ᐅ House and Floor Plan Design – Initial Architect’s Draft Available

Created on: 14 Oct 2020 18:29
P
Pinkiponk
As previously announced, our old house in Baden-Württemberg has now been sold, we have moved to the Leipzig district, and we can now focus on our new house. Due to our age, we have deliberately downsized both the lot size and the living space. We have a first architect’s draft. I have already noted a few change requests and am now looking forward to your additions, criticism, and suggestions. If further plans or similar are needed, I will gladly provide them as long as I have them available.

Thank you in advance for taking the time to help me.

Development Plan / Restrictions
Lot size: 567sqm (6,105 sqft)
Slope: visually not noticeable; if this is important information, I will look for where to find it
Site occupancy index: 0.35
Floor area ratio: 0.8
Building envelope, building line, and boundary: see attached drawing
Edge development: not allowed/desired on our part
Number of parking spaces: 2
Number of floors: 2
Roof type: hipped roof
Style: classic, conservative
Orientation: ?
Maximum heights/limits: “Top of raw floor slab of ground floor to ridge height of main roof max. 11.5 meters (38 feet)”; “Top of raw floor slab of ground floor to eave height of main roof max. 7.0 meters (23 feet)”
Further requirements

Client Requirements
Style, roof shape, building type: we are trying to approximate the house shown in the photo below; however, without the gable projection; classic/conservative, hipped roof, town house
Basement, floors: no basement, 2 floors
Number of occupants, age: 1 male, 64 years old – 1 female, 58 years old
Space requirements on ground floor and upper floor:
Ground floor → kitchen, shower bathroom, living/lounge room, utility room with kitchenette and floor drain, hallway;
Upper floor → bathroom with tub, bedroom, 2 “wardrobe and storage rooms”
Office: family use or home office? Couple without children, no home office
Number of overnight guests per year: 10
Open or closed architecture: open on the outside, closed on the inside
Conservative or modern construction: conservative
Open kitchen, cooking island: no, classical L-shaped kitchen or similar (the plan includes a cooking island that will not be built)
Number of dining seats: 2 in the kitchen, up to 6–8 in the living/lounge room
Fireplace: gas stove chimney
Music/stereo wall: no
Balcony, roof terrace: both no
Garage, carport: 2 arched carports
Vegetable garden, greenhouse: both no
Additional wishes/particulars/daily routine, also reasons why some things should or should not be

House Design
Who created the plan:
– Planner from a construction company: yes, in cooperation with the clients
– Architect: unclear
– Do-it-yourself: yes, in cooperation with the prefabricated house manufacturer’s planner
What do you especially like? Why? Many windows and patio doors, lots of natural light and fresh air
What do you not like? Why? The windows on the upper floor are too low in the plan, but this will be changed
Price estimate according to architect/planner: already commissioned offer/order €312,780.00 (without carport, outdoor facilities, additional construction costs, land, ...)
Personal price limit for the house including equipment: €400,000.00
Preferred heating system: gas condensing boiler plus solar thermal (according to legal requirements)

If you have to forgo something, which details/upgrades
– What you can give up: we are already giving up shutters, whirlpool
– What you cannot give up: many windows and patio doors, muntins in the windows and doors

Why is the design as it is? For example:
A mixture of many examples from various magazines…
What do you think makes it good or bad? It generally meets our wishes. On the ground floor, we want access to the garden from every room. We find symmetry more pleasing than asymmetry. Few different window and door formats. No horizontal (“lying”) windows. Each of us has a separate room for clothing and such, so that no wardrobes have to be placed in the bedroom. We do not want a separate dressing room.

What is the most important/fundamental question about the floor plan in 130 characters?
The roof seems somewhat steep to me. Is a 30-degree roof pitch for a house with a base of 9.40m x 9.40m (31 feet x 31 feet) too steep? The standard according to the provider is 22 degrees. That seemed too flat, or you can hardly see the roof.

The development plan was too large to upload; I will try again in a separate post in this thread.

Garden outlined in red in the center, forest/field on the left, street on the right, building north/south.


Two-story, light beige house with white windows and entrance, surrounded by a garden.


Floor plan of a house with terrace, garden, and carport on the lot.

Floor plan of a residence with interior layout, dimension lines, and property boundaries.

