ᐅ Floor Plan – Design of a Single-Family Home with Two Full Stories – Urban Villa

Created on: 12 Nov 2020 06:19
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exto1791
Development Plan / Restrictions
Plot size: 550m² (0.14 acres)
Slope: approximately 1 meter (3.3 feet) incline from the street to the back of the property
Floor area ratio: Garage on boundary line, terrace 2.5m (8 feet) from neighbor - otherwise unrestricted, see attached plot plan
Plot coverage ratio: 2 full stories
Building envelope, building line and boundary: very flexible, see attached plot plan
Number of parking spaces: 1 large garage
Number of stories: 2 full stories
Roof type: hipped roof
Architectural style: modern urban villa

Client Requirements
Style, roof type, building type: urban villa with hipped roof
Basement, floors: with basement and 2 full stories
Number of occupants: 2 persons, mid/late 20s, planning for 2 children
Room requirements on ground floor and upper floor: see floor plans
Office: family use or home office? office/home office
Guest bedrooms per year: -
Open or closed layout: -
Conservative or modern construction: 70% conservative - 30% modern
Open kitchen, kitchen island: open kitchen without island
Number of dining seats: 8
Fireplace: none
Music / stereo wall: none
Balcony, roof terrace: none
Garage, carport: double garage
Utility garden, greenhouse: ornamental garden
Additional wishes / special features / daily routine, including reasons for choices or exclusions

House Design
Planner:
-General contractor (GC): general contractor of a construction company
-Architect: none
-Do-it-yourself: floor plan partially self-designed according to personal preferences
What do you like most? Currently nothing to criticize
What do you dislike? Front canopy not flush with hallway window upstairs - unfortunately not feasible otherwise
Estimated cost according to architect/planner: fixed price $450,000 (excluding land and additional construction costs)
Personal budget limit for house including fixtures: $450,000 (excluding land and additional construction costs)
Preferred heating technology: air-to-water heat pump + controlled mechanical ventilation

If you have to give up something, which details or add-ons
-Can give up: budget reached, no further cutbacks or simplifications needed
-Can’t give up: see above

Why is the design the way it is now? e.g.
Standard design from the planner? Compared roughly 100 floor plans and, in coordination with our current GC, created the dream layout ourselves
Which requests were implemented by the architect? all
A mix of many examples from various magazines: yes 🙂
What makes it particularly good or bad in your eyes? very practical and conservatively executed, child-friendly, enough parking/storage space inside, yet modern

What is the most important / fundamental question about the floor plan in 130 characters?

As I am very active here in the forum and like to help others with topics like floor plans, financing, etc., I would now like to share our project here and hear your opinions. I hope you like it too. Perhaps there is still a serious flaw or something that could be quickly improved, if it appeals to us.
We have invested a lot of time in planning. Since March/April 2020 we have been actively planning—from a prefab home supplier with about 120m² (1,292 sq ft) to a current regional solid builder with 160m² (1,722 sq ft). A lot of effort went into our planning and we hope it pays off during construction and upon completion.

We will sign the contract in the next 2-3 weeks and will release the offer as well as the floor plan and our revised building and service specification to prepare everything for contract signing.
We are building with solid construction through a regional general contractor. Construction start: May 2021.

Attic floor plan: attic with bathroom, gallery, bedroom, two children's rooms, stairwell, red walls.


Ground floor plan with kitchen, dining area, living room, hallway, office, WC, and terrace.


Detailed plan of building plot: street layout, property boundaries, utility lines.


Modern white two-story house with terrace; one person sitting outside, another on path.


Modern two-story white house with garage, paved driveway, black car and man in front.


Two-story white house with dark roof and separate flat-roof garage on green plot.


Two-story white house with extension, terrace with lounge chairs, green lawn.


Two views of a house: east and north elevations with roof, windows and entrance.


West and south elevations of a house with garage, window layout, and slope line.


Basement floor plan with corridor, technical room, laundry, large cellar room, and green exterior wall.
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exto1791
16 Nov 2020 18:32
Pinkiponk schrieb:

I find this comment absolutely lovely and it sounds like a wonderful, loving family. I’m happy for you because you will surely pass this on in your future family. In my family, separatism was more the rule, so my comments reflect that. Please don’t be discouraged by it.

You hit the nail on the head 🙂

I also believe that nowadays our attitude/opinion, especially regarding family life, work situation, daycare centers / preschools / babysitters, etc., is quite traditional. We are definitely in the minority but would like to pass exactly these values on to our children.

All of this is also reflected in our house! That’s exactly why we plan certain things that a person with a more “modern” mindset would never consider.
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Ysop***
16 Nov 2020 19:17
Unlike the wardrobe, which I still miss a little :p, I totally agree with you here.
Sure, having a second shower is nice, but in my opinion, only for a relatively short time. After that, it’s just a cleaning task. It’s the same at my parents’ place. The shower on the ground floor is taped off. No one has used it for 15 years. So, for me, a children’s bathroom is not an absolute must, but rather a nice-to-have.
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pagoni2020
16 Nov 2020 19:28
ypg schrieb:

Because a child locked themselves in to have some peace? Or to have some privacy away from the kids? There are plenty of reasons to need some space, whether it's a teenager who wants to do their makeup for an hour or someone who wants to take endless showers after a night out 😉
What I mainly read here, especially from younger home builders, are thoughtful scenarios they want to be prepared for. Of course, there are many conceivable situations, plus lots of unknown factors. What usually doesn’t get enough attention are the thoughts that life often turns out the way you tend to assume it happens in other families.

Even if parents give their children "everything" (whatever that means), kids can develop very differently than expected. Maybe siblings don’t get along at all and fight constantly and intensely; maybe someone in the family needs more distance or privacy, even in the bathroom. Kids might enter into radical confrontation with their parents or develop in ways that make them want to spend some time apart, or that parents prefer some distance from them for a while. I don’t even want to put the blame mainly on the kids here, as we adults are constantly changing as well (though we usually don’t like to admit it).

Especially if you have small children or soon will, it’s harder to imagine, and hopefully it never happens. But if it does, I think it’s very important to have space for that, which certainly includes a separate bathroom/restroom that can be simply equipped. There’s no need to imagine worst-case scenarios, but kids nowadays are becoming more and more independent individuals with growing self-confidence. And the relationships among us adults also change — what once was exciting may eventually become boring or, in the worst case, cause serious resentment.

I never could have imagined having two bathrooms. There are only two of us now, and I could never imagine living with just one bathroom anymore — unless there simply was no other option. When two 10-year-olds are hanging out in the kitchen or bathroom, parents enjoy watching. But if two 17-year-olds do the same thing, in a bad mood and at late hours, and the parents are correspondingly older, the same situation suddenly feels very different.
Nida35a16 Nov 2020 19:31
Our guest shower is actually used about 10-15 times a year, but an unplanned task has come up: the clothes dryer is stacked inside and still works even when dripping wet.
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Ysop***
16 Nov 2020 19:34
If I’m not mistaken, @exto1791 was more or less told that the financing would be very tight. And now he is being told that this and that is urgently needed…
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exto1791
16 Nov 2020 19:36
Ysop*** schrieb:

If I'm not mistaken, @exto1791 was told that financing would be very tight. And now he’s being told that this and that is urgently needed....

That’s right, the topic back then 😀

So, it definitely isn’t tight, but we don’t have money to just throw away either 😀

You have to set priorities… Our house is already expensive enough 😀