ᐅ Single-family house floor plan, approximately 150 sqm, with east-facing garden
Created on: 9 Jan 2020 21:17
O
OWLer
Hello everyone,
after reading many threads here about how well-intentioned floor plans are expertly dissected, I’m now stepping out from the shadows. We plan to build this year and have already purchased the plot. We are currently in discussions with two providers. Provider 1 never really impressed us with their designs and plans very large houses without offering much living space. I’m bringing Provider 2 into the discussion here because, apart from the points mentioned below, we still like their design.
We hope the collective forum expertise will point out some pitfalls and maybe even help solve our hallway dilemma.
Sorry for the rough sketches of the measurements.
Development Plan / Restrictions
Plot size: 610 sqm (648 with purchased noise barrier)
Slope: approx. 70cm (28 inches) over 19m (62 feet), sloping from north to south
Site coverage ratio: 0.4
Floor area ratio: 0.8
Building envelope, building line and boundary: 3m (10 feet) from the street, 3m (10 feet) to neighbors north/south, building envelope 10m (33 feet) east-west
Edge development
Number of parking spaces
Number of stories: 2
Roof type: gable roof ≤45°
Architectural style
Orientation: ridge running north-south
Maximum heights / limits: max. ridge height 10.5m (34 feet), eaves max. 6.0m (20 feet)
Other requirements: On the east side, a noise barrier is built along half of the plot, with forest behind it. Due to the noise barrier, the garden is practically not visible from outside.
Clients’ Requirements
Style, roof type, building type: rather classic
Basement, number of floors: basement, 1.5 floors
Number of residents, age: currently 2 (ages 33 and 27 – planning 2 children)
Space requirements on ground floor: shower WC, open living space (kitchen, dining, living), study; upper floor: 2 kids’ rooms, bathroom, master bedroom (walk-in closet)
Office: home office (teaching profession)
Overnight guests per year: approx. 15
Open or closed architecture: rather open
Conservative or modern construction: conservative and brick-faced
Open kitchen, kitchen island: yes
Number of dining seats: 6
Fireplace: preferably yes, budget permitting
Music / stereo wall: no
Balcony, roof terrace: no
Garage, carport: carport / budget permitting
Utility garden, greenhouse: no
Further wishes / special features / daily routine, also reasons for why or why not something is desired
House Design
Designer: planner from a construction company
What do you particularly like? Why?
We really like the upper floor. Room sizes fit well. We can’t really assess the master bedroom on the south side yet. The kids’ rooms seem the right size and have a good layout in my opinion.
A guest room was not a requirement – apparently there was space on the upper floor. We are not unhappy about that.
The living-dining area really appeals to me. Kitchen opening to the terrace. My wife likes the pantry options with access to the garden, basement, and carport.
What don’t you like? Why?
What we don’t like is the narrow corridors. I imagine 1.2m (4 feet) and 1m (3 feet) very cramped. Between the carport and along the stairs, this wouldn’t bother me so much, but the entrance definitely should be wider.
The master bedroom on the south side does not convince me much.
Price estimate according to architect/planner: >440k€
Personal price limit for the house, including fittings: approx. 440k€
Preferred heating system: gas heating required by the plot purchase contract.
If you had to give up something, which details / features could you do without:
I could do without the pantry and use that space for the WC instead. My wife, however, sees this differently.
Which features can you not give up:
The study on the ground floor is a must due to my teaching profession. The idea is to be able to drop things off in the study after returning from school, close the door, and have some downtime without needing to go upstairs or downstairs.
The basement is also essential. Many friends and acquaintances who have built in recent years do so mostly without basements. It takes iron discipline to keep utility rooms “tidy.” We manage that in our rental now but want to move away from that. We don’t want to become hoarders but want more space to spread out. Also, I want to be able to store all my tools in the basement and comfortably repair my bicycles.
Why was the design made the way it is?
Standard design from the planner?
Which wishes were implemented by the architect?
Large windows on the ground floor facing the garden, as it is not directly visible.
A bay window on the street side is mandatory for the look. The planned flat-roof bay will definitely be changed to a pitched roof. The plaster on the bay will be replaced by brick cladding. We find the bay window to the garden quite nice. Not a must-have, but it was part of the planning basis we provided and, in my opinion, positively impacts the kids’ rooms.
A mix of many examples from various magazines...
What makes it particularly good or bad in your eyes?
What is the most important / fundamental question about the floor plan, summarized in 130 characters?
How do you evaluate the usability of the pantry—does it work as well as we imagine it? What other ways, besides widening the house, do you see to widen the corridors? Does the indicated wardrobe area fit?
