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.
bwollowb schrieb:
That may be a bit exaggerated, but it probably gets to the heart of the matter. For me(!), the classic "architect-designed house" is a home completely out of place in its environment, maybe with a huge glass facade to guarantee the wow factor. A soulless glass-and-concrete box that in no way reflects its inhabitants, but only serves as another monument to the architect. Extraordinary, but impractical. That is my image – I repeat: MY image of an architect-designed house. Your view then reflects an insufficient definition of requirements. If you write on your list of specifications to the architect "no glass palace," they won’t design one for you.
How good the architect’s result will be depends largely on how well, detailed, and complete your description of requirements is. However, if it is, I dare say the professional can create a design that far surpasses your own concept.
H
HeimatBauer4 Aug 2023 14:15You can also talk to architects. For example, I spoke with one who was a fan of a particular construction style and kept praising it. Well, after two preliminary meetings, it became clear: we were not a good match.
And no, not every architect wants to build a glass palace. Unless they specialize in glass palaces and have something like, "Do you want a glass palace? I’m your architect!" on their website.
And no, not every architect wants to build a glass palace. Unless they specialize in glass palaces and have something like, "Do you want a glass palace? I’m your architect!" on their website.
bwollowb schrieb:
Yes, I wanted to minimize circulation areas. Is that wrong?Sort of. It’s not exactly “wrong,” but paradoxically it often backfires with a very high probability. When amateurs try to minimize traffic areas, they regularly end up creating labyrinths whose total area grows (anti)proportionally to their attempts to economize. Like in the "Sorcerer’s Apprentice" story: the split brooms bring twice as much water.I think it is extremely important to strictly separate two categories of work with planning: A) “enjoying personal planning exercises” and B) “working on the serious planning process” — at least as strictly as separating work and drinking. Not all architects are talented planners, but most are at least well trained, and in any case 99.75% of them are not “starchitects.” I consider the latter to be rightfully avoided, which fortunately is quite easy since those candidates proudly showcase their unrealistic palace projects on their websites.
Since I only work as an architect finder nationwide in Germany, I personally know only one in Austria. But finding a good architect is not sorcery. More hints on inappropriate candidates can be found in those of my posts where @Gerddieter is mentioned. And it’s possible that architects who have worked on houses discussed here "at your level" ;-) also practice in Austria — I’ll call in @rick2018, @Solveigh and @Mellina to join the discussion ;-)
HeimatBauer schrieb:
You can also talk to architects. For example, I spoke with one who was a fan of a particular construction method and kept raving about it. Well, after two preliminary meetings, it was clear: we weren’t a good match.And quite simply, many architects can be recognized externally as followers of a particular “school”: by the Gropius bow tie, the Corbusier glasses, or the Saab parked outside...*) The architect should have had the opportunity to create at least two of their own sketch concepts on napkins before the client shows them their own planning attempts
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
H
HeimatBauer4 Aug 2023 14:4611ant schrieb:
And quite simply, many architects can also be recognized by their appearance, depending on whether they belong to a particular "school": by the Gropius bow tie, the Corbusier glasses, or the Saab parked outside... Mine arrived by bicycle – but since he kept using the word “dormer gable” in every sentence (while making a post-coital face), whether it was about the basement, the ventilation, or the garage foundation, we didn’t get further than an on-site visit and a first (paid) design. With dormer gable, of course.
HeimatBauer schrieb:
Mine arrived by bike – but since he used the word "cross gable" in every sentence [...] whether he was talking about the basement, the ventilation, or the garage foundation, A garage foundation with a cross gable is definitely a sure sign of an architect detached from reality, but unfortunately it is also extremely rare. On the other hand, designers of solid-carved doge palaces are recognized by "awards" that wouldn’t even fit in a bicycle basket ;-)
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
H
HeimatBauer4 Aug 2023 15:0311ant schrieb:
(...) from solid-milled doge palaces (...)Brilliant, I have to remember that one!
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