerie, Abstell, Schornstein.
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chrisw81
22 Feb 2018 10:44
11ant schrieb:
For heaven’s sake, no. The less you work on your latest designs, the better. With those, you’re heading toward overcomplicating the house. What might work well for organizing a loft can overwhelm a floor plan of this size. Even the zigzagged partition wall is borderline, but adding niches like sprinkles on top is too much. I dread seeing how this would continue into the attic floor, even without having it drawn. In a building with such a manageable size, any “structuring” needs to be applied very carefully. So: don’t continue down this path, or the result will be overly fussy.

The question always is how such zigzags will actually feel when furnished. You won’t see anything of the partition wall niche in the living room because the fireplace will completely fill it. The niche in the guest room also won’t be much of an issue. But you’re definitely right: the straighter it is, the more pleasing and calm it will look. The architect can surely assess this well and might even have good ideas for niches and so on.
Of course, you still have to present something to him, at least a rough concept, so he understands what you’re aiming for.
kaho67422 Feb 2018 10:47
chrisw81 schrieb:

I attached a picture that clearly shows this tapering. In my opinion, it already looks very good and partly functions like a room divider.

Well, I hope it actually looks like that for you. When I see the brown wall with the pictures, I estimate a depth of about 2.50m (8 feet 2 inches) to 3m (9 feet 10 inches). Behind that is the kitchen, which takes up roughly the same amount of space. This results in a living room depth of over 5m (16 feet 5 inches) in the picture.
Your living room is 4m (13 feet 1 inch) and the "brown wall" 1m (3 feet 3 inches)... mmmh.
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chrisw81
22 Feb 2018 16:09
kaho674 schrieb:
Well, I hope it looks that way to you. When I see the brown wall with the pictures, I estimate a depth of 2.50 m to 3 m (8 ft 2 in to 9 ft 10 in). Behind that is the kitchen, about the same size again. That results in a living room depth of over 5 m (16 ft 5 in) in the picture.
Your living room is 4 m (13 ft 1 in) and the "brown wall" is 1 m (3 ft 3 in)... hmmm.

It’s a bit deceptive. I estimate it at about 2 m (6 ft 7 in), with the kitchen behind also about 2 m (6 ft 7 in). The living room is only about 4 to 4.5 m (13 ft 1 in to 14 ft 9 in) deep. My living room would be 4.20 m (13 ft 9 in) and the brown wall still about 1.20 m (3 ft 11 in). Of course, it’s not exactly the same, but still a nice improvement.

Floor plan of a house: kitchen, living/dining, hallway, corridor, work/guest room, bathroom, storage room, terrace.
kaho67422 Feb 2018 16:27
chrisw81 schrieb:
That’s a bit misleading.

Wow, you’re right. It’s completely misleading. I measured it. The Maxime living room is 4.9m deep (16 feet). The brown wall is 1.9m (6 feet 3 inches), and the kitchen behind it is about 3m (10 feet) plus 0.60m (2 feet) cabinet depth.
I like the Maxime. Wouldn’t that be something for you? Too big?
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ypg
22 Feb 2018 21:20
Too expensive [emoji6]
But with 1.9 meters (6.2 feet), you can already do more than with one...

I like the house. For Viebrockhaus, this is really creative [emoji12]
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chrisw81
23 Feb 2018 10:18
kaho674 schrieb:
I like the Maxime. Wouldn’t that be something for you? Too big?

It’s interesting, but I don’t like it. I find the long hallway from the living room through the foyer and corridor to the stairs very unfortunate. I think Viebrockhaus has many nice houses and floor plans. Here, I only like the living room.
It’s also too big...
I love the Maxime 610...