ᐅ New Single-Family Home Construction – Join Us on Our Journey!
Created on: 4 Aug 2022 16:13
G
gregman22
Dear community,
We are finally getting a step closer to realizing our dream of building a single-family home.
The plot has been purchased, building plans have been reviewed, construction method decided, and so on. We have now commissioned the architect of the general contractor (GC) of our choice with the planning task and are currently fine-tuning the house design. I would love to take you along on this journey and incorporate your valuable feedback.
At this stage, the focus is on the house design.
Basic data:
Plot: 1062m2 (11,433 sq ft); approx. 25.5m x 41.64m (84 ft x 137 ft)
Orientation: Northwest -> The arrow in the screenshot of the 3D view points south
Desired room layout:
Ground floor:
First floor:
Attic:
Note: I am still discussing this with the architect. Due to the hipped roof shape, the actual living area has shrunk too much. Therefore, further discussion is needed to accommodate the other rooms. I had underestimated the ratio of gross floor area to usable living space.
Basement:
Additional plans:
Now to my first questions for you:
My biggest construction challenge at the moment is the layout of the attic. There are two alternatives:
- Change the roof type, which would increase costs but provide more usable living space in the attic
- Give up the playroom on the first floor, convert it into a guest room, and build only the two offices in the attic (no guest room or bathroom)
Thank you in advance for your comments.
We are finally getting a step closer to realizing our dream of building a single-family home.
The plot has been purchased, building plans have been reviewed, construction method decided, and so on. We have now commissioned the architect of the general contractor (GC) of our choice with the planning task and are currently fine-tuning the house design. I would love to take you along on this journey and incorporate your valuable feedback.
At this stage, the focus is on the house design.
Basic data:
Plot: 1062m2 (11,433 sq ft); approx. 25.5m x 41.64m (84 ft x 137 ft)
Orientation: Northwest -> The arrow in the screenshot of the 3D view points south
Desired room layout:
Ground floor:
- Large living/dining area with adjacent (but separable) kitchen at the bottom left, plus a gallery overlooking the first floor
- Utility room
- Guest toilet
- Garage
- Separate apartment at the top right with its own entrance for parents-in-law
First floor:
- Gallery overlooking the ground floor
- 2 children’s bedrooms with a shared bathroom
- 1 playroom (initially a home cinema room, later to be repurposed) above the garage
- Master wing with main bedroom, dressing room, and bathroom
Attic:
Note: I am still discussing this with the architect. Due to the hipped roof shape, the actual living area has shrunk too much. Therefore, further discussion is needed to accommodate the other rooms. I had underestimated the ratio of gross floor area to usable living space.
- 2 separate offices
- 1 guest bedroom
- 1 small guest bathroom
Basement:
- 1 technical room
- 1 laundry room
- 1 storage room
- Large fitness room
- Wellness room with sauna
Additional plans:
- Air-to-air heat pump or air-to-water heat pump
- Photovoltaic system with/without battery storage
- Possible pool (3.5/4m x 8m or 3.5/4m x 12m) with heat pump (and countercurrent system)
- Sauna in the basement room
- Air conditioning for various rooms
- Smart home system – most likely via KNX
- Garden: Currently planning 2 terraces – one to the left, slightly more to the south, and one facing the main part of the plot further north
Now to my first questions for you:
- How do the floor plans strike you? Do they make sense in terms of the dynamics of family life?
- The location of the separate apartment was chosen based on our wish. We wanted a strict, clearly defined spatial separation with a separate entrance. Do you have any comments on this?
- Do you consider the utility rooms in the basement to be adequately sized (considering KNX, heat pump, etc.)?
My biggest construction challenge at the moment is the layout of the attic. There are two alternatives:
- Change the roof type, which would increase costs but provide more usable living space in the attic
- Give up the playroom on the first floor, convert it into a guest room, and build only the two offices in the attic (no guest room or bathroom)
Thank you in advance for your comments.
