ᐅ Floor Plan Design for a Single-Family Home of Approximately 150 m²
Created on: 12 Feb 2018 18:09
C
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!
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!
chrisw81 schrieb:
No, where do you get that idea? Views and sections in CAD are no longer individual drawings like on a drafting board, but interconnected. That means windows move simultaneously across all drawings in the project database. In that sense, this is a print command to output the views according to the current status. When drawing manually, it’s different, but even then, it is done in the same phase.
chrisw81 schrieb:
I think the structural analysis, plumbing, ventilation concept, etc. are already calculated. Then the planning for approval is basically considered final – except for drafting adjustments such as repositioning windows. Even moving interior walls still affects the room-by-room heating load calculation.
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
Dear forum members, the time has come!
The architect has sent us our floor plan along with the preliminary site plan showing the house’s position (Note: this is only a preliminary site plan without exact boundaries), sections, and elevations.
What immediately stands out to me:
- Site plan:
- The parking spaces are placed directly next to the house. I would actually prefer to have them both in front of and beside the house (half and half). Should we leave it like this for now (or maybe leave them out entirely so the building authority cannot hold us to it later)? If these are included in the plan, are they then considered fixed? I am still hoping that despite the building line, I can move the parking spaces a bit forward.
- The house is shown as 7.14 m (23.4 ft) from some line on the preliminary site plan, but I would like to have this adjusted to 7 m (23 ft) once the finalized site plan from the surveyor is available. Do you think that would be okay?
Upper floor plan:
- The window in the bedroom is very close to the interior wall (I estimate max. 60 cm (24 inches)). A 60 cm (24 inches) wardrobe fits just about there, but not a 70 cm (28 inches) one anymore. The window is set back from the exterior wall because on the ground floor west side in the living room, I would like to have about 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) or more of space from the southern exterior wall so the couch would not be in front of a window on that side. Due to symmetry, the windows on the upper and ground floors are now all set back 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) from the exterior walls on the west side. My question is: could we only move the windows on the northwest side, on the ground and upper floors, closer to the exterior wall by, for example, 12.5 or 25 cm (5 or 10 inches), or would it be very noticeable that the symmetry is lost? That would be my simplest solution. Alternatively, we could only move the upper floor windows outward, then the window edges on the ground and upper floors wouldn’t match anymore, but symmetry would be maintained.
Maybe you have some ideas or notice other things.
The architect has sent us our floor plan along with the preliminary site plan showing the house’s position (Note: this is only a preliminary site plan without exact boundaries), sections, and elevations.
What immediately stands out to me:
- Site plan:
- The parking spaces are placed directly next to the house. I would actually prefer to have them both in front of and beside the house (half and half). Should we leave it like this for now (or maybe leave them out entirely so the building authority cannot hold us to it later)? If these are included in the plan, are they then considered fixed? I am still hoping that despite the building line, I can move the parking spaces a bit forward.
- The house is shown as 7.14 m (23.4 ft) from some line on the preliminary site plan, but I would like to have this adjusted to 7 m (23 ft) once the finalized site plan from the surveyor is available. Do you think that would be okay?
Upper floor plan:
- The window in the bedroom is very close to the interior wall (I estimate max. 60 cm (24 inches)). A 60 cm (24 inches) wardrobe fits just about there, but not a 70 cm (28 inches) one anymore. The window is set back from the exterior wall because on the ground floor west side in the living room, I would like to have about 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) or more of space from the southern exterior wall so the couch would not be in front of a window on that side. Due to symmetry, the windows on the upper and ground floors are now all set back 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) from the exterior walls on the west side. My question is: could we only move the windows on the northwest side, on the ground and upper floors, closer to the exterior wall by, for example, 12.5 or 25 cm (5 or 10 inches), or would it be very noticeable that the symmetry is lost? That would be my simplest solution. Alternatively, we could only move the upper floor windows outward, then the window edges on the ground and upper floors wouldn’t match anymore, but symmetry would be maintained.
Maybe you have some ideas or notice other things.
The chimney in the bedroom is odd—probably intended as a doorstop but with maximum space wasted. The children can have a great time hiding behind it during hide-and-seek. Such fun! This shows that the architect has no real interest in the project.
The wardrobe/window issue also exists with child 2. Well then, go ahead and see what you can make of it. I certainly wouldn’t leave it as it is.
The wardrobe/window issue also exists with child 2. Well then, go ahead and see what you can make of it. I certainly wouldn’t leave it as it is.
Why isn’t the staircase mirrored? This way, you could get a lot more out of both the master bedroom and the children’s room. The fireplace could also be moved by about 1 meter (3 feet). Alternatively, it could stay in its current place, and you could add a built-in wardrobe in the children’s room on the left side of the chimney, and another one for the parents on the right side.
For aesthetics, I would slightly shift the guest WC window to the right side and recess the living room window (on the right side) a bit.
Here, building right up to the property line (for example, a carport) requires official approval. If two parking spaces are required, both must be approved, whether they are uncovered or covered.
Pull the windows on the west side outward, there should still be capacity for that. It would also look good in the guest room.
For aesthetics, I would slightly shift the guest WC window to the right side and recess the living room window (on the right side) a bit.
Here, building right up to the property line (for example, a carport) requires official approval. If two parking spaces are required, both must be approved, whether they are uncovered or covered.
Pull the windows on the west side outward, there should still be capacity for that. It would also look good in the guest room.
kaho674 schrieb:
The chimney in the bedroom is quite something – probably meant as a door stopper, resulting in maximum wasted space. The kids can have a great time hiding behind it while playing hide and seek. Such fun!
This shows that the architect had zero interest in the project. I think the space can still be put to good use (a closet next to it on the left, leaving the space behind free). Of course, you could make the walls flush – but then you'd have an even bigger issue with the window/closet, and I’d still want to keep that width. The chimney is actually very well positioned in the living room.
But I agree with you, there really wasn’t much interest shown throughout the whole process.
kaho674 schrieb:
The closet/window problem also exists for child 2’s room. So go ahead and show us what you can do. I definitely wouldn’t leave it like that. I don’t see that as much of a problem here, since I don’t necessarily have to push the closet right up to the window. The window could probably be moved 20–30cm (8–12 inches) closer to the exterior wall. But reaching 60 or 70 cm (24–28 inches) movement seems quite difficult. It might also be possible to position the windows on the ground floor/upper floor so that the flush alignment is vertical on the inside rather than the outside. Would that look strange?
ypg schrieb:
Why isn’t the staircase mirrored? You could get a lot more space out of the bedroom and the children’s room that way. The fireplace could also be shifted by about one meter (3 feet). Alternatively, you could leave it where it is and add a built-in closet to the children’s room on the left side of the chimney, and one for the parents on the right side.
For aesthetics, I would move the guest WC window a bit to the right, and set the living room window (on the right) slightly deeper into the wall. I’m not quite sure yet, the ceiling opening should stay the same no matter how the staircase runs? Then it wouldn’t really create more space.
ypg schrieb:
In our area, you need permission for building on the property boundary (like for a carport). If two parking spaces are required, these must be approved as well, regardless of whether they are covered or open. Where I am, building on the boundary up to a certain size (30 square meters (320 sq ft)) doesn’t require approval. So for now, I don’t really want to commit to anything. I just wanted to know if those “drawn-in” parking spaces are binding.
ypg schrieb:
Pull the windows on the west side outwards, there should still be capacity for that. It would also suit the guest room well. I thought so too. Definitely in the guest room. The problem is that I’d prefer not to do this in the living room at the same time, because I don’t want a window on that side there (due to the neighbor’s house and the sofa placement).
Similar topics