Hello,
I would like to introduce you to a project that has been developing in my mind for several years now. I look forward to your constructive feedback! First of all: the two views are not entirely up to date. Some windows have different sizes, for example, they are not all floor-to-ceiling. Also, the canopy does not extend to the bay window but ends at the “main facade.”
Zoning plan / restrictions
Plot size: approx. 1250m² (square)
Slope: no
Floor area ratio
Plot ratio
Building envelope, building line, and boundary
Boundary construction: the requirement is at least 3m (10 feet) distance from the neighbor’s property line, which we are complying with
Number of parking spaces: 2 mandatory parking spaces; planned are 2 either inside the garage or in front
Roof type: I’m not sure what it’s called, but it is definitely not a flat roof.
Orientation: the garage is on the north side, and the kitchen faces south. The street is a very quiet cul-de-sac running parallel to the house’s front.
Additional requirements: the distance from the property line at the street to the building must be 4m (13 feet); in the area of the office, it may be 3m (10 feet). Building is allowed up to 20m (66 feet) from the street into the property (minus the first 4m, so 16m). Sorry for the missing technical terms and the amateurish description!
Homeowner requirements
Basement, floors: two floors plus basement
Number of occupants, ages: 2 adults (40), two children aged 3 and 6
Office: the upstairs office should also serve as a PC workstation. The ground floor office is primarily planned as a storage room but possibly also as a PC workstation.
Guest stays per year: currently none, but probably later when the children are older. They would sleep on extra beds in the children’s rooms. We do not want a separate guest room or guest bathroom/WC.
Open or closed architecture: rather closed. Originally, we thought about an open connection between dining and living room but decided against it, even though the door will mostly remain open. The same applies to the dining room – hallway passage.
Traditional or modern construction: I would describe it as rather traditional. Function over form.
Open kitchen, cooking island: open kitchen facing the dining area, but intentionally no cooking island, rather a standing desk/bar with stools to allow for interaction.
Number of dining seats: at least 4, with the option to extend the table for family gatherings and similar occasions
Fireplace: yes, in the living room on the wall next to the stairs (plus another fireplace in the basement)
Music / stereo wall: no dedicated setup, only a TV in the living room with space for speakers on each side. In the bedroom, a place for a TV is planned in case we want to install one later. Each of the children’s rooms will have a TV.
Balcony, roof terrace: no
Garage, carport: garage yes; a carport possibly later.
Utility garden, greenhouse: regular garden with a pool adjacent to the living room/terrace
Further wishes / special features / daily routine, including reasons for choices or exclusions:
- Main terrace faces the garden and a small secondary terrace facing the street to enjoy the morning sun or to escape the hot afternoon sun in summer
- Second stairway leading to the basement (not to the upper floor!) to have quicker access from the garden to the workshop
- The WC behind the garage was an idea after removing the WC in the basement. It should also serve as a kind of mudroom after gardening or for the kids. The WC and stairway design are still a work in progress; this is just a snapshot.
- I couldn’t properly represent the wall thickness in my design program. The exterior walls are all 50cm (20 inches) brick; the interior walls are not yet defined individually.
House design
Who created the design: basically by us, now revised with an architect (and still in progress)
What do you like most? Why? The L-shape of the building, because it creates a nice, sheltered terrace and partially screens the garden from the street view.
What do you dislike? Why? The limited daylight in the hallway, especially on the ground floor. I plan to ease this by using glass panels in the doors. There is a window next to the elevator on the upper floor. I am also concerned about the relatively narrow children’s rooms and would appreciate your opinions about whether they are too “thin.”
If you have to give up certain details / add-ons
- can you give up: the WC behind the garage
- can you not give up: hmm…
Why is the design the way it is now?
As mentioned, I wanted an L-shape. The garage location on the north side was non-negotiable for me. The main entrance should also face north, sheltered from wind and rain. The WCs should be ventilated by windows, so not located in interior spaces. I had originally placed the kitchen near the living room to shorten the walk from the car to the kitchen but quickly abandoned that design. It is important for us to access both terraces quickly from the kitchen.
Regarding the upper floor: my wife wanted a small walk-in closet/dressing room, which resulted from the short corridor leading to the bedroom.
We wanted a parent and a children’s bathroom as well as separate toilets, but with the requirement that no toilet is directly inside a bathroom. I am personally not a fan of that due to odor reasons! Since both bathroom and WC should have windows, this was the compromise.
I would like the door from the hallway to the walk-in closet to open outward, but I fear this might cause conflicts with people and the stairs... Removing the door entirely is not an option since we do walk around naked here, and when friends of the children come over and pass by...
