ᐅ Single-family house floor plan on a sloped lot with terrace / roof terrace

Created on: 3 Oct 2022 23:49

Hello!

Thank you in advance for your support!

Development Plan / Restrictions
NRW, development plan from 1964, few specifications (e.g., no height limits, no description of attic), maximum roof pitch 10 degrees
Plot size: 509 m² (5479 ft²)
Slope: Yes, sloping down from the street to the rear, about 2.5 m (8 ft) height difference, mostly level at the front
Site coverage ratio: 0.4
Floor area ratio: 0.7
Building envelope, building line and boundary: see site plan. Lower + upper rectangle with thick red frame: garden level including basement; upper rectangle only: full floor ground level (from street); garage to the right
Surrounding buildings: see site plan
Number of parking spaces: 1 garage (for bicycles), 1 parking space in front with charging station
Number of floors: 1 garden level + 1 full story (ground floor from street) + attic (according to 1962 building regulations – only 1/3 of the floor needs to have a clear height under 2.50 m (8 ft 2 in))
Roof type: gable roof with 10-degree pitch, photovoltaic panels
Architectural style: modern
Orientation: garden faces west
Maximum heights / limits: none
Additional requirements: none
The plot is completely on a slope, so there is also a view of the valley / trees / city from higher up

Client Requirements
Style, roof type, building type: simple, modern single-family house, but not looking like a “new build block”
Basement, floors: three (garden/basement, ground floor, upper floor)
Number of people, ages: 4: 41, 40, 6, 3
Space requirements on ground floor: open living / dining / kitchen, storage room, guest WC
Space requirements on upper floor: office/guest room, guest WC, bathroom (with sauna), walk-in closet, master bedroom
Space requirements in basement: 2 children’s rooms, one office/guest room, HVAC room, utility room, cellar, children’s bathroom
Office: family use or home office? Both – we regularly work from home and have frequent phone calls
Number of overnight guests per year: parents/in-laws approx. 10 times per year for 3-4 days, other guests (mostly with children) approx. 10 times per year for 2-3 days
Open or closed architecture: semi-open
Conservative or modern construction: modern but warm
Open kitchen, kitchen island: open kitchen, half island coming from the wall near the terrace
Number of dining seats: table 90 cm x 200 cm (35 in x 79 in), usually 6 chairs, but also fits 10-12
Fireplace: yes, centrally located in the living/dining area
Music / stereo wall: minimal space, just a record player somewhere, no TV but retractable screen
Balcony, roof terrace: balcony-like terrace on ground floor (due to approx. 2.5 m (8 ft) drop to garden), outdoor stairs to roof terrace
Garage, carport: one garage for bicycles, one parking space with first meter of garage roofed, including electric vehicle charging
Utility garden, greenhouse: no, at most vegetables / herbs
Additional wishes / special features / daily routine, including reasons for preferences or exclusions

House Design
Designer: architect, but drawing signed off by me because the last plan needs several changes that are not yet incorporated (I would appreciate feedback)
What do you like most? Why?
- Entrance: spacious, with a clear view through the house right away
- Living room: lots of outside brought inside, terrace allows for plenty of outdoor living
- Upper floor: wellness oasis with roof terrace (and the ability to access roof terrace comfortably outdoors on all sides)
What do you dislike? Why?
- Possibly a long corridor in the basement?
- Possibly room layout on upper floor, in particular the master bedroom
- Possibly space for furniture in living room
Cost estimate by architect/planner: not yet discussed
Personal price limit for house including fittings: 1–1.2 million EUR
Preferred heating technology: heat pump

If you had to give up certain details or extensions
- What could you do without? Outdoor stairs?
- What is indispensable?

Why is the design the way it is? Multiple rounds with architect – development plan restricts strongly. With a relatively small plot, we wanted to keep as much garden space as possible.
Which requests were implemented by the architect? One linden tree will be preserved, the area in front of the house and on the front left will be built up, followed by an earth ramp leading down into the garden from the left side.
What do you think makes it particularly good or bad?

