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?
MarlenP schrieb:
Also, I also asked her about the utility room in the garage, which should be possible, we just need to send her a drawing from the architect. Of course, that’s possible. But it involves the effort of insulating the walls. You can insulate a garage just like a house, but you have to pay for the extra work. Also, as mentioned before, you will need alternative spaces for the washing machine and other appliances, and that twice over. The building authorities don’t care where your money goes.
And a parking spot in the north, which I also preferred with a different house design, still needs to be drivable and accessible. That means having a turning radius within a width of 3 meters (10 feet), which is quite limited.
hanse987 schrieb:
Just to clarify from a building regulations perspective: Is it allowed to build a utility room within the 3m (10 feet) setback area like a garage?Utility rooms are not considered living spaces, so yes, they are allowed. In this case, the building authority seems to be quite flexible anyway. They probably have to be, as otherwise no one would be able to make use of the plots.ypg schrieb:
I didn’t understand you that way either. I mean it’s wrong to guide the architect into a certain direction from the start instead of giving them time to possibly come up with another solution. ...glad to hear that. Yes, you’re right. It’s not very clever to steer someone in a specific direction beforehand. I just gave him a tip because he didn’t see any other option than removing the stairs in the granny flat.
ypg schrieb:
Before we discuss here room by room like the guest bedroom in the granny flat, the utility room outdoors, the multipurpose room in the granny flat, or your bedroom in the utility room individually, here is a quick draft using your external dimensions, garden layout, and entrance doors. Because the original ideas weren’t that bad, only the stair layout was quite wrong (at least for seniors).
But note: wall dimensions vary, sometimes only 10cm (4 inches)... I haven’t adjusted much except the cabinets with 60cm (24 inches) depth, 120cm (48 inches) width, and 3 meters (10 feet) width.
Windows on the upper floor roughly match those on the ground floor.
P.S. A straight staircase is nonsense considering your issues. Thank you very much for this quick draft. Here is my feedback:
Likes:
1. The multipurpose room in the granny flat is sufficiently large and reasonably well-shaped (kitchen is in a small niche).
2. The granny flat has a small storage room of its own.
3. The hallway in the granny flat seems quite spacious.
4. The main house entrance – guest toilet, cloakroom.
5. Master bedroom with en-suite shower bathroom.
Dislikes:
1. The main house looks quite large and takes up a lot of space.
2. Where is the living room of the main house? On the first floor (relaxation area)? I find a chill area right next to the master bedroom somewhat inconvenient. It also looks rather small for a living room.
3. Does the staircase run from the hallway to the first floor? Will the staircase be visible from the kitchen?
If we had the dimensions of the individual rooms, the draft could be assessed better.
I would also like to see a version where the utility room is located in the garage. Perhaps someone could kindly help with this?
ypg schrieb:
Utility rooms are not considered living spaces, so yes.
In the original poster’s case, the building authority is quite lenient anyway. They probably have to be, otherwise nobody would buy any of the plots. I agree with that. In addition, the building sections constructed up to the property boundary must remain under a certain height.
MarlenP schrieb:
Where is the living room of the main apartment? On the 1st floor (lounge area)? I find a lounge directly next to the master bedroom a bit inconvenient. Also, it looks rather small for a living room.Why? This is your family's private retreat. When teenagers meet, they can stay downstairs in the common area. Alternatively, you could swap the guest room and bedroom…
MarlenP schrieb:
Will the staircase be visible from the kitchen as well?Up to you. I created a storage room underneath. MarlenP schrieb:
The utility room seems quite large and takes up a lot of space.No, about 8 square meters (86 square feet) is definitely not too big. Plus around 3 square meters (32 square feet) for the separate apartment.Similar topics