ᐅ Site and floor plan design with access from the southeast
Created on: 13 Apr 2025 14:52
H
Häuslebauer26
Hello dear forum members,
Now we would like to ask for your help!
We have reached the point where we have decided on a builder specializing in timber prefabricated houses (a small family business, ecological timber panel construction with breathable, diffusion-open wall assembly) and are just waiting for the loan approval, which should happen soon.
Architectural services are included in our house price, and we have already received initial drafts and some revisions based on our wishes. However, we are somewhat dissatisfied and hope you might have some great ideas or can spark new thoughts.
Here are the facts:
Development plan / restrictions
Plot size: 651 sqm (7009 sq ft)
Slope: no
Site coverage ratio: 0.25 = 162.5 sqm (1750 sq ft)
Floor area ratio: not specified in development plan (Baden-Württemberg)
Building envelope, building line and boundary: no specifications (Baden-Württemberg); blue dashed line in the image
Edge development: garage
Number of parking spaces: maximum 6 above-ground spaces – we will never need that many 🙂
Number of storeys: 2 full storeys possible, but maximum ridge height 8.50 m (28 ft)
Roof type: gable, hip or pyramid roof; roof pitch 20° - 35°
Maximum heights / limits: max. ridge height 8.50 m (28 ft)
Homeowner requirements
Style, roof shape, building type: single-family house, city villa, pyramid or hip roof, timber prefabricated house
Basement, storeys: no basement, 2 full storeys
Number of occupants, ages: currently M 32 years, F 27 years, children planned, up to 4 people
Space requirements ground floor / upper floor: about +/- 160 sqm (1720 sq ft), estimated from previous drafts
Office: family use or home office? M works 100% from home, room also serves as guest room
Number of overnight guests per year: about 3-4 times
Open or closed layout: rather open
Conservative or modern design: modern
Open kitchen, kitchen island: open kitchen with kitchen block
Number of dining seats: at least 6, 8 would be nice
Fireplace desired, currently one of the problems 🙂
Music / stereo wall: no
Balcony, roof terrace: no
Garage, carport: preference for an attached double garage. So far, the architect hasn’t managed to incorporate this.
Utility garden, greenhouse: no
Other wishes / special features / daily routine, including reasons for any preferences:
House design
Who designed it: architect of the builder
What do you like most? Why? Open kitchen and dining area, as the central living space in the house. Orientation of master bedroom and bathroom because the window front faces undeveloped land, with no planned expansion of the settlement.
What don’t you like? Why?
-Pantry, because the dining area might become a bit cramped. Also, the fireplace is inside the pantry since the floor space is otherwise too small. The fireplace is a fixed element due to the upper floor; there is very little room to move it.
-Connection from dining room to living room is hard to imagine and should not become a pointless corridor.
-Garage: currently a compromise. The wish is for a garage directly attached with access to the house, for example through the technical room. The architect says that this would make the southwest side too tight – his words. If it is possible after all, what about the entrance area?
Price estimate according to architect/planner: turnkey house without earthworks and kitchen 480K, already with selected materials.
Personal price limit for house including fittings: 500K
Preferred heating system: air-to-water heat pump
What details or features could you give up?
-Can give up: connection from living room to hallway is nice to have
-Cannot give up: pantry itself
Why is the design like it is now? For example:
Standard draft from planner? That was the starting point, but we have moved quite far away from it.
Which wishes were implemented by the architect? Large kitchen and lots of light in kitchen and dining area, living room was somewhat enlarged.
What do you think makes it particularly good or bad? It feels like everything the architect has done is just what we asked for. No own ideas have been introduced. We are still waiting for a “Hey – this could be done better” moment.
I would appreciate any small ideas or criticism!
Wishing you all a nice Sunday!
Now we would like to ask for your help!
We have reached the point where we have decided on a builder specializing in timber prefabricated houses (a small family business, ecological timber panel construction with breathable, diffusion-open wall assembly) and are just waiting for the loan approval, which should happen soon.
Architectural services are included in our house price, and we have already received initial drafts and some revisions based on our wishes. However, we are somewhat dissatisfied and hope you might have some great ideas or can spark new thoughts.
