ᐅ Floor plan design with some specific requirements – any ideas?
Created on: 29 Dec 2017 00:54
A
Anitra
Hello everyone,
the development of "our" new residential area is almost complete, and hopefully, we will be able to buy the plot soon.
I would really appreciate it if you could take a critical look at our planning:
Development Plan / Restrictions
Plot size: 740 sqm (about 8,000 sq ft)
Slope: gentle slope
Floor area ratio/Gross floor area ratio: no information in the development plan
Building area, building line, and boundary: see image, plot width according to the plan is unfortunately only 21.5 m (about 70.5 ft). We planned cautiously with 21 m (about 69 ft) width. So, it’s a very narrow, elongated plot...
Edge construction: garage
Number of parking spaces: unknown
Maximum number of floors: 2
Roof type: mono-pitched roof (10-25 degrees) or flat roof max. 5 degrees
Orientation: street to the north, garden to the south, main ridge direction must be parallel to the street; to the west is farmland, with probable expansion of the residential area soon
Maximum heights/limits: eaves height max. 6.5 m (about 21 ft)
Homeowners’ Requirements
Style, roof type, building type
Basement, floors: no basement, preferably 2 floors
Number of people, ages: 2 adults, 3 children (2, 5, 6 years old)
Space requirements on the ground floor: master bedroom, children’s room, bathroom, guest toilet, kitchen/dining, living room, staircase with enough space for a platform lift to the upper floor, storage room (with space for utilities, washing machine, dryer, freezer)
Space requirements on the upper floor: 2 additional children’s rooms, bathroom, office, guest room, shower bathroom, technical room including mechanical ventilation with heat recovery, storage space; ideally a small separate room for sorting, washing, and drying laundry
Office: used by the family
Guests per year: roughly 1-2 guests once a month for 1-2 nights
Open or closed architecture: rather closed
Conservative or modern construction: mainly practical
Open kitchen, kitchen island: open kitchen with plenty of storage, elevated plot, lots of workspace and room for a dining table extending to at least 2.40 m (about 7 ft 10 in)
Living room should preferably be separated but challenging to arrange
Number of dining seats: at least 5 for everyday use, sometimes 10-12 people
Fireplace: no
Music/stereo wall: no
Balcony, roof terrace: no
Garage, carport: double garage, max width according to plan 6.5 m (about 21 ft)
Kitchen garden yes, greenhouse rather no
Additional Wishes / Special Features / Daily routine; also reasons why something should or should not be included. Our daughter (age 2) has multiple severe disabilities and cannot operate her wheelchair independently. At night, she should be close to us. During the day, she usually does not stay in her room but with us. However, we need space for various assistive devices.
House Design:
Planner: architect from a construction company together with my ideas
What do you especially like? A direct view at night from my bed into hers. All rooms are well arranged according to the cardinal directions.
What do you not like? Living room is too long and narrow: a floor mat (1.25 x 2.0 m (about 4 ft 1 in x 6 ft 7 in)) is shown in the living room. In the long term, we want to build a raised platform with a border for her in the living room. This is difficult in the current plan. An additional utility room would be nice. Possibly the kitchen is too small.
On the upper floor, I’m not yet satisfied with the technical room/shower bathroom/office corner area.
Cost estimate according to architect/planner:
Personal price limit for the house, including equipment:
Preferred heating technology: gas, solar (?), mechanical ventilation with heat recovery
If you had to give up something, on which details or extensions could you do without?
- Can give up: the door from the garage will not lead into the house but under the front roof; bathtub on the upper floor (maybe a good place for a drying rack?)
- Cannot do without: wheelchair accessibility
Why was the design created as it is? Many considerations
What do you think is especially good or bad about it? Everything is already quite well arranged.
What is the most important/basic question about the floor plan summarized in 130 characters? How could the open plan be redesigned, preferably with a better-separated living room? Where do you see room for improvement? Can circulation areas be further minimized?
