ᐅ House Floor Plan with a Separate Apartment – Suggestions for Improvement?

Created on: 31 Aug 2022 12:31

Hello everyone,

we plan to build a house with two residential units on a 472m2 (5,079 sq ft) plot of land (Unit 1: 143.39m2 (1,543 sq ft) / Unit 2: 69.57m2 (749 sq ft)).
The second unit is intended for my parents, while the main unit is for my family, which includes my spouse and three children (ages 7, 13, and 17).
Since our plot is relatively small, we want to build a compact house to maximize the garden space.
We are currently in the final planning stage and would appreciate your feedback on our project.
We have a feeling that we might have overlooked some important aspects or not paid enough attention to certain details because our planning focus was mainly on the compactness of the house.

Development Plan / Restrictions
Plot size: 472m2 (5,079 sq ft)
Slope: no
Site coverage ratio: 0.4
Floor area ratio: 0.6
Building envelope, building line, and boundary
Perimeter development: south and east
Number of parking spaces: 2
Number of floors: 2
Roof type: hipped roof
Architectural style:
Orientation: south/west
Maximum heights / limits: 10m (33 ft)
Additional requirements

Client Requirements
Architectural style, roof type, building type: urban villa
Basement, number of storeys: no basement
Number of occupants and ages: Unit 1 – 5 people (ages 43, 38, 17, 13, 7); Unit 2 – 2 people, both over 60
Space needs on ground floor / upper floor:
Office: family use or home office? -
Number of guest stays per year: 2-3 times per year
Open or closed layout: open
Traditional or modern build style: modern
Open kitchen, with or without island: open kitchen, no island
Number of dining seats: 5
Fireplace: no
Music / stereo wall: no
Balcony or roof terrace: no
Garage or carport: garage
Utility garden, greenhouse: no
Other wishes / special features / daily routines, also reasons why certain features are included or excluded

The house should be compact but still feel spacious.

House Design
Planning by:
- planner from a construction company
- architect: by the architect
- do-it-yourself
What do you particularly like? Why? It is a relatively small house with two residential units.
What do you dislike? Why? Maybe some rooms (children’s rooms and the rooms in the secondary unit) are too small?
Price estimate according to architect/planner: approx. 600,000€
Personal budget limit for house including fittings: 650,000€
Preferred heating system: district heating

If you had to give up something, which details or expansions
- could you do without: basically nothing – we have already minimized everything.
- could you not do without: the planned number of rooms

Why did the design end up like it is? For example:
Standard design from the planner?
Which wishes were implemented by the architect? Yes

A mix of many examples from various magazines…
What makes it particularly good or bad in your opinion?

What is the most important/basic question about the floor plan in 130 characters?

We wanted the house to be as compact as possible. Maybe we focused too much on compactness and neglected other important aspects.
What do you like about the house, what do you not like so much, and what would be unacceptable?

Site plan: building II WD 30 with red hatching, outlines and driveway.

Floor plan of a house with living room, kitchen, bedroom, bathroom, stairs and garage.

Floor plan showing bedrooms, children’s rooms, bathroom, hallway and staircase.

Two-storey house with gable roof; south and east views, windows and doors.

Section and west elevation of a single-family house with foundation, stairs and window front.

North elevation of a two-storey house with gable roof and garage; window front and entrance.

haydee6 Sep 2022 13:31

#73

The furniture dimensions do not match real-life measurements. Try furnishing the open-plan living space with your own furniture.
What do you like about the floor plan?

Why do you want or need to build?
Is an extension and exchanging the floors not possible?

haydee6 Sep 2022 13:32

#74

MarlenP schrieb:

By the way, I am a qualified nurse and could also care for my parents at home if they ever need nursing care. The topic of care was also important to us in all our considerations.

That granny flat is completely unsuitable. Especially you should know how much space and clearance are necessary for care. The granny flat is designed for two people who neither cook nor are physically active.

K a t j a6 Sep 2022 14:06

#75

MarlenP schrieb:

I’m afraid I don’t follow you here; I haven’t pulled out any old plans. The plans I posted here today are exactly the same as those for which we received the building permit / planning permission. They were just created using different software.

And the same plans for which you stopped construction, right? That’s what I mean by “old,” “useless,” “trash.” Call it what you want.

MarlenP schrieb:

I don’t know whether both parents, one, or neither will have passed away in 10–12 years or will still be living in the granny flat. And honestly, the parents will pass away someday (just like we will), but I don’t want to speculate about when that might happen.

I wouldn’t bet on that too much. My grandmother is now 101, and my dad is still happily active in his house at 86. I just wanted to say that children’s rooms tend to be vacant much sooner than the granny flat.

What do you think about the option to swap the ground floor and upper floor so you move completely to the upper floor? The garden won’t run away because of that.

Floor plan of a house: living room, kitchen, dining area, guest room, utility room, and stairs.

Floor plan of a house with staircase, kitchen, living room, dining room, bathroom, and bedroom.

Sunshine3876 Sep 2022 14:14

#76

I also believe that swapping the ground floor with the upper floor is a good way to implement Katja’s design. However, the question remains whether you would want to have a separate area in the garden for yourselves or if, due to your close relationship with the parents, it wouldn’t be a problem to be in the garden near their bedroom/terrace.

K a t j a6 Sep 2022 15:00

#77

Sunshine387 schrieb:

I also believe that swapping the ground floor with the upper floor is a good option to realize K a t j a’s design. However, the question remains whether you would want to create a separate area in the garden just for yourselves, or if, due to your close relationship with the parents, it wouldn’t be an issue at all to have the garden space in front of their bedroom/terrace.

We are adding an external spiral staircase to the balcony (-> google). 🙂
I have also rotated the layout again – the orientation of the ground floor terrace was incorrect:

Floor plan of a house with several rooms, stairs, kitchen, dining area and garage.

Floor plan of a house: several rooms, stairs, kitchen, dining area, living room, bathroom; purple walls.

Nemesis6 Sep 2022 15:03

#78

MarlenP schrieb:

We currently live in a multi-family house, with us on the ground floor and my parents on the upper floor.
My parents have a strong emotional bond with their grandchildren, and it would be too much for them if, after all these years of living together, we were to separate living spaces at this stage of life.

You are avoiding the question.
This does not answer the question that has been asked here many times and that you have just as often ignored:
What do your parents think about this floor plan, about the prospect of "having to live" in 20 square meters (215 square feet) for the next 20 years? Can they imagine what a combined kitchen and living room of 20 square meters (215 square feet) means, and do they know they will have to eat at the TV table?

ᐅ House Floor Plan with a Separate Apartment – Suggestions for Improvement?

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