ᐅ Floor Plan Optimization for a Single-Family Home of Approximately 150 sqm on a Small Plot
Created on: 18 Aug 2020 20:31
Y
Yaso2.0
Hello everyone,
After what felt like forever, we finally received the floor plan (without exact dimensions) today from our preferred general contractor. Although the planner noted our requests during the meeting, some of them don’t seem to have been fully incorporated.
The price offer will be prepared once the floor plan is finalized, especially if the size increases.
I would like to share the floor plan with you and hear your suggestions for improvements!
Development plan / Restrictions
Plot size: 389sqm (4187 sq ft)
Sloping site
Site coverage ratio 0.35
Floor area ratio 0.70
Building envelope, building line, and boundary
Edge development
Number of parking spaces: 2
Number of floors: 2
Roof type
Architectural style
Orientation
Maximum heights / limits
Additional requirements
Client requirements
Architectural style, roof type, building type: City villa
Basement, number of stories: 2 stories, no basement
Number of occupants, ages: 3 persons (44, 38, 9)
Space requirements on ground floor and upper floor
Kitchen, living room, guest WC, utility room, and if possible, a small office
Office: family use or home office?
Guests for overnight stays vary widely
Open or closed architecture partly/partly
Conservative or modern style: a healthy mix of both
Open kitchen, kitchen island: semi-open kitchen, kitchen island not mandatory
Number of dining seats: 6–8
Fireplace: possibly
Music / stereo wall
Balcony, roof terrace
Garage, carport
Utility garden, greenhouse, garden for pleasant evenings
Additional wishes / special features / daily routines, including reasons why certain elements are wanted or not
We want a larger but semi-open kitchen because I cook and/or bake daily. A pantry would be great but I would also give it up if it means more counter space in the kitchen.
Ideally, I would like a laundry room on the upper floor since all the laundry tasks happen upstairs.
House design
Planner:
- Planner from a construction company
What do you particularly like? Why? Pantry room,
In the upper floor, the bedroom does not directly adjoin the children’s rooms
What do you dislike? Why?
Kitchen accessible only through the living room, hallway seems like wasted space??, kitchen counter size too small,
Cost estimate by architect/planner: still open, to follow after floor plan and house size are finalized
Personal budget limit for the house including fixtures and fittings:
Preferred heating system:
If you had to compromise, on which details / additions
- Could you do without: walk-in closet
- Could you not do without: “larger” kitchen
Why is the design the way it is now?
The general contractor’s planner asked about our preferences and created the floor plan accordingly. Apparently, an office didn’t fit. The requirement was that we ideally don’t want more than 150sqm (1615 sq ft), a kitchen size of at least 13sqm (140 sq ft) would be nice, and if possible, no straight staircase.
What makes it particularly good or bad in your eyes?
The hallway seems to take up too much space without much utility, the kitchen feels too small.
The walk-in closet is “enclosed” and should be accessible via the corridor.
We like that the children’s rooms are exactly the same size. The future child planning is currently flexible.
What is the most important / fundamental question about the floor plan in 130 characters?
How can we make the kitchen accessible through the hallway and semi-open, without making it too small?
Would a different staircase allow for a better layout?
Or are our wishes not feasible within 150sqm?
Thanks in advance!
After what felt like forever, we finally received the floor plan (without exact dimensions) today from our preferred general contractor. Although the planner noted our requests during the meeting, some of them don’t seem to have been fully incorporated.
The price offer will be prepared once the floor plan is finalized, especially if the size increases.
I would like to share the floor plan with you and hear your suggestions for improvements!
Development plan / Restrictions
Plot size: 389sqm (4187 sq ft)
Sloping site
Site coverage ratio 0.35
Floor area ratio 0.70
Building envelope, building line, and boundary
Edge development
Number of parking spaces: 2
Number of floors: 2
Roof type
Architectural style
Orientation
Maximum heights / limits
Additional requirements
Client requirements
Architectural style, roof type, building type: City villa
Basement, number of stories: 2 stories, no basement
Number of occupants, ages: 3 persons (44, 38, 9)
Space requirements on ground floor and upper floor
Kitchen, living room, guest WC, utility room, and if possible, a small office
Office: family use or home office?
Guests for overnight stays vary widely
Open or closed architecture partly/partly
Conservative or modern style: a healthy mix of both
Open kitchen, kitchen island: semi-open kitchen, kitchen island not mandatory
Number of dining seats: 6–8
Fireplace: possibly
Music / stereo wall
Balcony, roof terrace
Garage, carport
Utility garden, greenhouse, garden for pleasant evenings
Additional wishes / special features / daily routines, including reasons why certain elements are wanted or not
We want a larger but semi-open kitchen because I cook and/or bake daily. A pantry would be great but I would also give it up if it means more counter space in the kitchen.
Ideally, I would like a laundry room on the upper floor since all the laundry tasks happen upstairs.
House design
Planner:
- Planner from a construction company
What do you particularly like? Why? Pantry room,
In the upper floor, the bedroom does not directly adjoin the children’s rooms
What do you dislike? Why?
Kitchen accessible only through the living room, hallway seems like wasted space??, kitchen counter size too small,
Cost estimate by architect/planner: still open, to follow after floor plan and house size are finalized
Personal budget limit for the house including fixtures and fittings:
Preferred heating system:
If you had to compromise, on which details / additions
- Could you do without: walk-in closet
- Could you not do without: “larger” kitchen
Why is the design the way it is now?
