ᐅ House Orientation / Main Entrance and Garage

Hi everyone,

First of all, hello to all, as I am new here.
I come from the Black Forest and am planning to build soon. I have already applied for the plot of land. As is common here, it is a sloped plot with about 3 meters (10 feet) of elevation difference.
Assuming I get my desired plot, I am currently planning roughly how the house should look.
There isn’t much flexibility because it needs to have a pitched roof oriented toward the slope/street, but fortunately, I can build two full stories or have a very high knee wall.
What’s giving me a headache is the orientation of the house. See the file Bebauungsplan_forum.pdf.

Where should the main entrance be? On the ridge side facing south or at the back of the house facing northeast, which would result in long walks.
And the garage? Usually, the north side is recommended, but to the west and northwest I have an unobstructed view, so should it face south instead?

So far, this is the plan: see the file GS_Haus1.pdf.

There is already a rough floor plan, but first I need to decide on the position of the main entrance and the garage.

I look forward to tips from people who simply have more experience with this!

Thanks!

Best regards,
Blackforest

Hello Blackforrest,

have you ever considered locating both the main entrance and possibly the garage in the basement of the house?

Or do you absolutely need to use the entire basement area?

With such a lot orientation, this would almost seem ideal.

Regards,

Dirk

That was already planned that way: garage in the basement or in front to use the roof as a terrace, but it might be that the driveway for the garage ends up lower than the street. That’s not ideal, since water would then flow toward the house. However, to be 100% sure, this needs to be precisely drawn out.
Oh, and we need a double garage.
Downside of a double garage in the basement: it actually takes up a lot of terrace space, right?
I think it would be better in front of the basement to have a terrace.

Hello.

The location of the house/garage is almost identical to ours – we have a perfectly centered southwest orientation.

The three-meter (10 feet) elevation difference is not a big issue. It can be nicely addressed with proper landscaping design.

A small tip: we use the southeast entrance area as a kind of second terrace in the summer. On very hot summer days, you can sit in the shade of the house in the afternoon/evening – perfect.
For our southwest terrace, a pergola with adjustable shading elements is planned eventually – under our two sun umbrellas, it simply gets too hot in midsummer.

So: I think the design is very good.

Hi Cascada,

So you have the garage positioned on the south side, slightly in front of the house?
Yes, so far the plan is to use the excavation material to fill for a terrace on the southwest side.
Where would you recommend placing the kitchen?
If the entrance is on the southeast side, should the kitchen be immediately to the left after entering, on the south side, or would it be better towards the back, on the north side?
Downstairs, besides the living room, dining area, kitchen, and toilet, we also have a guest room planned.
I’m always grateful for any tips on the floor plan.

I would orient it as shown in your drawing (and then have a second terrace in front of the main entrance) or move the garage further back so that the driveway can be used for playing. That’s what we did since the kids like to play soccer or ride their bikes/boards in the yard.

I would place the kitchen to the left of the main entrance for easy access to the terrace and an unobstructed view from the living area.