Hello everyone,
we have purchased a quite challenging sloped plot and have now received the first draft from our architect. I have personally revised it to address some weaknesses that arose due to my requested changes. The exterior dimensions are relatively fixed. I am fairly satisfied but would appreciate some additional feedback before sending it back to the architect.
Development Plan/Restrictions
Plot size: 731 sqm (7870 sq ft)
Slope: Yes, steep slope; the street runs north down into the valley and the garden is elevated on the mountain to the east
Building envelope, building line and boundaries: 3 m (10 feet) to neighbors/street
Orientation: Garden east, street west
Maximum heights/limits: still uncertain. According to the preliminary building inquiry, about 9.50 m (31 feet) from basement slab
Other requirements: according to § 34
Client Requirements
Style, roof type, building type: Modern, flat roof
Basement, floors: Basement plus 2 full floors
Number of occupants, ages: 4 persons (41 years, 29 years, 3 years, 1 year), possible third child later
Space needs on ground floor: Living-dining-cooking area, storage/pantry, guest WC, office
Space needs on upper floor: Bedroom, dressing room, master bathroom, utility room, 2 children’s bedrooms, children’s bathroom
Space needs in basement: Secondary apartment as office and fitness area, technical room, entrance/wardrobe, storage, technical room, garage
Office: Family use or home office? 2 home office rooms
Overnight guests per year: 2 weeks per year
Open or closed layout: Very open living-dining-kitchen area; rest more closed
Conservative or modern construction: ?
Open kitchen, kitchen island: both desired
Number of dining seats: 8-10
Fireplace: rather no
Music/sound wall: if possible
Balcony, roof terrace: no
Garage, carport: Large garage with double door
Utility garden, greenhouse: no
Additional wishes/special features/daily routine, also reasons why something should or should not be included: very different daily rhythms, husband goes to bed late and sleeps accordingly long. Basement office for undisturbed work.
We would like the garden level to be as high as possible above street level since the plot borders a nice meadow that is currently about 1-2 m (3-6 feet) above garden level. However, the house cannot be set too high because otherwise the garage entrance would become too steep.
House Design
Planner: Architect, with interior adjustments by myself
What do you particularly like? Why? Open, spacious living area, bay window
What do you dislike? Why? Unfavorable cloakroom situation when arriving from the garage. Long dirt zone through which you have to pass to reach the office.
Price estimate by architect: over 1 million
Personal price limit for house, including features: basically already stretched at 1 million, possibly up to 1.1-1.2 million
Preferred heating technology: Heat pump, underfloor heating
If you have to give up something, which details/extensions
- Can you give up: Installation of the basement office as a separate apartment, but desired for tax reasons
- Cannot give up: Basically everything is in some way desired/important
Why does the design look the way it does? For example:
Due to the challenging slope of the plot, many factors are more or less predetermined. There was already an approved building application from another architect, which independently resembles this design closely.
I fell in love with the kitchen bay window in a show home, which unfortunately means the pantry cannot be used as the direct extension of the kitchen as originally planned... Since the kitchen is very large, the room will probably function more as a storage pantry.
On the upper floor, the second children’s bedroom is located in the northwest rather than the southwest because the higher neighbor's house stands directly to the south, and to the north there is a great view of the green valley.
we have purchased a quite challenging sloped plot and have now received the first draft from our architect. I have personally revised it to address some weaknesses that arose due to my requested changes. The exterior dimensions are relatively fixed. I am fairly satisfied but would appreciate some additional feedback before sending it back to the architect.
Development Plan/Restrictions
Plot size: 731 sqm (7870 sq ft)
Slope: Yes, steep slope; the street runs north down into the valley and the garden is elevated on the mountain to the east
Building envelope, building line and boundaries: 3 m (10 feet) to neighbors/street
Orientation: Garden east, street west
Maximum heights/limits: still uncertain. According to the preliminary building inquiry, about 9.50 m (31 feet) from basement slab
Other requirements: according to § 34
Client Requirements
Style, roof type, building type: Modern, flat roof
Basement, floors: Basement plus 2 full floors
Number of occupants, ages: 4 persons (41 years, 29 years, 3 years, 1 year), possible third child later
Space needs on ground floor: Living-dining-cooking area, storage/pantry, guest WC, office
Space needs on upper floor: Bedroom, dressing room, master bathroom, utility room, 2 children’s bedrooms, children’s bathroom
Space needs in basement: Secondary apartment as office and fitness area, technical room, entrance/wardrobe, storage, technical room, garage
Office: Family use or home office? 2 home office rooms
Overnight guests per year: 2 weeks per year
Open or closed layout: Very open living-dining-kitchen area; rest more closed
Conservative or modern construction: ?
Open kitchen, kitchen island: both desired
Number of dining seats: 8-10
Fireplace: rather no
Music/sound wall: if possible
Balcony, roof terrace: no
Garage, carport: Large garage with double door
Utility garden, greenhouse: no
Additional wishes/special features/daily routine, also reasons why something should or should not be included: very different daily rhythms, husband goes to bed late and sleeps accordingly long. Basement office for undisturbed work.
