ᐅ Floor Plan Single-Family Home 165 sqm First Draft – Architect Dissatisfied
Created on: 27 Oct 2024 14:06
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Kirschsaftlady
Hello everyone,
since we are not completely satisfied with the first draft from our architect and find it difficult to translate our wishes into a design ourselves, or because some things might even be incompatible, we would appreciate suggestions and tips.
Development Plan / Restrictions
Plot size: 954 sqm (10,270 sq ft)
Slope: approximately 1 m (3.3 ft) downward from the street along the entire length
Floor-space index (FSI): 0.4
Building envelope, building line, and boundary: see architect’s plan
There is a development plan, but all exceptions we want have been approved without issues or have already been permitted for our street.
Client Requirements
Style, roof shape, building type: gable roof, single-family house, possibly with a bay window
Basement, floors: slab-on-grade, 2 full stories with a sufficiently high knee wall, small storage space under the roof
Number of occupants, age: currently 2 adults and one toddler, planning for an additional child
Space requirements on ground floor (GF) and upper floor (UF):
GF: combined utility and technical room, entrance area, cloakroom niche, guest bathroom with shower, office, open living-dining-kitchen area. Pantry, storage under the stairs
UF: 2 children’s rooms at least 15 sqm (160 sq ft) each, master bedroom with walk-in closet, family bathroom with walk-in shower and double sinks, hallway with daylight and preferably space for a chair or a small table for a sewing machine
Office: family use or home office? Home office nearly daily
Guests per year: hardly any
Open or closed layout: semi-open
Conservative or modern construction: modern
Open kitchen, cooking island: semi-open (visually screened) with attached island
Number of dining seats: 6
Fireplace: no
Music/speaker wall: no
Balcony, roof terrace: no
Garage, carport: either a double garage or a garage with carport
Additional wishes:
Stairs either straight or with a landing, not spiral
Living-dining-kitchen area should not be arranged in a single line without privacy screens, all areas with a view into the garden
Prefer an additional access from the garage/carport through the utility room
Master bedroom oriented top left on the plan, bed with a view out of a floor-to-ceiling window into the garden. Preferred access to the bedroom through the dressing room or the dressing room behind the wall behind the bed (headboard).
Prefer children’s rooms not adjoining the master bedroom wall-to-wall
I will link a plan of a kitchen we really liked in a show house
Prefer the stairs to be naturally lit
Living room at least as large as in the current plan
House Design
Designed by: architect
What do you particularly like? Why? The ground floor, except kitchen and dining area, especially the living room, is well separated and without direct view into the kitchen. The dining area feels somewhat cramped; the kitchen should be wider rather than longer, as currently the attached island looks lost.
What do you dislike? Why? Kitchen and dining area, walk-in closet cramped in a niche, bathroom too large, upper floor hallway without windows. Window areas in the master bedroom and also in the dining-kitchen area too large, cloakroom niche too small.
Price estimate according to architect/planner: none yet, a discussion about the design is still pending.
Personal budget limit for the house including fittings: excluding the plot, with all additional costs, survey, and soil report, we still have a budget of 600,000. It will be a prefabricated house, possibly painting and partial flooring done by ourselves, landscaping also mainly DIY and not immediately.
Preferred heating system: air-to-water heat pump with photovoltaic system
If you have to give up on certain details/extensions:
-can you do without: children’s room next to the master bedroom, storage and office could move upstairs if necessary, utility and technical rooms separated, second access not mandatory, pantry access directly from kitchen as well as from utility room not mandatory, bay window not essential as long as it doesn’t make the layout too open
-can’t you do without: stair shape, room layout, bedroom location, “semi-open” living-dining-kitchen area, cloakroom integrated into a niche
Why is the design the way it is?
There was an on-site meeting where brainstorming on paper followed. The current draft more or less resulted from this, but it was not yet final with dimensions and sizes, so for example, the problem with the kitchen and dining area was not visible. We communicated the negative points about the upper floor on site and actually expected a new alternative afterward.
I think all relevant information is included above; I’m happy to provide more if needed.
The dining table does not have to be directly in front of the kitchen; the focus is solely on the kitchen layout itself.
Thanks in advance for all your tips!
since we are not completely satisfied with the first draft from our architect and find it difficult to translate our wishes into a design ourselves, or because some things might even be incompatible, we would appreciate suggestions and tips.