The door from the walk-in closet to the bedroom is not a must. It is more of a comfort factor, giving a sense that there is no dark corner in the room when sleeping, if you know what I mean.
I would like to introduce you to a project that has been developing in my mind for several years now. I look forward to your constructive feedback! First of all: the two views are not entirely up to date. Some windows have different sizes, for example, they are not all floor-to-ceiling. Also, the canopy does not extend to the bay window but ends at the “main facade.”
Zoning plan / restrictions
Plot size: approx. 1250m² (square)
Slope: no
Floor area ratio
Plot ratio
Building envelope, building line, and boundary
Boundary construction: the requirement is at least 3m (10 feet) distance from the neighbor’s property line, which we are complying with
Number of parking spaces: 2 mandatory parking spaces; planned are 2 either inside the garage or in front
Roof type: I’m not sure what it’s called, but it is definitely not a flat roof.
Orientation: the garage is on the north side, and the kitchen faces south. The street is a very quiet cul-de-sac running parallel to the house’s front.
Additional requirements: the distance from the property line at the street to the building must be 4m (13 feet); in the area of the office, it may be 3m (10 feet). Building is allowed up to 20m (66 feet) from the street into the property (minus the first 4m, so 16m). Sorry for the missing technical terms and the amateurish description!
Homeowner requirements
Basement, floors: two floors plus basement
Number of occupants, ages: 2 adults (40), two children aged 3 and 6
Office: the upstairs office should also serve as a PC workstation. The ground floor office is primarily planned as a storage room but possibly also as a PC workstation.
Guest stays per year: currently none, but probably later when the children are older. They would sleep on extra beds in the children’s rooms. We do not want a separate guest room or guest bathroom/WC.
Open or closed architecture: rather closed. Originally, we thought about an open connection between dining and living room but decided against it, even though the door will mostly remain open. The same applies to the dining room – hallway passage.
Traditional or modern construction: I would describe it as rather traditional. Function over form.
Open kitchen, cooking island: open kitchen facing the dining area, but intentionally no cooking island, rather a standing desk/bar with stools to allow for interaction.
Number of dining seats: at least 4, with the option to extend the table for family gatherings and similar occasions
Fireplace: yes, in the living room on the wall next to the stairs (plus another fireplace in the basement)
Music / stereo wall: no dedicated setup, only a TV in the living room with space for speakers on each side. In the bedroom, a place for a TV is planned in case we want to install one later. Each of the children’s rooms will have a TV.
Balcony, roof terrace: no
Garage, carport: garage yes; a carport possibly later.
Utility garden, greenhouse: regular garden with a pool adjacent to the living room/terrace
Further wishes / special features / daily routine, including reasons for choices or exclusions:
- Main terrace faces the garden and a small secondary terrace facing the street to enjoy the morning sun or to escape the hot afternoon sun in summer
- Second stairway leading to the basement (not to the upper floor!) to have quicker access from the garden to the workshop
- The WC behind the garage was an idea after removing the WC in the basement. It should also serve as a kind of mudroom after gardening or for the kids. The WC and stairway design are still a work in progress; this is just a snapshot.
- I couldn’t properly represent the wall thickness in my design program. The exterior walls are all 50cm (20 inches) brick; the interior walls are not yet defined individually.
House design
Who created the design: basically by us, now revised with an architect (and still in progress)
What do you like most? Why? The L-shape of the building, because it creates a nice, sheltered terrace and partially screens the garden from the street view.
What do you dislike? Why? The limited daylight in the hallway, especially on the ground floor. I plan to ease this by using glass panels in the doors. There is a window next to the elevator on the upper floor. I am also concerned about the relatively narrow children’s rooms and would appreciate your opinions about whether they are too “thin.”
If you have to give up certain details / add-ons
- can you give up: the WC behind the garage
- can you not give up: hmm…
Why is the design the way it is now?
As mentioned, I wanted an L-shape. The garage location on the north side was non-negotiable for me. The main entrance should also face north, sheltered from wind and rain. The WCs should be ventilated by windows, so not located in interior spaces. I had originally placed the kitchen near the living room to shorten the walk from the car to the kitchen but quickly abandoned that design. It is important for us to access both terraces quickly from the kitchen.
Regarding the upper floor: my wife wanted a small walk-in closet/dressing room, which resulted from the short corridor leading to the bedroom.
We wanted a parent and a children’s bathroom as well as separate toilets, but with the requirement that no toilet is directly inside a bathroom. I am personally not a fan of that due to odor reasons! Since both bathroom and WC should have windows, this was the compromise.
I would like the door from the hallway to the walk-in closet to open outward, but I fear this might cause conflicts with people and the stairs... Removing the door entirely is not an option since we do walk around naked here, and when friends of the children come over and pass by...
