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:
..that is indeed correct; I am speechless in two ways. 1. Because of the many responses and 2. Because of the criticism of our floor plan. [...]
We thought that two seniors, who are almost 70, would not need much more space. [...] The youngest son of my parents (so my brother 🙂) studies somewhat further away from home and often comes back, sometimes staying for several days or weeks with our parents. To give him some privacy, away from his parents, we planned the room on the upper floor with a shower bathroom.If the main (long-term) guest of the seniors is Claudia-Marlen’s brother, it might be wise to consider a shared guest room with access from both household units (similar to how the utility room is arranged on the ground floor).I haven’t been speechless for a long time about the bad habit of requesting feedback here under a new username while concealing previous planning history — that seems to be “the modern way” :-(
What I find utterly bold after being seventy myself for just sixteen years is the idea that seniors would have enough space in a holiday apartment while waiting around in rocking chairs. In our case, that might even be true as a winter refuge for doing laundry and maintaining the motorhome, but my partner’s children are no disoriented students. We would, however, be happy to have grandchildren with a “g” :-)
MarlenP schrieb:
To be honest, I am very disappointed that despite several months of planning with our architect, we apparently did not get the best possible result. The current status of the building project is that we have already received the building permit / planning permission and are now waiting for a start date from the construction company.No, that is exactly the problem (and a consequence of taking the wrong turning at the beginning, where the crucial decisions for the concept should have been properly made). The botched result is not despite but because of the lengthy “planning.” And it was not “the best possible result” that was achieved, but rather the pressure increased to squeeze the too many wishes into the financial and structural framework. I believe I already tried to point this out to @MarlenP in her former identity as @Claudia-W that too many wishes or requirements per square meter can only lead to cramped labyrinths. The “result,” as several experienced residents of well-functioning homes have noted, shows that a symbolic proof of usability can be “achieved” even with dollhouse furniture.MarlenP schrieb:
Theoretically, we could still submit a change request.No, a minor revision will certainly not suffice here, this calls for the wrecking ball. Be glad that a bare approval causes considerably lower demolition costs than if a thick fire wall from large apartment buildings were already standing inside the house! — I fully and warmly agree with the recommendationK a t j a schrieb:
I strongly advise you to pull the emergency brake before sinking money into this. Once it’s built, the money is lost and you can only sell it well below value.It would be a shame—especially given all the fuss and commotion about the optimal plot selection back then—to base such a highly compressed waste of money on it now. Value creation through compression really only works with diamonds. I’m always amazed at how much effort some builders invest in making themselves miserable. @K a t j a: with your blend of “gone” and “botch” into “pfutsch” you’ve definitely hit my taste for word play 🙂K a t j a schrieb:
It would be nice to know the exact dimensions of the plot. Then one could trace it and try some adjustments.Since @ypg—shame on my rusty photographic memory—is unfortunately completely right, the data needed for your planning can be found quite easily here: https://www.hausbau-forum.de/threads/grundriss-2-familienhaus-mit-staffelgeschoss-zu-kompakt.42256/#post-549665https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
S
Sunshine3874 Sep 2022 15:42Therefore, my request as well: Stop the construction project, even if it is painful at first glance. A house like that will never be sold again, or only at a significantly lower price. Please share the exact conditions here (plot, building permit / planning permission), and then we can draw up a floor plan. If you go ahead with the build, I am truly speechless.
Sunshine387 schrieb:
Please share the exact requirements here (land plot, zoning plan), and then we can also sketch a floor plan. Check at the end of post #31, I have linked the source there!
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
ypg schrieb:
I don’t really need to compare the designs in detail to know that the former @Claudia-W is our current MarlenP.
Thanks for the clarification. I have to admit, my motivation usually drops to almost zero when I see duplicate posts. 😕
Here is an attempt focusing on the unusual wish list, including a guest in the secondary apartment. Due to the small plot, having a second guest room without stairs in the secondary apartment is, in my opinion, almost impossible. Therefore, it is included again, along with the guest bathroom.
A bigger challenge: I can’t fit a guest toilet in the living area on the ground floor. Maybe someone has an idea for this?
This plot can be roughly sketched out like this. I think the distances should just about work. The carport and bicycle shed would be adjusted as boundary structures with an angled wall along the property line. I’ve left that out for now. The question is whether carports only 3 m (10 feet) from the street are allowed.
In the end, I have to say that the strong desire for a garden with these expectations and the tiny, poorly shaped plot is complete nonsense. Why on earth did you buy it? It doesn’t really fit your wishes as long as the parents have to move in here.
A bigger challenge: I can’t fit a guest toilet in the living area on the ground floor. Maybe someone has an idea for this?
This plot can be roughly sketched out like this. I think the distances should just about work. The carport and bicycle shed would be adjusted as boundary structures with an angled wall along the property line. I’ve left that out for now. The question is whether carports only 3 m (10 feet) from the street are allowed.
In the end, I have to say that the strong desire for a garden with these expectations and the tiny, poorly shaped plot is complete nonsense. Why on earth did you buy it? It doesn’t really fit your wishes as long as the parents have to move in here.
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