ᐅ Floor Plan Optimization for a City Villa of Approximately 180 sqm with Basement in Berlin
Created on: 18 Jun 2020 00:15
J
julimosHello everyone,
after reading a lot and gathering suggestions and ideas, I would like to present our building project and hope for advice on potential pitfalls as well as recommendations for optimizations or useful changes.
Development Plan / Restrictions
Plot size: 710 sqm (7,645 sq ft), 19 m (62 ft) wide, approximately 37 m (121 ft) long
Slope: Completely flat
Site coverage ratio: 0.2
Floor area ratio: 0.4
Building envelope, building line, and boundaries: setback lines are 5 m (16 ft) from the street and 5 m (16 ft) from the right property boundary. Because it is a dead-end street, the driveway must be placed to the left of the house, leaving 14 m (46 ft) for house plus driveway. Therefore, the floor plan is about 10 m (33 ft) wide.
Edge development: None
Number of parking spaces: No requirement
Number of floors: up to 2
Roof type: -
Architectural style: §34 - almost all building types exist on this street
Orientation: -
Maximum heights / limits: 2-storey, open development, otherwise §34 Federal Building Code
Other requirements: -
Client Requirements
Architectural style, roof type, building type: Brick-clad city villa, main windows and room orientation facing the garden to the rear
Basement, floors: Basement plus 2 floors
Number of occupants, ages: 2 adults, 2 children (1 and 4 years old)
Ground floor room requirements: Living room, kitchen, guest room, guest/additional bathroom
Upper floor: Master bedroom, 2 children's rooms
Office: Currently partly home office, could become 100% home office
Guest stays per year: More than 50 nights
Open kitchen, kitchen island: Semi-open kitchen
Number of dining seats: 8
Fireplace: No
Garage, carport: Driveway with 1–2 parking spaces is sufficient
House Design
Who developed the plan: A mix of a professional planner (initial draft) and DIY adjustments
We particularly like: Floor-to-ceiling windows on ground and upper floors facing the garden (rear), open kitchen, short distances between kitchen and basement, and living room and upper floor
What we dislike: Large hallway upstairs – caused by the staircase orientation on the ground floor and the unfavorable lot shape
General contractor offer: 410,000 + approx. 120,000 additional costs/furnishing/floor coverings/painting/demolition of existing building (We plan to do much of this ourselves and have no extravagant demands)
Personal price limit for the house, including fittings: 550,000
Preferred heating technology: Air-to-water heat pump (gas is too far away, borehole drilling not economical. Possibly vertical loop heat collector if space is sufficient according to heating load calculation, but the garden has several trees and installations that cannot or should not be removed)
If you had to give up, on which details/extensions
-could you do without: Additional toilet upstairs, although we currently miss it due to frequent guests
-could you not do without: Large windows to the garden/terrace & basement (There is still an existing (far too small) house with a basement on the plot. Without a basement, almost as much earth would have to be moved). We will not finish the basement initially (only tiling in the utility room and front basement area planned)
Why does the design look like it does now?
A mix of a standard design and many adaptations. The shape of the plot strongly dictates the form of the house, which can only be extended to the rear.
The basic question about the floor plan summarized in 130 characters:
Does the floor plan work from your perspective? Should the staircase be rotated after all (with the drawback that the access to the upper floor passes through the "mudroom" area)?
Have we completely overlooked anything?
Thank you very much!
after reading a lot and gathering suggestions and ideas, I would like to present our building project and hope for advice on potential pitfalls as well as recommendations for optimizations or useful changes.
Development Plan / Restrictions
Plot size: 710 sqm (7,645 sq ft), 19 m (62 ft) wide, approximately 37 m (121 ft) long
Slope: Completely flat
Site coverage ratio: 0.2
Floor area ratio: 0.4
Building envelope, building line, and boundaries: setback lines are 5 m (16 ft) from the street and 5 m (16 ft) from the right property boundary. Because it is a dead-end street, the driveway must be placed to the left of the house, leaving 14 m (46 ft) for house plus driveway. Therefore, the floor plan is about 10 m (33 ft) wide.
Edge development: None
Number of parking spaces: No requirement
Number of floors: up to 2
Roof type: -
Architectural style: §34 - almost all building types exist on this street
Orientation: -
Maximum heights / limits: 2-storey, open development, otherwise §34 Federal Building Code
Other requirements: -
Client Requirements
Architectural style, roof type, building type: Brick-clad city villa, main windows and room orientation facing the garden to the rear
Basement, floors: Basement plus 2 floors
Number of occupants, ages: 2 adults, 2 children (1 and 4 years old)
Ground floor room requirements: Living room, kitchen, guest room, guest/additional bathroom
Upper floor: Master bedroom, 2 children's rooms
Office: Currently partly home office, could become 100% home office
Guest stays per year: More than 50 nights
Open kitchen, kitchen island: Semi-open kitchen
Number of dining seats: 8
Fireplace: No
Garage, carport: Driveway with 1–2 parking spaces is sufficient
House Design
Who developed the plan: A mix of a professional planner (initial draft) and DIY adjustments
We particularly like: Floor-to-ceiling windows on ground and upper floors facing the garden (rear), open kitchen, short distances between kitchen and basement, and living room and upper floor
What we dislike: Large hallway upstairs – caused by the staircase orientation on the ground floor and the unfavorable lot shape
General contractor offer: 410,000 + approx. 120,000 additional costs/furnishing/floor coverings/painting/demolition of existing building (We plan to do much of this ourselves and have no extravagant demands)
Personal price limit for the house, including fittings: 550,000
Preferred heating technology: Air-to-water heat pump (gas is too far away, borehole drilling not economical. Possibly vertical loop heat collector if space is sufficient according to heating load calculation, but the garden has several trees and installations that cannot or should not be removed)
If you had to give up, on which details/extensions
-could you do without: Additional toilet upstairs, although we currently miss it due to frequent guests
-could you not do without: Large windows to the garden/terrace & basement (There is still an existing (far too small) house with a basement on the plot. Without a basement, almost as much earth would have to be moved). We will not finish the basement initially (only tiling in the utility room and front basement area planned)
Why does the design look like it does now?