The general contractor’s planner asked about our preferences and created the floor plan accordingly. Apparently, an office didn’t fit. The requirement was that we ideally don’t want more than 150sqm (1615 sq ft), a kitchen size of at least 13sqm (140 sq ft) would be nice, and if possible, no straight staircase.
What makes it particularly good or bad in your eyes?
The hallway seems to take up too much space without much utility, the kitchen feels too small.
The walk-in closet is “enclosed” and should be accessible via the corridor.
We like that the children’s rooms are exactly the same size. The future child planning is currently flexible.
What is the most important / fundamental question about the floor plan in 130 characters?
How can we make the kitchen accessible through the hallway and semi-open, without making it too small?
Would a different staircase allow for a better layout?
Or are our wishes not feasible within 150sqm?
Thanks in advance!
Yaso2.0 schrieb:
I like the ground floor layout, but the living room feels a bit too narrow..I’d say everything feels too narrow for me.
It will be difficult to get up from the dining table or walk around when it’s fully occupied. We redesigned at 3m (10 feet) because we didn’t want to feel cramped like in our rental apartment, especially in a new and expensive house. There’s no space for any sideboards along the walls.
The sofa area is perfect for an 8k TV. You can see every pixel. I would consider a 2.9m (9.5 feet) rough opening dimension borderline for that.
A utility room with under 6.5 sq m (70 sq ft) rough opening size is really small. You probably can only squeeze between the appliances.
The office is unlikely to work well with the furniture shown. It can, but you’d be sitting right inside the Billy shelf. More than 30cm (12 inches) depth won’t fit. Classic lever-arch files won’t fit either.
I have a width of 3.5m (11.5 feet) in the living room, where the couch and TV are, and that is fine. I wouldn’t recommend going significantly smaller than that.
If you could add one meter (or at least 60cm (24 inches)) there, you could flip the upper floor so that the bedrooms and bathroom are on the north side and the children’s rooms on the south side.
Then you would reach your 150sqm (1,615 sq ft).
Otherwise, the layout is quite tidy. The staircase can stay as it is. I also have this dimension of 1.9m (6.2 feet). The steps are 80cm (31.5 inches) wide. Of course, it would be preferable if you could add another 20-40cm (8-16 inches).
If you could add one meter (or at least 60cm (24 inches)) there, you could flip the upper floor so that the bedrooms and bathroom are on the north side and the children’s rooms on the south side.
Then you would reach your 150sqm (1,615 sq ft).
Otherwise, the layout is quite tidy. The staircase can stay as it is. I also have this dimension of 1.9m (6.2 feet). The steps are 80cm (31.5 inches) wide. Of course, it would be preferable if you could add another 20-40cm (8-16 inches).
Yaso2.0 schrieb:
The current sofa is too narrow, and it’s quite new and will be kept. This is definitely too narrow.. Don’t tell us, tell the architect. Or did you communicate this to them during the planning phase?
OWLer schrieb:
The sofa area is perfect for an 8K TV. You can see every pixel. I would consider a finished space width of 2.9 meters (9.5 feet) borderline here. In fact, for a planned 8K setup, I would stay well below 3 meters (9.8 feet), unless we are talking about over 80-inch diagonals. That size would be suitable for it, but I guess that was not the motivation here.
OWLer schrieb:
I'll just say it: everything seems too narrow to me.
It will be difficult to get up or walk around the dining table when it's fully occupied. We redesigned at 3m (10 feet) because we didn’t want to feel cramped in a new and very expensive house like we do now in our rental apartment. There's no space for any sideboards along the walls.
The sofa area is perfect for an 8k TV. You can see every pixel. 2.9m (9.5 feet) structural size would be borderline there.
A utility room with less than 6.5 sqm (70 sq ft) structural size is really small. You’ll probably just be able to squeeze between the equipment.
The office probably won’t work with the drawn furniture. It might, but then you’ll be sitting right in the middle of the bookshelf. More than 30cm (12 inches) depth won’t work. Classic file folders won’t fit.
The bedroom would be too long and narrow for me. The free space between the dressing area and the bed is barely usable. You should at least move the bed away from the wall into the center of the room. It was okay for us if the utility room on the ground floor is a bit smaller, since we plan a second one upstairs. But noted!
Okay, I’ll take another closer look at the office!
Altai schrieb:
I have a width of 3.5m (11.5 feet) in the living room where the sofa and TV are, and that’s fine. I wouldn’t recommend significantly less than that.
If you could add one meter (or at least 60cm / 24 inches) there, you could mirror the upper floor so that the bedroom and bathroom are on the north side and the children’s rooms on the south side.
That way you’d reach your 150 sqm (1,615 sq ft).
Otherwise, the layout is quite tidy. The staircase can stay as it is. I also have that dimension of 1.9m (6.2 feet). The steps are 80cm (31 inches) wide. Of course, it would be preferable if you could add 20-40cm (8-16 inches). I’ll measure our sofa and see if 3.5m (11.5 feet) could work for us.
K1300S schrieb:
Don’t tell us but the architect. Or did you pass that on to them during planning? I didn’t give the architect anything, just communicated our preferences.
I’ve now noted the following points to share with her:
- Living room too narrow
- Possibly consider a different staircase (if it improves the layout)
- Children’s rooms not in the north / bedroom not in the south
- Add a window to the utility room upstairs
- Possibly enlarge the house up to max. 150 sqm (1,615 sq ft) so the rooms can be more spacious
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