The door from the walk-in closet to the bedroom is not a must. It is more of a comfort factor, giving a sense that there is no dark corner in the room when sleeping, if you know what I mean.
X
xMisterDx3 Aug 2023 23:56haydee schrieb:
What do you do when you really need to go while taking a bath or shower?You get out of the cool water, dry off so you don’t soak 7.5m² (81 ft²) of tiles, and head to the toilet.
It works the other way around too. Mom is showering, the other shower has been occupied by the daughter for what feels like three days, and the son needs to go. Of course, the toilet is in the main bathroom and Mom calls out, "Feel free to come in, nothing you haven’t seen before"...
Alternatively, he can watch his sister shower and throw a bob (small ball) about 50cm (20 inches) away on the floor...
A separate toilet upstairs is absolutely brilliant if you have the space for it. Few things make as much sense as that...
Wait until the kids are 14. Then nobody thinks it’s cool to sit on the toilet while Mom, Dad, sister, or brother are showering... or even just brushing their teeth.
As I mentioned, I’m not a fan of toilets located directly inside bathrooms, mainly because of the odor issues when someone uses the toilet for a bowel movement. Going from the shower or bathtub to the toilet without drying off first is, in my opinion, just a theoretical idea. Even in hotels where this option is available, I have never done it myself. I would feel cold within seconds, the toilet and the path to it would be wet, and there is also the risk of slipping. But of course, that is a personal view that everyone has to decide for themselves.
I don’t see the slanted wall typical of the 1980s as an inherent problem. Just because a house does not follow the current modern architectural style doesn’t mean it’s bad. For example, I cannot relate to the Bauhaus style, even though it seems that every second house in our region has been built like that in recent years. Also, the floor-to-ceiling windows often specified by architects, planners, or whoever—except for patio doors—will never appeal to me. But tastes are simply different.
I don’t see the slanted wall typical of the 1980s as an inherent problem. Just because a house does not follow the current modern architectural style doesn’t mean it’s bad. For example, I cannot relate to the Bauhaus style, even though it seems that every second house in our region has been built like that in recent years. Also, the floor-to-ceiling windows often specified by architects, planners, or whoever—except for patio doors—will never appeal to me. But tastes are simply different.
H
HeimatBauer4 Aug 2023 09:55First of all, I think it’s great that you’re putting so much thought into this and organizing it into a plan—this way you can identify and resolve dependencies yourself.
Of course, architectural preferences are always subjective, and it’s YOUR dream house, not MINE. For example, the huge bathroom halls where you have to walk all the way through the hallway to get to the toilet—that wouldn’t be my choice, but as they say in Franconia: “For the one who needs it, it’s the very best.”
What I find more challenging is the maze you have to navigate to get to the living room. When I enter a house—and I mean not only as a guest but also as a resident—I want to get to the living room fairly quickly. Here, you enter and face the elevator, turn left, walk into the dining room, get a nice view of the chaos in the kitchen and the smell from the stove reveals the menu, then turn right, and finally you reach the living room.
I see your plan more as a collection of ideas than a finished design. You have, and I mean this in the most positive sense, sketched your concept and tried to fit everything into a single plan. There’s a toilet here, another staircase there—it includes a lot, but I think there are too many “monumental spaces” and too few actual rooms.
My suggestion: Write down your criteria with priorities and take them to an architect. They will probably come up with something that looks quite different. Talk to them about what they had in mind. Please make sure to bring a clear idea of WHAT you want, but don’t start with HOW it should be built.
Of course, architectural preferences are always subjective, and it’s YOUR dream house, not MINE. For example, the huge bathroom halls where you have to walk all the way through the hallway to get to the toilet—that wouldn’t be my choice, but as they say in Franconia: “For the one who needs it, it’s the very best.”
What I find more challenging is the maze you have to navigate to get to the living room. When I enter a house—and I mean not only as a guest but also as a resident—I want to get to the living room fairly quickly. Here, you enter and face the elevator, turn left, walk into the dining room, get a nice view of the chaos in the kitchen and the smell from the stove reveals the menu, then turn right, and finally you reach the living room.
I see your plan more as a collection of ideas than a finished design. You have, and I mean this in the most positive sense, sketched your concept and tried to fit everything into a single plan. There’s a toilet here, another staircase there—it includes a lot, but I think there are too many “monumental spaces” and too few actual rooms.
My suggestion: Write down your criteria with priorities and take them to an architect. They will probably come up with something that looks quite different. Talk to them about what they had in mind. Please make sure to bring a clear idea of WHAT you want, but don’t start with HOW it should be built.
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