ᐅ House Floor Plan with a Separate Apartment – Suggestions for Improvement?
Created on: 31 Aug 2022 12:31
M
MarlenP
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?
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?
B
Bertram10031 Aug 2022 19:30MarlenP schrieb:
so that we have as much garden space as possibleThat’s a crazy idea. Having as much garden space as possible matters mostly for very large gardens or properties with sightlines, mature landscaping, and maybe even a nice castle in the background. Your eyes can see for kilometers (miles) anyway, so they will naturally perceive the end of your garden. Kids don’t care how big a garden is; they just play wherever and however it suits them. No child has ever suffered because their garden didn’t allow them to run straight for several hundred meters (yards). Proper garden design makes whatever garden space remains interesting, no matter how small it is.
In our case, city gardens are only 40 square meters (430 square feet). They still look great. My mother even had only a balcony. But it was so beautifully and naturally planted that it easily outshone any ordinary garden (literally).
N
Nice-Nofret1 Sep 2022 09:09Why don’t you include the spacious area under the hipped roof as a master bedroom with its own bathroom and storage room?
The granny flat should fit entirely on the ground floor—a second staircase takes up unnecessary space.
On the ground floor, have an open plan area primarily for kitchen, dining, and a small play/media or other corner; the dining table could possibly be accompanied by two large comfortable kitchen sofas, so they can also be used for lounging.
- Winter living room on the upper floor
The granny flat should fit entirely on the ground floor—a second staircase takes up unnecessary space.
On the ground floor, have an open plan area primarily for kitchen, dining, and a small play/media or other corner; the dining table could possibly be accompanied by two large comfortable kitchen sofas, so they can also be used for lounging.
- Winter living room on the upper floor
Nice-Nofret schrieb:
Winter living room on the upper floor I know a few houses, both on paper and in reality, where the family living room was placed upstairs. On the ground floor there was the entrance and the kitchen-living area with terrace access, and the basement flat could extend well on the ground floor, while the roof space, which was already there, was utilized.
Would a pitched roof also be an option, @MarlenP?
MarlenP schrieb:
We are currently in the final planning phase and would like to get your feedback on our building project. How fixed is your plan at this point? Would an alternative option still be possible from a planning perspective?
MarlenP schrieb:
Garage in the northwest; very good idea: Unfortunately, this is not possible because the driveway leads to the play street here. And what do you mean by "here"? Where is the play street supposed to be?
ypg schrieb:
How fixed is your plan now? Would another option still be possible from a planning perspective? I think the original poster is a bit speechless because of the feedback...
K a t j a schrieb:
I think the original poster is a bit speechless because of the feedback...Yes, it's actually a pity that nowadays people asking questions often become speechless when they receive answers and even get some interest shown in their issues 😳Similar topics