We would like the garden level to be as high as possible above street level since the plot borders a nice meadow that is currently about 1-2 m (3-6 feet) above garden level. However, the house cannot be set too high because otherwise the garage entrance would become too steep.
House Design
Planner: Architect, with interior adjustments by myself
What do you particularly like? Why? Open, spacious living area, bay window
What do you dislike? Why? Unfavorable cloakroom situation when arriving from the garage. Long dirt zone through which you have to pass to reach the office.
Price estimate by architect: over 1 million
Personal price limit for house, including features: basically already stretched at 1 million, possibly up to 1.1-1.2 million
Preferred heating technology: Heat pump, underfloor heating
If you have to give up something, which details/extensions
- Can you give up: Installation of the basement office as a separate apartment, but desired for tax reasons
- Cannot give up: Basically everything is in some way desired/important
Why does the design look the way it does? For example:
Due to the challenging slope of the plot, many factors are more or less predetermined. There was already an approved building application from another architect, which independently resembles this design closely.
I fell in love with the kitchen bay window in a show home, which unfortunately means the pantry cannot be used as the direct extension of the kitchen as originally planned... Since the kitchen is very large, the room will probably function more as a storage pantry.
On the upper floor, the second children’s bedroom is located in the northwest rather than the southwest because the higher neighbor's house stands directly to the south, and to the north there is a great view of the green valley.
Skya2020 schrieb:
Only for the bathroom and utility room on the upper floor do I still have no idea how to design them effectively.Although the open-plan floor is somewhat more successful in my opinion, the entire house counts, of course. I don’t really like much of the layout overall. What was not mentioned in the first pages: the windowless room in the basement is not intended as a living space.
ypg schrieb:
Although I find the open-plan floor somewhat better in my opinion, the entire house counts, of course. I’m not very fond of the layout overall.
What wasn’t mentioned on the first pages: the windowless room in the basement is not intended as a living space. If it’s not going to be a tax-relevant secondary apartment, it basically doesn’t matter what we do with the room. Officially, it can be considered a storage room. Any basement window that could be installed there would hardly bring any natural light anyway, since it faces a covered east-facing terrace. I don’t think it would improve comfort. Better to have a good lighting setup suitable for streaming and PC use. We want a ventilation system. That should be sufficient for air quality, right?
I really don’t like the floor plan at all.
Upstairs, the children's bathroom has no natural light—this is so that one child’s bedroom can have that walk-in closet/storage room.
The large, almost oversized master area means that the one child has to be very quiet in their bedroom or miss out on having friends over so their father can sleep.
The potential third child doesn’t get a bathroom on their floor and always has to deal with daily life coming from the open living area.
I don’t like the open living area either, but I’m not sure what exactly bothers me about it yet.
What are all the rooms in the basement for?
Upstairs, the children's bathroom has no natural light—this is so that one child’s bedroom can have that walk-in closet/storage room.
The large, almost oversized master area means that the one child has to be very quiet in their bedroom or miss out on having friends over so their father can sleep.
The potential third child doesn’t get a bathroom on their floor and always has to deal with daily life coming from the open living area.
I don’t like the open living area either, but I’m not sure what exactly bothers me about it yet.
What are all the rooms in the basement for?
I really like the huge closet in the entrance area, and also that you seem to have used the actual dimensions for a bed in the bedroom; at least the width is not standard.
With all the tinkering, have you ever fully planned the desired furniture to scale, including clearance space?
With all the tinkering, have you ever fully planned the desired furniture to scale, including clearance space?
haydee schrieb:
I really don’t like anything about the floor plan.
Upstairs, the kids’ bathroom has no natural light – because one of the bedrooms needs that walk-in closet/storage room.
The large, almost oversized master area means that one child has to be very quiet in their room or give up having friends over so that their father can sleep.
The possible third child doesn’t get a bathroom on their floor and always has to deal with the daily noise from the open living area.
I also don’t like the open living area, but I’m not sure exactly what bothers me about it.
What are all the rooms in the basement used for?Exactly, the poor child can’t even have visitors while they’re at daycare or school in the morning... such neglectful parents.
The kids’ bathroom can have daylight through a skylight. I had the same as a child, and it was definitely sufficient for such a small bathroom.
And the potential third child is indeed being neglected because we want to keep our options open for having another. Until then, that room is my office, which I absolutely want on the living floor. Since we plan at least a 6-year age gap before a possible late addition, the oldest child could even move into the fitness room if they want. Let us worry about the room layout; we’ve already put thought into it.
Basement: technical room, study, fitness area, bathroom, storage room/small backup office in case a third child arrives.
H
hanghaus202316 Jan 2025 17:24Skya2020 schrieb:
But this means the house has to be moved considerably further back, and you lose garden space, right? So I don’t really see the advantage.Your neighbors are even further back. I assumed the 5 m (16 ft) setback like the southern neighbor. The advantage is that the garage doesn’t extend as far into the slope and stays outside the thermal envelope.@wiltshire
I had already suggested placing the garage right on the property line in the other post. Since the surveying was stopped here, I no longer consider that a good option. The property line is up to 4 m (13 ft) higher.
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