ᐅ Floor Plan Optimization for an Accessible Home on a Sloped Site

Hello everyone,

we are currently in the planning phase of a new build and currently favor the following floor plan:
We purchased a prefabricated house with a solid basement. The prefab house will be demolished, and the ground floor and upper floor will be newly built in masonry. In the process, the garage will be extended by a few meters to increase the footprint.

Thank you in advance.


Development Plan / Restrictions
Plot size 700 sqm (8,400 sq ft)
Slope Yes
Floor area ratio / Plot ratio – The building will be constructed on an existing basement
Number of parking spaces 2
Number of floors 2.5 full stories
Roof shape – Gable roof or flat roof
Architectural style – free choice
Orientation – South-facing slope
Maximum height / Limits – Almost no restrictions in the development plan
Further requirements

Client Requirements
Style, roof shape, building type – Gable roof, simple, low maintenance, minimalist
I use a wheelchair, so the house must be barrier-free. An elevator will therefore be installed from the basement up to the upper floor
Basement, floors – Usable basement + ground floor + upper floor
Number of occupants, ages – 5 people (children 9 | 5 | 5)
Room requirements ground floor, upper floor – All rooms for the parents should be on the ground floor.
Office: family use or home office? Home office
Guest stays per year – infrequent
Open or closed architecture – open
Conservative or modern construction style – modern
Open kitchen, kitchen island – open, can have a kitchen island but not mandatory
Number of dining seats 6–8
Fireplace – not necessary
Garage, carport – Garage already exists; carport will be added
Further wishes / special features / daily routine, also explanations why this or that should or should not be

House Design
Who created the design:
-Architect based on our do-it-yourself floor plan
What do you like most? Why? Family oriented, practical for everyday life
What do you like least? Why? We are still considering creating a niche for a side-by-side refrigerator in the office to have it flush with the wall. Possibly the same for the bathroom cabinets, since the bedroom is quite large.

Preferred heating system: That’s a good question, plus whether to include the basement within the thermal envelope.

If you had to give up something, which details or expansions could you do without:
-Maybe I could move the office down to the basement. My wife gave up her walk-in closet for the office (now that’s love )

What is the most important basic question about the floor plan summarized in 130 characters?

• Where can further optimizations be made?
• What window dimensions or sill heights do you recommend?
• What do you find poor or would do differently?

I like it very much at first glance. Only the kitchen seems to have too little counter and storage space.

The office on the ground floor causes a lot of issues. As a result, the master bathroom is rather poor, and the kitchen feels very narrow. You have daylight in the basement. If it’s also dry, I wouldn’t hesitate. Love aside – maybe the wife would also like to have enough space to swim a bit in the bathtub, and the kitchen could definitely use more depth for a better sense of comfort.

For quickly using a laptop, you can still set up a small table in the bedroom. Even the bedside table would be sufficient for that.

The gallery on the upper floor is not really my preference. From my experience, such a corner only becomes a better dust collector and no one uses the space. I would place the bathroom there and significantly enlarge the children’s rooms.

Is the width at the dining table enough for you?
For occupied chairs, you should allow at least 80 cm (31.5 inches) between the table edge and the wall. Then only one person can squeeze past.

Otherwise, I can only agree with Kaho.

Somehow, the elevations don’t seem to match, do they? I just can’t make sense of the west side, and I don’t see the chimney anywhere except in the basement and on the roof. I really dislike incomplete plans from professionals.

I like what I see