Development Plan / Restrictions
Plot size: 954 sqm (10,270 sq ft)
Slope: approximately 1 m (3.3 ft) downward from the street along the entire length
Floor-space index (FSI): 0.4
Building envelope, building line, and boundary: see architect’s plan
There is a development plan, but all exceptions we want have been approved without issues or have already been permitted for our street.
Client Requirements
Style, roof shape, building type: gable roof, single-family house, possibly with a bay window
Basement, floors: slab-on-grade, 2 full stories with a sufficiently high knee wall, small storage space under the roof
Number of occupants, age: currently 2 adults and one toddler, planning for an additional child
Space requirements on ground floor (GF) and upper floor (UF):
GF: combined utility and technical room, entrance area, cloakroom niche, guest bathroom with shower, office, open living-dining-kitchen area. Pantry, storage under the stairs
UF: 2 children’s rooms at least 15 sqm (160 sq ft) each, master bedroom with walk-in closet, family bathroom with walk-in shower and double sinks, hallway with daylight and preferably space for a chair or a small table for a sewing machine
Office: family use or home office? Home office nearly daily
Guests per year: hardly any
Open or closed layout: semi-open
Conservative or modern construction: modern
Open kitchen, cooking island: semi-open (visually screened) with attached island
Number of dining seats: 6
Fireplace: no
Music/speaker wall: no
Balcony, roof terrace: no
Garage, carport: either a double garage or a garage with carport
Additional wishes:
Stairs either straight or with a landing, not spiral
Living-dining-kitchen area should not be arranged in a single line without privacy screens, all areas with a view into the garden
Prefer an additional access from the garage/carport through the utility room
Master bedroom oriented top left on the plan, bed with a view out of a floor-to-ceiling window into the garden. Preferred access to the bedroom through the dressing room or the dressing room behind the wall behind the bed (headboard).
Prefer children’s rooms not adjoining the master bedroom wall-to-wall
I will link a plan of a kitchen we really liked in a show house
Prefer the stairs to be naturally lit
Living room at least as large as in the current plan
House Design
Designed by: architect
What do you particularly like? Why? The ground floor, except kitchen and dining area, especially the living room, is well separated and without direct view into the kitchen. The dining area feels somewhat cramped; the kitchen should be wider rather than longer, as currently the attached island looks lost.
What do you dislike? Why? Kitchen and dining area, walk-in closet cramped in a niche, bathroom too large, upper floor hallway without windows. Window areas in the master bedroom and also in the dining-kitchen area too large, cloakroom niche too small.
Price estimate according to architect/planner: none yet, a discussion about the design is still pending.
Personal budget limit for the house including fittings: excluding the plot, with all additional costs, survey, and soil report, we still have a budget of 600,000. It will be a prefabricated house, possibly painting and partial flooring done by ourselves, landscaping also mainly DIY and not immediately.
Preferred heating system: air-to-water heat pump with photovoltaic system
If you have to give up on certain details/extensions:
-can you do without: children’s room next to the master bedroom, storage and office could move upstairs if necessary, utility and technical rooms separated, second access not mandatory, pantry access directly from kitchen as well as from utility room not mandatory, bay window not essential as long as it doesn’t make the layout too open
-can’t you do without: stair shape, room layout, bedroom location, “semi-open” living-dining-kitchen area, cloakroom integrated into a niche
Why is the design the way it is?
There was an on-site meeting where brainstorming on paper followed. The current draft more or less resulted from this, but it was not yet final with dimensions and sizes, so for example, the problem with the kitchen and dining area was not visible. We communicated the negative points about the upper floor on site and actually expected a new alternative afterward.
I think all relevant information is included above; I’m happy to provide more if needed.
The dining table does not have to be directly in front of the kitchen; the focus is solely on the kitchen layout itself.
Thanks in advance for all your tips!
Arauki11 schrieb:
I also agree that the upper area is wasted space and unnecessarily expensive, while downstairs it feels like a very tight and uncomfortable box. [...] and.....please make sure to draw your own design accurately with real dimensions, otherwise it won’t work (walls, interior walls, furniture, stairs)!That doesn’t matter much. The true dimensions are visible in the architect’s design, while the poster’s counterproposal shows the difference between current and desired conditions more clearly. As a basis for the requested construction companies to present suitable alternatives or develop them with the clients, it is sufficient. The clients don’t need to retrain as architects just because their first professional was a failure.https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
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Kirschsaftlady3 Nov 2024 20:02The software we used unfortunately isn’t very user-friendly, so you can’t easily make walls thicker or simply move them around. It was more of an experiment to see if a different staircase position would make the layout work better or if our requirements are just completely incompatible.
