ᐅ Floor plan of a single-family house with a flat roof on a 600 m² plot of land

Created on: 20 Dec 2020 13:02

Hello everyone,

This year we purchased a plot in a new development area and have been planning our house since then.
We have already revised the preliminary draft from our architect several times, and before we proceed towards obtaining the building permit / planning permission, we would like to gather opinions and suggestions for improvements from this great forum.

Development Plan / Restrictions
Plot size: 593m² (6369 ft²) (potentially we can use an additional 100m² (1076 ft²) on the north side from the municipality, but not build on it)
Slope: no (however, the land slopes steeply down behind the plot)
Site coverage ratio: 0.35
Floor area ratio
Building envelope, building line, and boundary
Edge development
Number of parking spaces: two per housing unit
Number of stories: max. two full floors
Roof style: free choice
Architectural style: free choice
Orientation
Maximum heights / limits: max. 6.5m (21 ft 4 in) building height with flat roof
Additional requirements

Client Requirements
Architectural style, roof form, building type: modern, flat roof
Basement, floors: two floors + basement
Number of occupants, ages: two adults in early 30s and two children
Space requirements on ground floor and upper floor
Office: family use or home office: home office necessary about 2 days per week
Guest bedrooms per year
Open or closed architecture: ground floor open plan
Conservative or modern construction: modern
Open kitchen, cooking island: yes
Number of dining seats
Fireplace: yes
Music / stereo wall
Balcony, roof terrace: yes
Garage, carport: double garage
Utility garden, greenhouse: no
Other wishes/features/daily routine, also reasons why some options are included or excluded

House Design
Planning by: architect (preliminary draft)
Cost estimate according to architect/planner: construction costs approx. 500,000€
Personal budget limit for house including fittings: 600,000€
Preferred heating technology: air-to-water heat pump

If you had to give up, which details/finishes
- could you give up:
- could not give up:

Why is the design the way it is now?, for example:
Which wishes were implemented by the architect?
- individual wishes realized, e.g., as open a ground floor as possible
- since the plot slopes slightly to the north, we wanted a second "level" (we are aware this is not age-friendly). This was implemented in the living room (as shown in the example image). There are also stairs in the garden, and the basement windows correspondingly receive natural light.

What is the most important / fundamental question about the floor plan in 130 characters?
What have we overlooked?
Or, what do you think is not planned sensibly?

Thank you 🙂

Hand-drawn floor plan of a house with living room, kitchen, and double garage

Floor plan of a house: balcony on the left, hallway in the middle, master and children’s bedrooms, kitchen, bathroom.

Floor plan of a house: living room with terrace, utility room, hallway, working area, pantry, staircase.

Floor plan of a single-family house with double garage, kitchen, dining room, and living room.

Site plan of a residential area: colored lots with area information (m²), roads, and paths.

Modern living area with fireplace, wooden flooring, steps, and large glass windows.

ypg20 Dec 2020 22:36

#13

steffim schrieb:

My daughter’s best friend is now in a wheelchair after an accident. Their family has a split-level house and now needs to find a different place.

That is obviously very unfortunate. But in this case, there is no split-level; they could also live in an open-plan space or install a ramp. It’s important to keep things in perspective; otherwise, I would recommend a bungalow.

steffim schrieb:

I don’t understand why almost everyone builds with wood stoves these days.

Because it’s trendy!

pagoni202020 Dec 2020 22:43

#14

steffim schrieb:

I wouldn’t recommend having steps in the living room. While age is one factor, even when you’re young, illness or accidents can suddenly mean you or a child need a wheelchair. That becomes really inconvenient. My daughter’s best friend is now in a wheelchair after an accident. Their family lives in a split-level house and now has to look for something else.
Regarding the fireplace: we live in a KfW 75 house. We absolutely don’t need a fireplace. But we do get smoke from neighbors. I don’t understand why almost everyone builds with wood stoves nowadays.

There is a "worst-case scenario" argument against every idea; thousands of other things can happen in life. I prepare for one case, and another one occurs...
The original poster is young, looking ahead positively, and wants to build a beautiful house. It will probably be a beautiful house.
At 60, I’m building again with stairs in the open-plan living area and a fireplace.
Similar to @ypg... because, in my opinion, it looks stylish and I’ll enjoy it every day.
If it eventually doesn’t work out as well, we’ll have to manage... and make decisions... that’s life.

Jan280621 Dec 2020 00:22

#15

We still need to carefully consider the shower on the ground floor. Waiting in line for the bathroom in the morning can definitely be annoying.

We won’t be making any changes to the steps leading into the living room; combined with the fireplace, it’s meant to be a highlight of the house.

As I said, you never know what life will bring, but it’s "only" the living room after all.

I just made some adjustments to the garage using Paint and a pencil. This would at least bring in a bit more light from the south into the kitchen area. Of course, there would be less space in front of the garage, but I’d be willing to make that compromise. We still have parking spaces available. What do you think? 🙂

The vestibule, WC, and other areas would still need to be adjusted accordingly.

Hand-drawn floor plan sketch of a house with kitchen, hallway, bathroom, WC, terrace.

pagoni202021 Dec 2020 08:42

#16

Jan2806 schrieb:

We still need to carefully consider having a shower on the ground floor. Waiting in line for the bathroom in the morning can definitely be annoying.

I would recommend this from personal experience—I would also put it in the basement, even if in a simple and inexpensive way. Many things actually change as children grow older (including yourself) and their lifestyle. Sometimes children don’t get along well, have guests, one is sick and needs space, and another urgently has to leave, etc. It simply offers more privacy and brings peace to the house. There are two of us, and even we have two bathrooms—one for her and one for him (without a bathtub); this isn’t strictly necessary, but depending on the daily routine, it’s comfortable. You also change over time, and suddenly you prefer to sleep in the guest room because someone snores or the other person goes to bed two hours later. These are things you can’t foresee but can react to if you have planned accordingly.

We used to have a family bathroom and a shower bathroom in the basement. At our first renovation, we changed that and split the family bathroom into two; the smaller part became an en suite bathroom with shower and washbasin accessible from the bedroom.

Since you have an office in the basement, I would also at least consider providing a bathroom there if possible, because the use of that space can change over time. The layout would allow this since the rooms are stacked.

When we were 30 with two children, we didn’t really plan ahead much, which is why we had to make several changes later; it’s always more difficult with wet rooms.

pagoni202021 Dec 2020 08:44

#17

Jan2806 schrieb:

We won’t make any more changes to the steps leading into the living room. Together with the fireplace, this should be a highlight of the house.

Exactly, I see it the same way!

Schimi179121 Dec 2020 09:19

#18

Jan2806 schrieb:

We still really need to think about the shower on the ground floor.

Please! 🙂

ᐅ Floor plan of a single-family house with a flat roof on a 600 m² plot of land

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