ᐅ Single-family home floor plan, 1.5 stories, 2 children's bedrooms, 2 offices – is the space usage optimal?
Created on: 4 Dec 2023 22:22
E
EFhaeusle
Hello everyone,
Development Plan / Restrictions
Plot size: 650 sqm (7000 sq ft)
Slope: East-West: 1.20 m (4 ft); North-South: 1.5 m (5 ft)
Floor area ratio: 0.4
Building envelope, building line and boundary, up to 3.5 m (11.5 ft) from the street
Edge development: East: double garage (approx. 5 m (16.5 ft) from the street)
Number of parking spaces: 2
Number of floors: 1.5, knee wall height: 2.20 m (7.2 ft)
Roof type: gable roof, 30°
Orientation: ridge line: north-south
Maximum heights / limits
Eaves height: 5.80 m (19 ft)
Client Requirements
Basement: yes
Number of people, age: 4 middle-aged adults, 2 children
Office: family use or home office?: 1 home office, 1 multipurpose / hobby / reading room
Open kitchen, kitchen island: open L-shaped kitchen, i.e. no direct view to the living room
Garage, carport: double garage (east boundary)
House Design
Planner: designer from a construction company
What do you particularly like? Why? Room layout, extra office on the upper floor, kitchen recess, option for west-facing terrace
What do you dislike? Why? North-facing office window (due to symmetry), limited space in the living room, space/recess for cloakroom, staircase not in living area, children’s rooms and living areas with south-facing windows
Estimated cost according to architect / planner: ~450,000 € incl. basement, excluding garage and exterior landscaping
Preferred heating technology: air-water heat pump with underfloor heating
Development Plan / Restrictions
Plot size: 650 sqm (7000 sq ft)
Slope: East-West: 1.20 m (4 ft); North-South: 1.5 m (5 ft)
Floor area ratio: 0.4
Building envelope, building line and boundary, up to 3.5 m (11.5 ft) from the street
Edge development: East: double garage (approx. 5 m (16.5 ft) from the street)
Number of parking spaces: 2
Number of floors: 1.5, knee wall height: 2.20 m (7.2 ft)
Roof type: gable roof, 30°
Orientation: ridge line: north-south
Maximum heights / limits
Eaves height: 5.80 m (19 ft)
Client Requirements
Basement: yes
Number of people, age: 4 middle-aged adults, 2 children
Office: family use or home office?: 1 home office, 1 multipurpose / hobby / reading room
Open kitchen, kitchen island: open L-shaped kitchen, i.e. no direct view to the living room
Garage, carport: double garage (east boundary)
House Design
Planner: designer from a construction company
What do you particularly like? Why? Room layout, extra office on the upper floor, kitchen recess, option for west-facing terrace
What do you dislike? Why? North-facing office window (due to symmetry), limited space in the living room, space/recess for cloakroom, staircase not in living area, children’s rooms and living areas with south-facing windows
Estimated cost according to architect / planner: ~450,000 € incl. basement, excluding garage and exterior landscaping
Preferred heating technology: air-water heat pump with underfloor heating
H
hanghaus20238 Dec 2023 11:06This clearly calls for the zoning plan.
There might also be height restrictions or contour lines to consider.
What do the BZH refer to?
There might also be height restrictions or contour lines to consider.
What do the BZH refer to?
Hello EFHäusle,
We recently completed a similar house, and the upper floor is almost identical.
Regarding the upper floor bathroom: I would reconsider the layout of the toilet/shower/washbasin area, as there are more efficient solutions for a 10m2 (108 sq ft) space. Just search online for floor plans and compare.
For the ground floor: The coat closet niche is good in principle but, in my opinion, much too small. We are also four people and have a huge need for space for shoes, jackets, sports gear, gloves, scarves, hats, sports bags, and so on. One linear meter (3.3 feet) won’t get you very far. We now have 3 linear meters (10 feet) of built-in furniture reaching up to the ceiling, and we can say: sufficient space. Otherwise, everything ends up scattered in the hallway, which is annoying, and no one wants to keep going down to the basement every time to get a pair of shoes. We originally planned something similar to you but then reduced the size of the guest room on the ground floor to gain much more coat storage and more living/kitchen space. We don’t regret that and are happy with it.
