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?
11ant schrieb:
Good point: what do you think about my suggestion that you reflect in a way we can build on, the designs in posts #89 and #116?...I’m happy to do that :-). Thanks again to Würfel for this design.
Würfel’s design:
1.0 Ground Floor
1.1 Like the utility room: the living/dining area is larger. Straightforward design.
1.2 Like the granny flat: the living/dining area is noticeably larger and thus should meet the room size requirements.
1.3 Like less the utility room: Does the underside of the stairs protrude into the living/dining area?
(1.4 Like less the granny flat: The utility room borders the living/dining area)
(1.5 Like less the granny flat: The hallway/wardrobe area seems very small)
1.6 Like less the granny flat: A small storage room is lost
2.0 Upper Floor
2.1 Like: A completely different approach to accommodating the brother.
2.2 Like: Children’s bathroom facing north
2.3 Like: Larger master bedroom with en-suite bathroom
2.4 Like less: One bathroom too many - maybe one bathroom could be shared with the brother, but it should not be possible to enter our apartment from that bathroom, meaning the bathroom should perhaps be lockable from the outside (just an idea).
2.5 Like less: Utility room is lost
11ant schrieb:
A legend / explanation would be helpful.Quickly:
According to the new VDE-AR-4100:
When planning the building entry point for the grid connection cable, the connection to the network access point must be possible via the shortest route.
According to DIN 18012:
The utility room must be located on the exterior wall of the building.
According to DIN 18012:
The potable water and heating connections should be planned similarly to the electrical network connection. A multi-utility building entry (gas- and watertight) is mandatory, so that there is a single utility room for all connections.
→ The VDE-AR 4100 working and operating area according to section 5.3.4 (including Annex A) must be considered.
MarlenP schrieb:
...I’m happy to do that 🙂. Thanks again to Würfel for this design.
Würfel’s design:
1.0 Ground Floor
1.1 Like the utility room: the living/dining area is larger. Straightforward design.
1.2 Like the granny flat: the living/dining area is noticeably larger and thus should meet the room size requirements.
1.3 Like less the utility room: Does the underside of the stairs protrude into the living/dining area?
(1.4 Like less the granny flat: The utility room borders the living/dining area)
(1.5 Like less the granny flat: The hallway/wardrobe area seems very small)
1.6 Like less the granny flat: A small storage room is lost
2.0 Upper Floor
2.1 Like: A completely different approach to accommodating the brother.
2.2 Like: Children’s bathroom facing north
2.3 Like: Larger master bedroom with en-suite bathroom
2.4 Like less: One bathroom too many - maybe one bathroom could be shared with the brother, but it should not be possible to enter our apartment from that bathroom, meaning the bathroom should perhaps be lockable from the outside (just an idea).
2.5 Like less: Utility room is lostLooking forward to your comments.
Planning by ypg post #116. I find it architecturally very sophisticated, especially I like the balcony on the south side. However, I want to focus initially on Würfel’s design and try to optimize it further. The reason is that this plan already has the building permit / planning permission, and changes would likely be cheaper and easier to coordinate with the builder.
ypg schrieb:
And somewhere you still want to store the kids’ bikes or yours, right?In theory, the bikes could also be stored on the north side of the house.ypg schrieb:
What do you mean? A space-saving staircase where healthy young people have already been injured because they are so steep? It’s probably more likely that seniors will also need to use the upper room or clean/ventilate it when the son is not there?!Okay, I was probably a bit too optimistic thinking that a smaller staircase could solve the problem. However, that might cause new problems.ypg schrieb:
This is a bit unfair to @K a t j a: she usually designs well, mostly with non-straight staircases because they save space, and now you come along saying a straight staircase is your wish. I don’t remember that being mentioned in the opening post. I even checked myself "back then."Sorry, I should have mentioned that we want to stick with a straight staircase.MarlenP schrieb:
2.4. Less liked: One bathroom too many – maybe a bathroom can be shared with the brother, but it should not be possible to enter our apartment from that bathroom, meaning it should perhaps be lockable from the outside (just an idea).
2.5. Less liked: Utility room removed I thought it was already settled that the brother would basically have space in your guest room when he is there. Why shouldn’t he use the children’s bathroom? Especially since your initial plan only included one bathroom for you and the children. Also, by sharing the bathroom, the brother’s bathroom in Würfel’s plan could become the missing utility room on the upper floor.
MarlenP schrieb:
1.5. Less liked: Granny flat: The hallway/wardrobe feels very small Würfel’s plan allocates about 100 cm (40 inches) there – the original plan doesn’t have anything in that area. While a closet can fit in the hallway, it’s actually less harmonious than in Würfel’s plan.
MarlenP schrieb:
(1.4. Less liked granny flat: The utility room is adjacent to the living/dining area) So what? A lot of hallway space is avoided in the granny flat. The living area in the granny flat is furnished so that access to the utility room is easy, allowing it to be used as a connecting space.
MarlenP schrieb:
1.3. Less liked utility room: Does the underside of the stairs extend into the living/dining area? I don’t understand.
MarlenP schrieb:
1.6. Less liked granny flat: A small storage room has been removed There was no storage room in the original granny flat draft either.
MarlenP schrieb:
Quickly:I was actually thinking more about explanations of the two pictures (on the left, what the thick line in the center of the image represents; on the right, the labels of the items with the numbered red dots, and so on). And/or you could say (careful, no link!) where this information can be found...https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
MarlenP schrieb:
The space required for technical equipment in the utility room is quite significant. I have heard from several homeowners that they had to quickly redesign their utility room because it was originally planned too small. I have attached the guidelines from the local utility company regarding the space requirements.In this design, having two doors in the utility room would be challenging, wouldn’t it?kbt09 schrieb:
I thought it was already agreed that your brother would basically have space in your guest room when he’s visiting. Why shouldn’t he share the kids’ bathroom? Especially since your original plan was to have just one bathroom for you and the kids? Also, by sharing the bathroom, the brother’s bathroom in Würfel’s plan could become the missing utility room on the upper floor.Okay, I don’t think there’s another solution here. If the brother is to have his own shower bathroom, then we would have to give up ours. The utility room could be the former brother’s bathroom, but unfortunately that utility room wouldn’t have a window, which could be acceptable in a pinch, but it’s not ideal.
kbt09 schrieb:
Würfel’s plan allocates about 100 cm (40 inches) there — the original plan didn’t have anything designated in that spot... You can put a closet in the hallway, but it’s less harmonious than in Würfel’s plan.Okay, then the hallway layout for the granny flat is fine as it is.kbt09 schrieb:
So what? You’ve minimized hallway space in the granny flat. The living area is furnished in a way that still allows good access to the utility room as a connecting space.I understand. I just hope the appliances in the utility room won’t be audible in the living room. But I don’t expect they will be.kbt09 schrieb:
I don’t understand.I meant to ask whether part of the underside of the staircase will be visible in the living room. Würfel reduced the hallway size and thereby slightly enlarged the living room.kbt09 schrieb:
The original design didn’t include a storage closet for the granny flat either.In the original plan, there was supposed to be a very small storage room under the stairs of the granny flat.
MarlenP schrieb:
If the brother is going to get his own shower bathroom,... his days as a nestling are definitely over.https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
Similar topics