A big thank you in advance!
Best regards
Anitra
the development of "our" new residential area is almost complete, and hopefully, we will be able to buy the plot soon.
I would really appreciate it if you could take a critical look at our planning:
Development Plan / Restrictions
Plot size: 740 sqm (about 8,000 sq ft)
Slope: gentle slope
Floor area ratio/Gross floor area ratio: no information in the development plan
Building area, building line, and boundary: see image, plot width according to the plan is unfortunately only 21.5 m (about 70.5 ft). We planned cautiously with 21 m (about 69 ft) width. So, it’s a very narrow, elongated plot...
Edge construction: garage
Number of parking spaces: unknown
Maximum number of floors: 2
Roof type: mono-pitched roof (10-25 degrees) or flat roof max. 5 degrees
Orientation: street to the north, garden to the south, main ridge direction must be parallel to the street; to the west is farmland, with probable expansion of the residential area soon
Maximum heights/limits: eaves height max. 6.5 m (about 21 ft)
Homeowners’ Requirements
Style, roof type, building type
Basement, floors: no basement, preferably 2 floors
Number of people, ages: 2 adults, 3 children (2, 5, 6 years old)
Space requirements on the ground floor: master bedroom, children’s room, bathroom, guest toilet, kitchen/dining, living room, staircase with enough space for a platform lift to the upper floor, storage room (with space for utilities, washing machine, dryer, freezer)
Space requirements on the upper floor: 2 additional children’s rooms, bathroom, office, guest room, shower bathroom, technical room including mechanical ventilation with heat recovery, storage space; ideally a small separate room for sorting, washing, and drying laundry
Office: used by the family
Guests per year: roughly 1-2 guests once a month for 1-2 nights
Open or closed architecture: rather closed
Conservative or modern construction: mainly practical
Open kitchen, kitchen island: open kitchen with plenty of storage, elevated plot, lots of workspace and room for a dining table extending to at least 2.40 m (about 7 ft 10 in)
Living room should preferably be separated but challenging to arrange
Number of dining seats: at least 5 for everyday use, sometimes 10-12 people
Fireplace: no
Music/stereo wall: no
Balcony, roof terrace: no
Garage, carport: double garage, max width according to plan 6.5 m (about 21 ft)
Kitchen garden yes, greenhouse rather no
Additional Wishes / Special Features / Daily routine; also reasons why something should or should not be included. Our daughter (age 2) has multiple severe disabilities and cannot operate her wheelchair independently. At night, she should be close to us. During the day, she usually does not stay in her room but with us. However, we need space for various assistive devices.
House Design:
Planner: architect from a construction company together with my ideas
What do you especially like? A direct view at night from my bed into hers. All rooms are well arranged according to the cardinal directions.
What do you not like? Living room is too long and narrow: a floor mat (1.25 x 2.0 m (about 4 ft 1 in x 6 ft 7 in)) is shown in the living room. In the long term, we want to build a raised platform with a border for her in the living room. This is difficult in the current plan. An additional utility room would be nice. Possibly the kitchen is too small.
On the upper floor, I’m not yet satisfied with the technical room/shower bathroom/office corner area.
Cost estimate according to architect/planner:
Personal price limit for the house, including equipment:
Preferred heating technology: gas, solar (?), mechanical ventilation with heat recovery
If you had to give up something, on which details or extensions could you do without?
- Can give up: the door from the garage will not lead into the house but under the front roof; bathtub on the upper floor (maybe a good place for a drying rack?)
- Cannot do without: wheelchair accessibility
Why was the design created as it is? Many considerations
What do you think is especially good or bad about it? Everything is already quite well arranged.
What is the most important/basic question about the floor plan summarized in 130 characters? How could the open plan be redesigned, preferably with a better-separated living room? Where do you see room for improvement? Can circulation areas be further minimized?
A big thank you in advance!