In principle, I would like to build it this way if only the narrow corridors weren’t an issue. Making the house 25-50cm (10-20 inches) wider is not technically feasible and probably financially difficult.
after reading many threads here about how well-intentioned floor plans are expertly dissected, I’m now stepping out from the shadows. We plan to build this year and have already purchased the plot. We are currently in discussions with two providers. Provider 1 never really impressed us with their designs and plans very large houses without offering much living space. I’m bringing Provider 2 into the discussion here because, apart from the points mentioned below, we still like their design.
We hope the collective forum expertise will point out some pitfalls and maybe even help solve our hallway dilemma.
Sorry for the rough sketches of the measurements.
Development Plan / Restrictions
Plot size: 610 sqm (648 with purchased noise barrier)
Slope: approx. 70cm (28 inches) over 19m (62 feet), sloping from north to south
Site coverage ratio: 0.4
Floor area ratio: 0.8
Building envelope, building line and boundary: 3m (10 feet) from the street, 3m (10 feet) to neighbors north/south, building envelope 10m (33 feet) east-west
Edge development
Number of parking spaces
Number of stories: 2
Roof type: gable roof ≤45°
Architectural style
Orientation: ridge running north-south
Maximum heights / limits: max. ridge height 10.5m (34 feet), eaves max. 6.0m (20 feet)
Other requirements: On the east side, a noise barrier is built along half of the plot, with forest behind it. Due to the noise barrier, the garden is practically not visible from outside.
Clients’ Requirements
Style, roof type, building type: rather classic
Basement, number of floors: basement, 1.5 floors
Number of residents, age: currently 2 (ages 33 and 27 – planning 2 children)
Space requirements on ground floor: shower WC, open living space (kitchen, dining, living), study; upper floor: 2 kids’ rooms, bathroom, master bedroom (walk-in closet)
Office: home office (teaching profession)
Overnight guests per year: approx. 15
Open or closed architecture: rather open
Conservative or modern construction: conservative and brick-faced
Open kitchen, kitchen island: yes
Number of dining seats: 6
Fireplace: preferably yes, budget permitting
Music / stereo wall: no
Balcony, roof terrace: no
Garage, carport: carport / budget permitting
Utility garden, greenhouse: no
Further wishes / special features / daily routine, also reasons for why or why not something is desired
House Design
Designer: planner from a construction company
What do you particularly like? Why?
We really like the upper floor. Room sizes fit well. We can’t really assess the master bedroom on the south side yet. The kids’ rooms seem the right size and have a good layout in my opinion.
A guest room was not a requirement – apparently there was space on the upper floor. We are not unhappy about that.
The living-dining area really appeals to me. Kitchen opening to the terrace. My wife likes the pantry options with access to the garden, basement, and carport.
What don’t you like? Why?
What we don’t like is the narrow corridors. I imagine 1.2m (4 feet) and 1m (3 feet) very cramped. Between the carport and along the stairs, this wouldn’t bother me so much, but the entrance definitely should be wider.
The master bedroom on the south side does not convince me much.
Price estimate according to architect/planner: >440k€
Personal price limit for the house, including fittings: approx. 440k€
Preferred heating system: gas heating required by the plot purchase contract.
If you had to give up something, which details / features could you do without:
I could do without the pantry and use that space for the WC instead. My wife, however, sees this differently.
Which features can you not give up:
The study on the ground floor is a must due to my teaching profession. The idea is to be able to drop things off in the study after returning from school, close the door, and have some downtime without needing to go upstairs or downstairs.
The basement is also essential. Many friends and acquaintances who have built in recent years do so mostly without basements. It takes iron discipline to keep utility rooms “tidy.” We manage that in our rental now but want to move away from that. We don’t want to become hoarders but want more space to spread out. Also, I want to be able to store all my tools in the basement and comfortably repair my bicycles.
Why was the design made the way it is?
Standard design from the planner?
Which wishes were implemented by the architect?
Large windows on the ground floor facing the garden, as it is not directly visible.
A bay window on the street side is mandatory for the look. The planned flat-roof bay will definitely be changed to a pitched roof. The plaster on the bay will be replaced by brick cladding. We find the bay window to the garden quite nice. Not a must-have, but it was part of the planning basis we provided and, in my opinion, positively impacts the kids’ rooms.
A mix of many examples from various magazines...
What makes it particularly good or bad in your eyes?
What is the most important / fundamental question about the floor plan, summarized in 130 characters?