Here are the facts:
Development plan / restrictions
Plot size: 651 sqm (7009 sq ft)
Slope: no
Site coverage ratio: 0.25 = 162.5 sqm (1750 sq ft)
Floor area ratio: not specified in development plan (Baden-Württemberg)
Building envelope, building line and boundary: no specifications (Baden-Württemberg); blue dashed line in the image
Edge development: garage
Number of parking spaces: maximum 6 above-ground spaces – we will never need that many 🙂
Number of storeys: 2 full storeys possible, but maximum ridge height 8.50 m (28 ft)
Roof type: gable, hip or pyramid roof; roof pitch 20° - 35°
Maximum heights / limits: max. ridge height 8.50 m (28 ft)
Homeowner requirements
Style, roof shape, building type: single-family house, city villa, pyramid or hip roof, timber prefabricated house
Basement, storeys: no basement, 2 full storeys
Number of occupants, ages: currently M 32 years, F 27 years, children planned, up to 4 people
Space requirements ground floor / upper floor: about +/- 160 sqm (1720 sq ft), estimated from previous drafts
Office: family use or home office? M works 100% from home, room also serves as guest room
Number of overnight guests per year: about 3-4 times
Open or closed layout: rather open
Conservative or modern design: modern
Open kitchen, kitchen island: open kitchen with kitchen block
Number of dining seats: at least 6, 8 would be nice
Fireplace desired, currently one of the problems 🙂
Music / stereo wall: no
Balcony, roof terrace: no
Garage, carport: preference for an attached double garage. So far, the architect hasn’t managed to incorporate this.
Utility garden, greenhouse: no
Other wishes / special features / daily routine, including reasons for any preferences:
- Ground floor: open living-dining area, technical room without utility room, additional room as office, guest WC without shower.
- Upper floor: master bedroom, 2 children’s rooms, bathroom with shower and bathtub, utility room for washing machine and dryer
- Lawn / play area for kids later
- A terrace not directly facing the street for privacy
House design
Who designed it: architect of the builder
What do you like most? Why? Open kitchen and dining area, as the central living space in the house. Orientation of master bedroom and bathroom because the window front faces undeveloped land, with no planned expansion of the settlement.
What don’t you like? Why?
-Pantry, because the dining area might become a bit cramped. Also, the fireplace is inside the pantry since the floor space is otherwise too small. The fireplace is a fixed element due to the upper floor; there is very little room to move it.
-Connection from dining room to living room is hard to imagine and should not become a pointless corridor.
-Garage: currently a compromise. The wish is for a garage directly attached with access to the house, for example through the technical room. The architect says that this would make the southwest side too tight – his words. If it is possible after all, what about the entrance area?
Price estimate according to architect/planner: turnkey house without earthworks and kitchen 480K, already with selected materials.
Personal price limit for house including fittings: 500K
Preferred heating system: air-to-water heat pump
What details or features could you give up?
-Can give up: connection from living room to hallway is nice to have
-Cannot give up: pantry itself
Why is the design like it is now? For example:
Standard draft from planner? That was the starting point, but we have moved quite far away from it.
Which wishes were implemented by the architect? Large kitchen and lots of light in kitchen and dining area, living room was somewhat enlarged.
What do you think makes it particularly good or bad? It feels like everything the architect has done is just what we asked for. No own ideas have been introduced. We are still waiting for a “Hey – this could be done better” moment.
I would appreciate any small ideas or criticism!
Wishing you all a nice Sunday!
Häuslebauer26 schrieb:
By now, do you think he looks away? Definitely not. That’s why nobody does it with a hip roof. A gable roof would be an option here.