Best regards
Anitra
The question about the therapy room was just a personal inquiry and not a requirement.
I was simply concerned about avoiding the need for two or three bulky devices and figuring out where to place them.
My father's occupational and physical therapy is designed to take place in the regular living area. However, I’m not sure if that is always possible.
I was simply concerned about avoiding the need for two or three bulky devices and figuring out where to place them.
My father's occupational and physical therapy is designed to take place in the regular living area. However, I’m not sure if that is always possible.
kaho674 schrieb:
I just realized that having the bathroom without a window is not ideal. Better to have the utility room without a window. So, swap the two rooms.Utility lines must not be covered.
However, I don’t see this as a problem since there are two other toilets available.
There are worse challenges when it comes to meeting all the requirements—you have to accept some compromises. Some compromises even turn out better than expected.
So, now I’d like to give you more detailed feedback.
The connecting door to our daughter’s room is very important to me, especially because of her epilepsy.
Our current sofa is L-shaped with overall dimensions of 2.7x2.7m (9x9 feet). It could definitely be bigger. That’s why the proposed room size of 3m (10 feet) in the current plan bothers me. Swapping the sofa and TV doesn’t seem to offer much advantage. However, you would lose the garden view and be more exposed when someone enters the room.
I like the idea of swapping the sofa and kitchen much more. It would be a shame not to have any view of nature from the sofa. We live in the city and I really miss the greenery. But the garden would still be there, just not directly visible.
Ideally, I would prefer the living room to be fully separable, but there might not be enough square meters available for that.
Having the table attached to the island is a completely new idea for me. It looks interesting but very unusual. I’ll probably have to look at it a few more times. I share kahos’s concern that it might be tight width-wise. Somewhere around there the wheelchair needs to pass comfortably to the terrace. Our current table is only 1.60m (5.25 feet) long and extends to 2.40m (7.9 feet) fully open.
Because of our daughter’s resting area, I feel the room is a bit too short. What do you think about having a bench by the island? The back of the island would be raised with a low wall (as a small visual screen and so you have a wall behind you while sitting) and the table placed parallel to the island?
The staircase is only 3.90m (12.8 feet) long with a planned (finished?) ceiling height of 2.60m (8.5 feet). That seems quite steep, doesn’t it? Hmm... simply extending it is difficult with this floor plan.
Would you still mirror anything with this fixed garage position, Yvonne?
The upper floor is not wheelchair accessible. The hallway is only 1.25m (4.1 feet) wide clear dimension. That’s why we might install wider doors in the upstairs rooms to at least make access easier when turning corners. Our daughter actually never needs to go upstairs. But with the platform lift, there is at least the option to take her up occasionally. Whether we will actually use that, I don’t know...
Thanks for the photos, zizzy! Placing the bed crosswise should work.
Yes, the hallway to the bathroom will unfortunately have very little natural light. I’m torn between a floor-to-ceiling, very wide opening and a wide sliding door. Mostly the sliding door would likely be open for light, but especially for noise and privacy it would be nice to be able to close it. Is it possible to install sliding doors at a reasonable price without having a header beam?
A pantry is not absolutely necessary.
A guest toilet without a window was a no-go for me a year ago. But thanks to controlled mechanical ventilation, it’s a compromise that no longer bothers me at all.
Thank you very much for all your efforts so far. Creating the images and sketches really helps a lot. Sorry for the long message, but I think for us more explanation is needed than usual. Thanks for reading anyway!
The connecting door to our daughter’s room is very important to me, especially because of her epilepsy.
Our current sofa is L-shaped with overall dimensions of 2.7x2.7m (9x9 feet). It could definitely be bigger. That’s why the proposed room size of 3m (10 feet) in the current plan bothers me. Swapping the sofa and TV doesn’t seem to offer much advantage. However, you would lose the garden view and be more exposed when someone enters the room.
