ᐅ Floor plan for a 200 m² hillside house with a granny flat / secondary unit

Created on: 25 Jan 2022 11:00
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moooooo32
Development Plan / Restrictions
Plot Size: 388sqm (4179 sqft)
Slope: Yes, facing northwest
Site Coverage Ratio, Floor Area Ratio: The architect has not provided details yet; we are building according to Paragraph 34
Building Envelope, Building Line and Boundary: Maximum house width 8.80m (29 ft), former house length of existing building 14m (46 ft)
Number of Parking Spaces:
Number of Floors:

Roof Style: Gable roof
Orientation: According to the slope, ridge also facing northwest

Client Requirements
Architectural Style, Roof Type, Building Type: Gable roof
Basement, Number of Floors: 2 levels,[/I]5 plus attic space
Number of Occupants, Ages: 5 persons (family members aged 32, 32, 5, and 2) plus 1 person (85) in an apartment unit
Space Requirements on Ground Floor, Upper Floor: Apartment approximately 50sqm (538 sqft), remainder about 150sqm (1615 sqft)
Office Use: Family use or home office? Office, since the occupants are teachers
Guest Stay Frequency per Year: Varies, but frequently family and friends from across Germany
Open Kitchen, Cooking Island: Open, preferably with a cooking island but not essential
Number of Dining Seats: 6-8
Fireplace: Not planned initially, possibly reconsidered due to KFW funding changes
Balcony, Roof Terrace: Potentially a small “roof terrace” above the apartment terrace would be nice, but not planned due to budget (great view)
Garage, Carport: There is an existing garage (built 1995) in an inconvenient location, which will remain for now
Additional Wishes / Special Features / Daily Routine, including reasons for decisions
The plot is heavily built up, so we have tried to identify spots with good views, which involved a lot of planning on my part. Good views are towards northeast and west

House Design
Who designed the plans:
Architect and do-it-yourself: Mainly my own design; the architect made changes, some of which we did not like (e.g., U-shaped staircase, arrangement of rooms difficult), so currently it is essentially a drawing based on my drafts with useful improvements from the architect
What do you particularly like? Why?
Staircase, integration of WC on the upper floor, loft door to the open space as a connection to the “stairwell.”
Entrance to the utility room to be placed under the stairs on the ground floor, shifting the wall of the apartment unit accordingly.
Children’s rooms are the same size, space-saving staircase to the attic (amazing view from there), use of attic as playroom and possibly guest accommodation.
Living room ceiling height increased to 2.70m (8 ft 10 in) planned on the upper floor.

What do you dislike? Why?
Entrance to the utility room still needs to be placed under the stairs on the ground floor, requiring adjustment to the apartment’s wall.
Windows generally need revision; in the living room facing west, possibly an “imitation corner window” (with support pillar) to maximize the view.
The kitchen window facing northeast should definitely be a seating window.
Price Estimate According to Architect/Planner:
Including groundwork, €540,000 (approximately $600,000), but originally planned with KFW 55 energy standard, which we missed submitting on time. Now we need to reconsider, as we actually wanted KFW 40 standard for the two residential units. 😡
Personal Price Limit for the House, Including Fixtures:
€540,000 would be ideal; preliminary estimates from contractors roughly match this.
Preferred Heating Technology: Planned heat pump with underfloor heating

If you have to give up on which details / expansions
-could you give up:[/I]
Attic later, glass door/loft door to living room later, no planned lift-and-slide doors or other fancy features
-cannot give up:
Wooden flooring, sufficient windows, wheelchair accessibility on the ground floor

Why is the design the way it is now?
Long iteration process on my part, partly inspired by Pinterest, but overall the external envelope is quite predetermined

What is the most important/fundamental question about the floor plan summarized in 130 characters?
Is there anything that doesn’t work? Have we missed anything? How about the window layout (still to be revised)? Does it make sense as the architect suggested? We even want to remove some windows (e.g., in the bedroom).

Ground floor plan with living, dining, and kitchen areas, bedroom and bathroom


Upper floor plan: kitchen, dining, living, work area, WC, corridor, terrace.


Attic floor plan: corridor, bathroom, bedroom, two children’s rooms, staircase.
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moooooo32
2 Feb 2022 16:24
Floor plan of a house: central hallway, several rooms, bedroom, children’s rooms, playroom, and other spaces.

Floor plan of a house: kitchen, dining area, living room, stairwell, rooms with measurements.

Upper floor

Architectural floor plan of a house with multiple rooms, doors, and dimensions.

Ground floor

Here are my dimensioned floor plans. I swapped the utility room and the bathroom, which I think works well, but furnishing the bedroom is quite challenging. I decided against a small intermediate hallway to maintain accessibility. It might be possible to add one later, or perhaps use a room divider.

I would prefer to move the wall between the utility room and bathroom on the ground floor further to the right, but that would make furnishing the living area more difficult. I used existing furniture as reference points for the current layout.
K a t j a2 Feb 2022 17:26
The toilet looks really small, almost like sitting inside a closet. What are the interior room dimensions?

Off-topic: Which software do you use?
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moooooo32
2 Feb 2022 17:30
K a t j a schrieb:

The toilet looks so tiny. It feels like sitting inside a closet. What are the interior dimensions?


Floor plan: Room 10.7 m² with blue frame, dimension lines and door arch inside.

It’s quite small! But we thought it’s better than having no toilet on that floor at all. My suggestion to place it on the left exterior wall was rejected by the architect, who argued that the study would then just turn into a storage room.

The software is called Architouch 3D. I once paid 20€ for a month and now I believe I can work on a project indefinitely.
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Hausprojekt35
2 Feb 2022 20:38
Quick side question: How much did the demolition cost?
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moooooo32
2 Feb 2022 21:08
Hausprojekt35 schrieb:

Quick question off-topic: How much did the demolition cost?
According to the quote, 28,000 euros, although we have not received the invoice yet. A comparative quote was at 52,000 euros.
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matte
2 Feb 2022 21:24
I certainly don’t want to be disrespectful, but I find the ensuite bathroom in the granny flat quite unfortunate.

What happens if the unit is rented out to someone else in the future?
For a two-room apartment of this size, I would prefer the toilet to be accessible from the hallway, so guests don’t have to walk through the bedroom. Ideally, the bedroom should also be large enough to fit a double bed without major compromises.

I feel the space in front of the stairs in the open-plan area is somewhat wasted, considering the size of the WC and the adjacent room.

Upstairs, I would personally allocate more space for the children’s rooms.
This means making the bedroom smaller, but as always, opinions differ on that... 😉