Section AA-AA of a small house with gable roof: interior rooms, stairs, windows, outdoor area.

Architectural drawing: two two-story houses with gable roofs; left with solar thermal, southwest orientation.

Architectural plan: two houses with gable roofs, north and east views, streetscape, car and people.
H
haydee
13 Apr 2022 16:05
Do not disturb the branches. Last year, the Eurasian jay desperately tried to build a nest on the ridge beam.
I don’t have anything cleaner, drier, without children, or with more windowsills on hand right now.

Colorful toy car on wooden floorboards, scattered twigs, door threshold in the foreground
11ant13 Apr 2022 17:10
Pinkiponk schrieb:

I didn’t distinguish between patio doors and terrace doors because I wasn’t aware of any difference.

There really isn’t a difference in that sense. Most terrace doors are patio doors; the distinction is more about a standard threshold (with a window frame at the bottom) versus a flat threshold.
Pinkiponk schrieb:

I wanted a threshold-free door but still tilt-and-turn.

I wouldn’t recommend that—flat threshold and tilt-and-turn is not a good combination. Typically, I would choose the door closer to the room or wall center (and usually the widest) as the main exit with a flat threshold, and the outer doors as tilt-and-turn (for example, one sash tilt-and-turn and one fixed, with the tilt-and-turn sash on the right side from the inside for right-handed people).
Pinkiponk schrieb:

I would like sand-colored polygonal slabs, but made of concrete. So far, I’ve only found the slabs I want in natural stone and am a bit unsure because of maintenance and sensitivity. I’m still searching. It’s hard for me to imagine that these slabs don’t exist in concrete; I always thought everything is available on the internet. ;-)

Not only generally on the internet but also specifically here: https://www.hausbau-forum.de/threads/pflastersteine-aus-beton-selbst-giessen.41048/ — and I also recommend a guide here: https://www.hausbau-forum.de/threads/polygonalplatten-auf-vorhandene-terrasse-betonplatten-verlegen.34441/#post-392824
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
P
Pinkiponk
13 Apr 2022 17:16
11ant schrieb:

Not only in general on the internet, but specifically here as well: https://www.hausbau-forum.de/threads/pflastersteine-aus-beton-selbst-giessen.41048/ – and furthermore, I recommend a guide for this: see https://www.hausbau-forum.de/threads/polygonalplatten-auf-vorhandene-terrasse-betonplatten-verlegen.34441/#post-392824
Great, I will take a close look at both links and think them through carefully. So, you also mean that polygonal concrete slabs are not available for purchase?

Thanks also for the tip about the "flat threshold." I can research and ask about that in detail as well. 🙂
Y
ypg
13 Apr 2022 18:40
haydee schrieb:

As is often the case, if nothing else is specified, the standard applies—and that includes a threshold.
Nixwill2 schrieb:

Sounds interesting. Could someone here explain exactly what you need to say or ask for during the selection process to get all floor-to-ceiling windows aligned with the terrace?
I’m not sure if you actually mean the expensive threshold-free windows @Pinkiponk
We were asked whether we wanted a step or external sill. It was explained that we would then have to lay flooring up to the window, which is what we chose, ordered, and the landscaping contractor installed.

Open door with gray door threshold and metal latch; beige tiles inside, concrete floor outside.

Outside a glass sliding door: gray frame, pebbles in front, interior area with tiles.
11ant13 Apr 2022 19:04
11ant schrieb:

Traditionally, I would use the door closest to the center of the room or wall side (and widest) as the exit with a flat threshold, and the outer doors as tilt-and-turn (or one sash tilt-and-turn and one sash fixed, for right-handed users the tilt-and-turn on the inside right).
Something like this (blue = classic fixed/tilt-and-turn, green = flat-threshold fixed/fixed) as shown:

Floor plan of a house with terrace, living/dining, kitchen, hallway, utility/storage, bathroom.

https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
H
HoisleBauer22
13 Apr 2022 21:43
Has the reference to this discussion here https://www.hausbau-forum.de/threads/schlagregendichtigkeit-bei-bodentiefen-fenstern.43086/page-2 already come up?
It’s about rain that can penetrate through (almost) thresholdless floor-to-ceiling windows... For me, that would be a deal-breaker...