What is the main / fundamental question about the floor plan in 130 characters? Answer: Do you have improvement suggestions? What do you like, what should we reconsider? What costs a lot, what can be saved?

Thanks for honest feedback and apologies for the images – they come directly from my lightweight CAD tool...

Thank you for your help – I’m looking forward to your input!

Thanks and best regards,

Tobias

Site plan

Site plan of a building plot with buildings, paths, and north arrow.

Upper floor

Floor plan of a house with garage, office, master bedroom, walk-in closet, bathroom with shower and sauna.

Ground floor

Floor plan of a house with garage, entrance, living room, kitchen, dining, terrace.

Basement

Floor plan of a house with rooms: Child 1, Child 2, office/guest, bathroom, cellar, HVAC room, utility room.

haydee4 Oct 2022 08:34

I would arrange the floors differently. Children’s bedrooms upstairs and living areas facing the garden.
Children usually don’t use the garden much anyway.
Staircase in the center of the house
Reduce corridor size
Widen the garage

K a t j a4 Oct 2022 08:57

Do you have any elevations as well?
The windows at the bottom of the plan in the basement (utility room + bathroom) – are those light wells?

I would suggest ignoring your changes for now and just focusing on the architect’s original design.
Basically, you probably decided long ago that the children should have garden access and that you would have enough greenery to tend to on the terrace. I hope this remains the case for you – often (actually always) it tends to be the other way around.

Before I go into detail about potential bottlenecks that you’ve already noticed yourself, I just want to put forward the idea of moving the staircase along the length of the wall at the bottom of the plan, to where the kitchen area / guest WC currently is. That could solve several problems. I hope your imagination can picture how the rooms would change then, and I would leave the detailed execution to the architect.

ypg4 Oct 2022 10:38

einbecker schrieb:

One question about "rooms on the left side of the plan won’t work with rough construction dimensions" – which rooms are meant?

A width of 0.9 meters (35 inches) in rough building dimensions unfortunately results in just under 80/85 cm (31/33 inches) including plaster and tiles. For a guest bathroom in a 109 sqm (1175 sqft) townhouse, that’s sufficient but not comfortable. That’s the size of our wet room in the caravan...

einbecker schrieb:

Storage room next to the toilet (so the kitchen can face the terrace)

The storage room offers no more advantages than having two tall kitchen cabinets. Instead, I would plan two storage rooms per floor, where mops and similar items can also be stored.
A sauna would be better suited in the basement...
Moving the staircase along with the house, lengthwise aligned… that offers more possibilities with a better room layout. But then everything changes, and that is actually good. So don’t get hung up on what you see now. Planning an open-plan living space causes the fewest problems, as there are many appealing options.
On the topic of a children’s floor: all well and good. But a child remains a child even at 15 years old, and you probably want and should sometimes have them closer at night (illness, worries...). The worst case is more likely a 5-year-old feeling pushed aside when sent downstairs, while the parents seek the greatest possible distance, rather than a teenager wanting some independence and you having lost control anyway (warning: pun!).

11ant4 Oct 2022 12:36

#10

The zoning plan remains completely unclear in its graphical representation (and is also cropped too tightly). The oddly red building envelopes appear to be designed for stepped-storey buildings. Designing the building here as if for a typical sloped site fails to account for the plot's unusual slope profile: first a steep wall, then a bend, followed by a noticeably gentler slope. Such building gaps are no coincidence ;-)

https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/

einbecker5 Oct 2022 00:14

#11

haydee schrieb:

I would arrange the floors differently. Children upstairs and living areas facing the garden.
The kids won’t really use the garden much anyway.
Staircase in the center of the house.
Reduce the size of hallways.
Widen the garage.

I didn’t really explain that properly. There is a beautiful wide view from above that we want to take advantage of – both from the ground floor at street level and especially from our bedroom/roof terrace. I totally get the staircase/hallway issue and we will revisit that. The garage works for us as is – it fits one car, but we’ll mainly use it for bicycles and charge the car outside. Thanks for the feedback!