Schorsch_baut schrieb:
We haven’t used our wood stove for two years and are seriously considering removing it to better use the space. I wouldn’t have thought so either, but it really gets too warm for us, and we prefer sitting outside by the fire pit rather than in front of the glass door. This is common for many in new builds. The insulation prevents the need for extra heat from even arising, and it can even be bothersome. Plus, there’s the dirt and mess that has to be cleaned up afterward. So it’s easier not to use it at all.
motorradsilke schrieb:
I really like having a fireplace with a slow-reacting underfloor heating system. During the day, when you’re moving around, the 21°C (70°F) set on the underfloor heating is sufficient. But in the evening, when sitting down, it doesn’t feel warm enough for us. So in winter and transitional seasons, we often use the fireplace for extra heating in the evenings. We wouldn’t want to be without it. I know, @motorradsilke, we’ve discussed this before here, and I’m not trying to claim my opinion is more valid than anyone else’s; as usual, there are different views and especially personal preferences. We had the same setup you described, but for us it was not comfortable, rather frustrating. We set the underfloor heating to our normal comfort temperature (actually a bit lower because we don’t like overheated rooms), and whenever the fireplace was on with its considerable heat output, it quickly became too warm for us—even in winter, we ended up opening a window. The underfloor heating gave us “our” temperature, so why would the fireplace need to heat it beyond comfort? Or if we needed the fireplace, it meant the underfloor heating was set too low beforehand.
The “issue” with underfloor heating is precisely its inertia (slow response), which is why we did not want it anymore. In our new house, for example, we have large windows and even in winter (except the very cold subzero days), it gets pleasantly warm from the sun from about 9 a.m. onwards without any heating at all. In the afternoon, that warmth fades, and then we add a little heating with the fireplace (or infrared panels or air conditioning), depending on our needs at the time. Underfloor heating wouldn’t be able to respond individually and quickly like this, so for us, it was often too warm. But I also often read about standard room temperatures that would feel unpleasant for me, so as you mentioned, it is very individual.
We also have a different usage pattern and lifestyle, and that’s exactly where homebuilders should pay close attention—how their own individual preferences are—because no heating system can cover that for everyone perfectly. For example, my partner is not at home during the day, and I mainly stay in the open upper floor when I am home. Often, only the room I’m in is heated locally, sometimes not even that. It always has to fit every use case. I simply think you should think this through carefully, because a nice fireplace is an expensive luxury and, as here, comes with spatial compromises. Friends of ours have a beautiful fireplace but use it only 3–4 times in winter max. I would rather invest that money differently for added comfort in the house.
So I’m not contradicting you, since that works well for your needs; it just didn’t fit ours at all, and the nice, expensive fireplace always stayed unused.
Häuslebauer26 schrieb:
Regarding the roof: With the hipped roof, we have the option to build two full stories with a ceiling height of just under 2.63 m (8 ft 8 in). Additionally, the photovoltaic panels can be distributed across the south and west roof sections. With the gable roof, the knee wall on the upper floor becomes too low, and as soon as the sun moves westward around 2:30 / 3 pm, the photovoltaic system loses effectiveness. I don’t see a stricter knee wall height limitation for the gable roof compared to the hipped roof?
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H
Häuslebauer2629 Apr 2025 11:45There are some new updates I would like to share with you.
We have reconsidered and revised certain compromises.
What has changed:
- Connecting the garage/carport to the house is no longer an option; it simply doesn’t make sense, so we are no longer pursuing this. Maybe in the future, there will be a covered walkway from the carport to the house, but for now, it is not a topic.
- Pantry yes, but not as originally planned. The kitchen, living, and dining areas were disrupted by the initial layout.
We swapped the living and dining rooms and have now planned the pantry under the stairs. The staircase is, of course, enclosed.
- We also abandoned the outdoor chimney because we found a good solution for an indoor fireplace.
- The hallway area is probably still not perfect but represents a compromise we could live with.
Here is our current status.
We have reconsidered and revised certain compromises.
What has changed:
- Connecting the garage/carport to the house is no longer an option; it simply doesn’t make sense, so we are no longer pursuing this. Maybe in the future, there will be a covered walkway from the carport to the house, but for now, it is not a topic.
- Pantry yes, but not as originally planned. The kitchen, living, and dining areas were disrupted by the initial layout.
We swapped the living and dining rooms and have now planned the pantry under the stairs. The staircase is, of course, enclosed.
- We also abandoned the outdoor chimney because we found a good solution for an indoor fireplace.
- The hallway area is probably still not perfect but represents a compromise we could live with.
Here is our current status.
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