I like the idea of swapping the sofa and kitchen much more. It would be a shame not to have any view of nature from the sofa. We live in the city and I really miss the greenery. But the garden would still be there, just not directly visible.
Ideally, I would prefer the living room to be fully separable, but there might not be enough square meters available for that.
Having the table attached to the island is a completely new idea for me. It looks interesting but very unusual. I’ll probably have to look at it a few more times. I share kahos’s concern that it might be tight width-wise. Somewhere around there the wheelchair needs to pass comfortably to the terrace. Our current table is only 1.60m (5.25 feet) long and extends to 2.40m (7.9 feet) fully open.
Because of our daughter’s resting area, I feel the room is a bit too short. What do you think about having a bench by the island? The back of the island would be raised with a low wall (as a small visual screen and so you have a wall behind you while sitting) and the table placed parallel to the island?
The staircase is only 3.90m (12.8 feet) long with a planned (finished?) ceiling height of 2.60m (8.5 feet). That seems quite steep, doesn’t it? Hmm... simply extending it is difficult with this floor plan.
Would you still mirror anything with this fixed garage position, Yvonne?
The upper floor is not wheelchair accessible. The hallway is only 1.25m (4.1 feet) wide clear dimension. That’s why we might install wider doors in the upstairs rooms to at least make access easier when turning corners. Our daughter actually never needs to go upstairs. But with the platform lift, there is at least the option to take her up occasionally. Whether we will actually use that, I don’t know...
Thanks for the photos, zizzy! Placing the bed crosswise should work.
Yes, the hallway to the bathroom will unfortunately have very little natural light. I’m torn between a floor-to-ceiling, very wide opening and a wide sliding door. Mostly the sliding door would likely be open for light, but especially for noise and privacy it would be nice to be able to close it. Is it possible to install sliding doors at a reasonable price without having a header beam?
A pantry is not absolutely necessary.
A guest toilet without a window was a no-go for me a year ago. But thanks to controlled mechanical ventilation, it’s a compromise that no longer bothers me at all.
Thank you very much for all your efforts so far. Creating the images and sketches really helps a lot. Sorry for the long message, but I think for us more explanation is needed than usual. Thanks for reading anyway!
If the garage position is fixed, everything is fine as it is.
And yes, I understand your concerns about the view of the garden. But I can reassure you: although I sometimes admired my garden while sitting on the sofa, most of the time I was doing other things rather than just looking. I like to stand at the window occasionally, sometimes while passing by or cleaning, more as a side activity. I often look out to the garden from my kitchen island.
Consider whether you can spend more than a minute just looking while sitting on the sofa.
On the top right of the plan, I have drawn cabinets that currently serve as placeholders for something. I could also well imagine a small bench there... it really depends on how much storage you still need. Alternatively, a display cabinet or additional cabinets could be added there. You can see the dimensions from the sketch.
The large window can also be adjusted if needed.
Otherwise, congratulations on the design, where a lot has been realized. Also regarding the division into two parts.
Compromises always have to be made, but none that are lazy!
With this design, you can start the new year off well [emoji2][emoji898]
And yes, I understand your concerns about the view of the garden. But I can reassure you: although I sometimes admired my garden while sitting on the sofa, most of the time I was doing other things rather than just looking. I like to stand at the window occasionally, sometimes while passing by or cleaning, more as a side activity. I often look out to the garden from my kitchen island.
Consider whether you can spend more than a minute just looking while sitting on the sofa.
On the top right of the plan, I have drawn cabinets that currently serve as placeholders for something. I could also well imagine a small bench there... it really depends on how much storage you still need. Alternatively, a display cabinet or additional cabinets could be added there. You can see the dimensions from the sketch.
The large window can also be adjusted if needed.
Otherwise, congratulations on the design, where a lot has been realized. Also regarding the division into two parts.
Compromises always have to be made, but none that are lazy!
With this design, you can start the new year off well [emoji2][emoji898]
Similar topics