In general, I would agree with previous contributors and design the house somewhat wider; otherwise, the garden area on the south side will be unnecessarily small. So, the long side of the house should run parallel to the street, either right up to the building line or aligned with your neighbor’s building line. Ultimately, this is a matter of personal preference, and you probably have a better feel for the conditions on your plot than we do from afar.
Don’t let yourself be unsettled—the optimal floor plan for you takes time. Look at many (model) houses to get a sense of room sizes and layouts. It is advantageous to plan the kitchen simultaneously with the floor plan so everything can still be adapted. The same applies to the bathroom planning, such as how wide/deep the shower should be, the size of the washbasin and possibly the cabinet underneath, the bathtub, incorporating cladding walls, and so on.
We created the house plan independently of the general contractor, meaning we hired a trusted planner/architect for the detailed planning and then approached the general contractors with the (almost) finished plan. This is not a problem for standard houses with simple building structures and layouts, and the contractors simply deduct the cost for detailed planning from their quote (~7,000 to 10,000€). We also found the floor plan sketches from the contractors to be too carelessly done. However, you only notice this much later...
Good luck
I
We recently completed a similar house, and the upper floor is almost identical.
Regarding the upper floor bathroom: I would reconsider the layout of the toilet/shower/washbasin area, as there are more efficient solutions for a 10m2 (108 sq ft) space. Just search online for floor plans and compare.
For the ground floor: The coat closet niche is good in principle but, in my opinion, much too small. We are also four people and have a huge need for space for shoes, jackets, sports gear, gloves, scarves, hats, sports bags, and so on. One linear meter (3.3 feet) won’t get you very far. We now have 3 linear meters (10 feet) of built-in furniture reaching up to the ceiling, and we can say: sufficient space. Otherwise, everything ends up scattered in the hallway, which is annoying, and no one wants to keep going down to the basement every time to get a pair of shoes. We originally planned something similar to you but then reduced the size of the guest room on the ground floor to gain much more coat storage and more living/kitchen space. We don’t regret that and are happy with it.
In general, I would agree with previous contributors and design the house somewhat wider; otherwise, the garden area on the south side will be unnecessarily small. So, the long side of the house should run parallel to the street, either right up to the building line or aligned with your neighbor’s building line. Ultimately, this is a matter of personal preference, and you probably have a better feel for the conditions on your plot than we do from afar.
Don’t let yourself be unsettled—the optimal floor plan for you takes time. Look at many (model) houses to get a sense of room sizes and layouts. It is advantageous to plan the kitchen simultaneously with the floor plan so everything can still be adapted. The same applies to the bathroom planning, such as how wide/deep the shower should be, the size of the washbasin and possibly the cabinet underneath, the bathtub, incorporating cladding walls, and so on.
We created the house plan independently of the general contractor, meaning we hired a trusted planner/architect for the detailed planning and then approached the general contractors with the (almost) finished plan. This is not a problem for standard houses with simple building structures and layouts, and the contractors simply deduct the cost for detailed planning from their quote (~7,000 to 10,000€). We also found the floor plan sketches from the contractors to be too carelessly done. However, you only notice this much later...
Good luck
I
EFhaeusle schrieb:
Yes, the maximum building height is specified for each plot. In this case, it is 663.25m (2176.4 ft) above sea level (+/- 0.25m (0.8 ft))hanghaus2023 schrieb:
This clearly calls for checking the zoning plan.
There might also be elevation contour lines there?Exactly. And please no more piecemeal information.Both details (the height being specified precisely to a quarter rather than the usual half meter, as well as the tolerance) strongly suggest a closer look is needed. They indicate a (possibly moderate but) significant slope. Meaningful extracts from zoning plans (not extreme close-ups but rather broader views) should include relevant information about the permitted heights for neighboring plots (both as fact and as requirement). This is especially important along the garage boundary regarding wall heights.
bafische schrieb:
We developed the house plans independently from the general contractor, meaning we hired a reliable planner/architect for the detailed construction planning, and then approached the general contractors with the (almost) finalized plans.Oh, why did you abandon this sensible approach at that point and revert to the suboptimal mainstream route?Hiring an architect wisely with Phase 5 (execution planning) is good, but going through to Phase 7 would have been better. Even if you prefer a general contractor, it is advisable to carry out a professional tender process. There is nothing wrong with a general contractor being the winning bidder, but having a general contractor merely as an alternative bidder in the tender is a less intelligent common practice.
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