ᐅ Floor Plan Optimization for Urban Villa + Considerations for Land Elevation

I feel like I’ve messed everything up. From the very beginning, we planned with a square layout and didn’t consider what you mentioned. We started planning square with the home planner and simply stuck with that approach when working with the architect.

Yes, that was an important criterion, wasn’t it? These are simply the priorities you set. It is perfectly reasonable to decide to build a cube-shaped house if you like that style. Of course, this means accepting some compromises elsewhere. However, these compromises are not critical. I feel like you might be overthinking something that doesn’t have to be such a big deal. If you ask 100 people here, you’ll get 100 different answers. What matters is what you take away from it for yourself. So, stay relaxed. If you still want a cube-shaped house, everything looks quite good.

Shiny86 schrieb:

What do you think about the current site plan?

It might have already been mentioned, but to me, it doesn’t make any sense to place the living room on the east side. It would be better to swap it with the kitchen or simply mirror the layout! That way, at least it would be on the west side!

Shiny86 schrieb:

I feel like I've messed everything up. From the beginning, we planned a square layout and didn’t consider what you mentioned. We started planning with the house designer using a square shape and then just stuck with that when working with the architect.

Would it still be possible to redesign everything now and switch to a more elongated house?

kaho674 schrieb:

Yes, that was an important criterion, right? These are priorities you set. It’s completely valid if you like a cube-shaped house and decide to build one. You just have to accept some compromises elsewhere. But these compromises are not critical. I feel like you might be making more of this than it needs to be. If you ask 100 people here, you’ll get 100 different answers. What matters is what you find important for yourself. So just stay relaxed. If you still want a cube-shaped house, everything looks pretty good.

Honestly, I don’t feel like redesigning everything anymore. We really like a lot about the house. Maybe if we had known about the neighbor’s garage from the start, for example, we would have planned very differently. Yes, we wanted a city villa and a square shape. We find that very stylish and it’s always been the kind of house we wanted to build.

I’ve thought about placing wardrobe furniture if we move the WC door down and shift the utility room door up. That way, we can fit something 1 meter (3.3 feet) long there. Then I’d put a cabinet next to the stairs as you suggested, and hopefully I can get from the kitchen to the storage room under the stairs. It also helps bring some life into the long hallway by placing things here and there. The washer and dryer will stay in the utility room. That way, we keep our preferred platform staircase and just carry a laundry bag with handles downstairs. So laundry won’t bother us.

But the sofa really was a big issue here. We don’t want to place it in the middle of the room, and positioning it between the windows isn’t our thing either. My husband doesn’t want to block any windows. So the sofa stays where it is now. Because of that, I rearranged a few rooms upstairs to fix drainage issues. Now we don’t have a bathroom maze anymore. Instead, there is a small shower room and a large family bathroom, all without that angled 45-degree wall. We also like having an office now, and there’s only a small leftover space (3.3 m / 11 feet – sorry 11fant), which could be used either for a kitchen that’s not too deep or a sofa corner. Since we want a large kitchen and think 3.3 m (11 feet) is plenty for a sofa, we made that decision. What’s important is we have 4 meters (13 feet) between the sofa and the TV. We have that. And once that short wall section near the sofa is removed, the living room won’t feel closed off. You could still place an armchair between the dining and living areas. The dining area is also large and long enough for a bigger table, which I like.

Now I’m worried the cozy corner might be too dark. That’s why we want the windows. I also wanted to give the dining area a window from a side other than the south because I was afraid the south-facing windows alone wouldn’t be enough.

Long story short:
Do you have any ideas on how to solve the window problem?
And will the neighbor’s garage block the sun if I flip the plan again?
Because the neighbor to the east could also build a garage there. You just don’t know. But it will be built lower down.

I wouldn’t worry too much about the neighboring garage. That’s just how it is. I wouldn’t skip having a window facing that direction. You can always plant something in front of the garage and have a view of greenery. Light will still come in, and it’s better than having no window at all.
I also think it’s good if not all the windows face south, otherwise you’ll end up sitting in the dark all day because it gets too hot.
Less direct daylight in the TV corner isn’t a problem. It’s not a completely separate room anyway.