K a t j a schrieb:

Do you have elevations?
The windows at the bottom of the basement level (technical room + bathroom) – are those light wells?

I would ignore your changes for now and just consider the architect’s design.
Basically, you probably agreed a long time ago that the children get garden access and you focus on greenery on the terrace. I hope that stays the case – often (actually always) it’s the other way around.

Before going into detail on possible tight spots, which you have already noticed yourself, I want to suggest moving the staircase lengthwise along the wall at the bottom, replacing the kitchen row / guest WC. That could solve a lot of issues. I hope your imagination can picture how the rooms would change, but I would leave the execution to the architect.

Unfortunately, I don’t have elevations yet – but since we have another round coming up, we will get those then. The windows at the bottom aren’t light wells; they are positioned near the top edge. The ground on the street side is about 70 cm (28 inches) below the ground floor level and can slope down a little further at the windows.

Regarding garden access: We do want it too – from the terrace you can go down 3-4 steps into the garden, and from there a grass slope on the left side of the house leads down to the garden. We want to enjoy the wide view over the other houses from above – down there feels too confined for us.

Thanks for the staircase feedback – I will definitely bring that to the architect.

ypg schrieb:

A 0.9 m (35 inches) wide load-bearing wall results in a clear width of about 80-85 cm (31-33 inches) including plaster and tiling. For a guest WC in a 109 sqm (1175 sq ft) townhouse it’s sufficient but not comfortable. That’s what our caravan’s wet room is like.

The storage room doesn’t have more advantages than two tall kitchen cabinets. Instead, I would plan two storage rooms per floor where brooms and cleaning supplies can be kept.
A sauna would fit better in the basement...
Moving the staircase lengthwise with the house offers more space options and better room distribution. But everything changes then, and that’s good. So don’t get stuck on what you see now. Planning a multi-purpose room causes the least problems – there are many attractive options.
Regarding the children’s floor: nice idea. But a child is still a child at 15 and will probably need to be nearer to the parents occasionally at night (illness, worries...). The worst case is a 5-year-old feeling abandoned because they are sent downstairs while the parents seek the greatest possible distance – rather than a teenager wanting some space and you having lost control anyway (wordplay!).

Thanks – we will keep that in mind. Although we will probably keep parents upstairs / children downstairs, we will make sure the distances are really short so it feels more like one unit. Some of our friends have this setup and it works well.

11ant schrieb:

The development plan remains completely unclear in the drawings (and is also too tightly cropped). The strangely red building envelopes look like ones for stepped-storey houses. Designing the building like a typical hillside plot fails since the plot has an unusual slope: first a steep wall, then a kink, and then it slopes more gently. Such building gaps are no coincidence ;-)

I see what you mean – but I think it will work. The development plan indeed calls for a stepped house, as you suspect – the basement projects forward and acts as a balcony for the ground floor. We don’t want most of the basement offset because we prefer more garden area and a 2 m (6.5 feet) wide balcony isn’t very practical (that’s why we want the terrace on the south side / left). Our goal is to have the ground floor roughly level with the street and access the garden via a “natural” ramp on the left, shaping the slope a bit.

Thanks again to everyone for the feedback – it really helps to revisit everything. I’ll get back to you when we have more clarity.

ypg5 Oct 2022 00:43

#12

einbecker schrieb:

I didn’t really explain that well. From above, there is a beautiful wide view that we would like to make use of—both from the ground floor at street level and especially from our bedroom/roof terrace.

A nice view is certainly pleasant and anyone who has one is fortunate. But you don’t use it the way you think. It’s like a beautiful picture—you have it, you glance at it briefly, and if you don’t have it, it doesn’t really matter. I am always surprised by how prospective homeowners believe that their “nice view” will change their life so much that they will get up 10 minutes earlier or go to bed 10 minutes earlier just to enjoy it. You simply have it. Nothing more, nothing less.
In my experience, roof terraces are rarely or only occasionally used if there is a garden to maintain.

ᐅ Single-family house floor plan on a sloped lot with terrace / roof terrace

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