A mix of a standard design and many adaptations. The shape of the plot strongly dictates the form of the house, which can only be extended to the rear.
The basic question about the floor plan summarized in 130 characters:
Does the floor plan work from your perspective? Should the staircase be rotated after all (with the drawback that the access to the upper floor passes through the "mudroom" area)?
Have we completely overlooked anything?
Thank you very much!
S
saralina8718 Jun 2020 07:12Hello
Is the kitchen supposed to be that wide? 1.20m (4 feet) is usually enough space between the two rows – it might be worth considering whether to create a larger wardrobe or a pantry behind the stairs instead.
Upstairs there seems to be a lot of hallway... Is a single closet enough for you? And do you really need two bathrooms upstairs? I have to admit, I'm not very happy with the layout of the upper floor.
Is the kitchen supposed to be that wide? 1.20m (4 feet) is usually enough space between the two rows – it might be worth considering whether to create a larger wardrobe or a pantry behind the stairs instead.
Upstairs there seems to be a lot of hallway... Is a single closet enough for you? And do you really need two bathrooms upstairs? I have to admit, I'm not very happy with the layout of the upper floor.
Have you taken a close look at the stair treads? It’s hard to see how you’re supposed to step on them; I can’t imagine they’ll work properly. Where will you store all your clothes and bedding? The bedroom only fits a 1m (3.3 ft) wardrobe. I would widen the house by at least 50cm (20 inches); the rooms feel too narrow and elongated.
Best regards,
Sabine
Best regards,
Sabine
Do you really need all those rooms if you’re building with a basement? Like separate guest rooms and an office? Three toilets?
If you plan to do laundry in the basement, I would try to include a laundry chute so that you only have to transport the laundry in one direction.
@Curly already mentioned the stairs. I also find the basement entrance a bit narrow—only 80cm (31.5 inches) wide? I imagine it would be difficult to maneuver larger items there.
If you plan to do laundry in the basement, I would try to include a laundry chute so that you only have to transport the laundry in one direction.
@Curly already mentioned the stairs. I also find the basement entrance a bit narrow—only 80cm (31.5 inches) wide? I imagine it would be difficult to maneuver larger items there.
Thank you all for your feedback and suggestions!
We reviewed them very carefully and took the opportunity to look for an alternative solution for the staircase.
@saralina87 You are absolutely right about the kitchen. Currently, we have 1.60 m (5 feet 3 inches) between the cabinets in our apartment, and I find that a good width. However, I couldn’t find a way to squeeze another room or storage area between the kitchen and the stairs, and moving the stairs further to the left would have unpleasant consequences upstairs. Therefore, the kitchen will now be wider, which will also make the rooms upstairs larger.
@Curly The 1 m (3 feet 3 inches) cabinet width was a bit exaggerated. The stair landing was only 80 cm (31 inches) at the top, and 110 cm (3 feet 7 inches) was planned for the basement – anyway, I think it is better solved now!
Widening the house would be expensive because the basement excavation couldn’t be done without shoring (neighbor’s garage on the border), and we would like to keep the driveway width of about 4 m (13 feet) and the distance to the neighbor that we have with the 10 m (33 feet) wide house.
@Pinky0301 Yes, we have also thought about the number of rooms… but if child #3 still happens, the living situation wouldn’t be what we envisioned anymore (then we would simply move the guest room to the basement).
Thank you all again, and maybe someone has additional comments on the new floor plan sketches!
We reviewed them very carefully and took the opportunity to look for an alternative solution for the staircase.
@saralina87 You are absolutely right about the kitchen. Currently, we have 1.60 m (5 feet 3 inches) between the cabinets in our apartment, and I find that a good width. However, I couldn’t find a way to squeeze another room or storage area between the kitchen and the stairs, and moving the stairs further to the left would have unpleasant consequences upstairs. Therefore, the kitchen will now be wider, which will also make the rooms upstairs larger.
@Curly The 1 m (3 feet 3 inches) cabinet width was a bit exaggerated. The stair landing was only 80 cm (31 inches) at the top, and 110 cm (3 feet 7 inches) was planned for the basement – anyway, I think it is better solved now!
Widening the house would be expensive because the basement excavation couldn’t be done without shoring (neighbor’s garage on the border), and we would like to keep the driveway width of about 4 m (13 feet) and the distance to the neighbor that we have with the 10 m (33 feet) wide house.
@Pinky0301 Yes, we have also thought about the number of rooms… but if child #3 still happens, the living situation wouldn’t be what we envisioned anymore (then we would simply move the guest room to the basement).
Thank you all again, and maybe someone has additional comments on the new floor plan sketches!
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