Based on your suggestions, we have redesigned the plan with a combined utility room and pantry (space for a freezer and a shelving unit for storage) on the ground floor, and the office moved upstairs. The overall dimensions now fit within a few centimeters (inches). The corner at the top between the office and one of the children’s rooms isn’t well arranged, but the door still has to go there somehow, and the living room has a somewhat unusual shape as well. By the way, we started with the upper floor first to figure out the best location for the staircase, but that’s just a side note.
I called the upcoming discussion as such because we are still waiting for a final response to arrange an appointment (an email with proposed dates was sent Monday evening). Meanwhile, we plan to seek legal advice through our legal expenses insurance, as the current situation looks like a separation is likely. We probably won’t see any of the money we’ve already paid again…
In your opinion, would it make sense to show the drawings to the architect? We fear he might just focus on one approach again and simply integrate our drawings without reconsidering the layout holistically.
Based on your suggestions, we have redesigned the plan with a combined utility room and pantry (space for a freezer and a shelving unit for storage) on the ground floor, and the office moved upstairs. The overall dimensions now fit within a few centimeters (inches). The corner at the top between the office and one of the children’s rooms isn’t well arranged, but the door still has to go there somehow, and the living room has a somewhat unusual shape as well. By the way, we started with the upper floor first to figure out the best location for the staircase, but that’s just a side note.
I called the upcoming discussion as such because we are still waiting for a final response to arrange an appointment (an email with proposed dates was sent Monday evening). Meanwhile, we plan to seek legal advice through our legal expenses insurance, as the current situation looks like a separation is likely. We probably won’t see any of the money we’ve already paid again…
In your opinion, would it make sense to show the drawings to the architect? We fear he might just focus on one approach again and simply integrate our drawings without reconsidering the layout holistically.
Kirschsaftlady schrieb:
The corner at the top between the office and one of the children's rooms isn’t well designed, but the door still needs to go there somehow, and the living room is also a bit unusual in shape. By the way, we started with the upper floor to figure out the best place for the stairs, but that’s just a side note.As I said, you don’t have to become architects yourselves. Personally, I prefer graph paper (and even a pen, who cares) as "planning software." Start by conceptualizing and calculating; drawing too early usually just leads to more frustration. Kirschsaftlady schrieb:
In your opinion, is it useful to show the drawings to the architect? We’re concerned that they might only think in one direction again and simply "copy" our drawings.I would be lying if I didn’t share that concern.https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
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Gerddieter3 Nov 2024 20:30Kirschsaftlady schrieb:
Do you think it makes sense to show the drawings to the architect? We’re concerned that he might just focus on one approach and simply integrate our drawings as they are. Well... that depends on what you want from the architect?!
Personally, instead of expecting new ideas and designs, I would bring a pre-drafted "termination agreement"...
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Kirschsaftlady19 Nov 2024 20:59I'm back. The architect sent us some new ideas before our meeting. We discussed these along with our own drafts, and the conversation was very constructive. That's why we wanted to give it another chance.
We have now received new drafts that reflect our wishes much better.
To explain: On the ground floor, bottom left, there's a combined utility room, technical room (HAR), and space for storage/freezer. On the upper floor, top right are the bedrooms, bottom right is the bathroom (yes, still quite large, I know), in the middle right is the office, and on the left are the children's rooms.
We considered moving both walls of the office slightly downward to create a bit more space in front of the bed and a smaller bathroom (which of course would not include the T-shaped layout shown). The entrance area still doesn’t quite convince me, but I can’t clearly pinpoint why.
What do you think of the new drafts? Are there any obvious issues we might have missed?
We have now received new drafts that reflect our wishes much better.
To explain: On the ground floor, bottom left, there's a combined utility room, technical room (HAR), and space for storage/freezer. On the upper floor, top right are the bedrooms, bottom right is the bathroom (yes, still quite large, I know), in the middle right is the office, and on the left are the children's rooms.
We considered moving both walls of the office slightly downward to create a bit more space in front of the bed and a smaller bathroom (which of course would not include the T-shaped layout shown). The entrance area still doesn’t quite convince me, but I can’t clearly pinpoint why.
What do you think of the new drafts? Are there any obvious issues we might have missed?
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Gerddieter19 Nov 2024 22:46Are these phone screenshots the new designs from your architect, or has he provided more detailed plans yet?
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