How do you evaluate the usability of the pantry—does it work as well as we imagine it? What other ways, besides widening the house, do you see to widen the corridors? Does the indicated wardrobe area fit?
In principle, I would like to build it this way if only the narrow corridors weren’t an issue. Making the house 25-50cm (10-20 inches) wider is not technically feasible and probably financially difficult.
kaho674 schrieb:
OT: I don’t understand why the planner can’t fully incorporate your wishes and instead adds all this unnecessary stuff you never wanted? The windows at the attic peak are complete nonsense and ugly, in my opinion. The walk-in closet is still too narrow. He must see that, right?!
Sometimes it helps to demand specific furniture planning. So just say directly: the walk-in closet has to fit two cabinets, each 3m (10 feet) long and 65cm (26 inches) deep, or something like that. With at least a 90cm (35 inch) walkway between them. Then he has to deliver.
Making the two kids’ rooms exactly the same size shouldn’t be a problem, right?
Otherwise, if you ask me, it only comes down to windows and optimizing the basement. I don’t know either. It’s just— to quote a great term from this forum— a sign servant. At one point, because of the planner’s performance, we mentally distanced ourselves from this general contractor again. We really wonder how other homeowners manage this. Somehow, despite everything, he seems to meet people’s taste, since he really builds a lot in our area and already about 30% of the houses in our development. But I guess that again means quality doesn’t necessarily correlate with quantity.
Every correction request on early drafts resulted in even more complicated designs or things that even a complete layperson would shake their head at. Well, it was still affordable for us with a basement. So we have to pay for that price with a lot more thinking and planning ourselves.
Now we are satisfied with the floor plan and are having the walk-in closet, basement, and windows revised.
11ant schrieb:
My advice is to start the planning completely from scratch, without the slightest concern about aesthetics. I get the impression that the attempt to create a pleasing look here is actually the only reason the result turned out so monumentally ugly. If I also look at this, the clear recommendation is “two full stories.” What?!? No... rather not.
11ant schrieb:
Something similar with a good appearance was demonstrated by @spochtsfreund (floor plan unfortunately only still available in post #10, otherwise in the house pictures thread): https://www.hausbau-forum.de/threads/efh-172qm-fragen-zum-schnitt-Dachstuhl-und-Klinker.27213/ That was said too lightly. The original poster has a maximum building depth of 10m (33 feet). Comparing that now to houses that can be planned with much more freedom is just absurd.
11ant schrieb:
@spochtsfreund (Floor plan unfortunately only still available in post #10, otherwise in the house pictures thread) Off-topic: Has @spochtsfreund deleted all their posts? Does anyone know why?
OWLer schrieb:
What?!? No... I don’t think so.Actually, it’s logical: too many wishes spoil the broth, and even just one too many is already too much. And here – look a bit further back, sometimes you can’t see it up close – there seems to be a causal connection between the intention and the failure to achieve an appealing appearance. Aesthetic appeal can’t be commanded. That’s why I suggest allowing it to develop naturally without pressure. The shy deer comes when you stop shouting “come here.” And from a floor area ratio of 2 and a site coverage ratio combined with an attic not intended for living space, it follows that this space can also be shallower. Why resist a relaunch?OWLer schrieb:
Every request for correction in early drafts resulted in even more complicated designs or things where even a complete layperson is baffled.Designing simply isn’t part of a draftsman’s training. So it’s logical that every change request leads to more complexity. The only way back to clean code is a relaunch. Since this also isn’t part of the client’s training, I brought up a specific example whose essence can be applied even without equal construction depths, as @kaho674 can certainly attest.OWLer schrieb:
Now we are satisfied with the floor plan and are having the walk-in closet, basement, and windows corrected.Shortcomings that are not accidental or incidental but built-in cannot simply be hidden with minor fixes. I’m convinced that additional complications here will lead neither to Rome nor to Paris. Put an extra cupboard for moths into the walk-in closet.https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
@11ant: Sorry, I can’t follow your argument. The links you provided lead to no visible alternatives because they’ve been deleted, and I don’t understand why adding two full floors is supposed to be such a great solution.
A mansard roof is explicitly desired. I can’t sell a townhouse here. It’s like me wanting a skirt and you trying to push pants on me. Why?
A mansard roof is explicitly desired. I can’t sell a townhouse here. It’s like me wanting a skirt and you trying to push pants on me. Why?
kaho674 schrieb:
OT: Did spochtsfreund delete all of his posts? Does anyone know why?He already announced it, simply for privacy/anonymity reasons/just because. No tragedy.
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