G
gregman227 Aug 2022 17:29ypg schrieb:
You also discussed the plot in the green section, didn’t you?In this forum, I discussed the plot before purchasing it. I’m not sure if I’m allowed to share a link here. The discussion was titled: Plot with Northwest Orientation – Tips
G
gregman227 Aug 2022 17:34ypg schrieb:
Yes, I know that thread. I thought you were also active in the other forum… I checked again, and definitely NO. I wasn’t aware of the “Green” until your comment. Is there a duplicate user over there?
No, sometimes I get a bit confused too 😉
The site plan and dimensions should already be clearly known here. It's a tricky plot with a thousand different wishes to fit in, which basically means you can’t reduce even half a meter later without problems. On the other hand, you can spend thirty hours juggling walls, and it will still only fit about 70%, so basically it ends up as a rough draft with limited use.
I also find the comment about 3 meters on the left and right surprising when, as a layperson, I see 4 and 6 meters that have to be respected.
Regarding the questionnaire on page 7: I find it odd that there is hardly any room program listed. Instead, I get the impression you described the house based on the general contractor’s specifications.
For example, shouldn’t it still be open whether the attic is needed at all?
Are there already any limitations or special needs for the residents of the granny flat? Do you like sunlight? What does your daily routine look like? What is the balcony for? Are you excluding a north-facing garden? No island in the kitchen?
I often feel the “why” is missing!
As I said, I’ve already started here despite the vague plot description, simply because I’m interested. However, my willingness to implement is limited when the plot isn’t even clarified yet. I’m sharing this purely as a thought exercise*, to illustrate some of the difficulties you face with orientation, a granny flat, and a restricted building envelope. And *for this reason especially, I see this as a different kind of discussion than in an open forum, because here many sketches are viewed as finished designs without considering the challenges. 😉
One example: at the expense of a nice open space, it could be that a guest bathroom ends up without a window. If you try other options, it just results in other issues. In this respect, I would tolerate it regarding the open space, but not in other aspects. Constructively, that is also not ideal though.
kbt09 schrieb:
and the building envelope from the site plan measures about 15x17m - right?
The site plan and dimensions should already be clearly known here. It's a tricky plot with a thousand different wishes to fit in, which basically means you can’t reduce even half a meter later without problems. On the other hand, you can spend thirty hours juggling walls, and it will still only fit about 70%, so basically it ends up as a rough draft with limited use.
I also find the comment about 3 meters on the left and right surprising when, as a layperson, I see 4 and 6 meters that have to be respected.
Regarding the questionnaire on page 7: I find it odd that there is hardly any room program listed. Instead, I get the impression you described the house based on the general contractor’s specifications.
For example, shouldn’t it still be open whether the attic is needed at all?
Are there already any limitations or special needs for the residents of the granny flat? Do you like sunlight? What does your daily routine look like? What is the balcony for? Are you excluding a north-facing garden? No island in the kitchen?
I often feel the “why” is missing!
As I said, I’ve already started here despite the vague plot description, simply because I’m interested. However, my willingness to implement is limited when the plot isn’t even clarified yet. I’m sharing this purely as a thought exercise*, to illustrate some of the difficulties you face with orientation, a granny flat, and a restricted building envelope. And *for this reason especially, I see this as a different kind of discussion than in an open forum, because here many sketches are viewed as finished designs without considering the challenges. 😉
One example: at the expense of a nice open space, it could be that a guest bathroom ends up without a window. If you try other options, it just results in other issues. In this respect, I would tolerate it regarding the open space, but not in other aspects. Constructively, that is also not ideal though.
G
gregman227 Aug 2022 19:15ypg schrieb:
Regarding the questionnaire on page 7: I’m surprised that there is no actual room layout, but rather it seems like you described the house from the general contractor’s perspective.In the end, it was a mistake to specify the floor distribution already. We can move away from that. The list of rooms is still just wishful thinking, and we will certainly need to make compromises.Back to the zoning plan / development plan: after analyzing the neighboring houses, we loosened our approach a bit because they appear much more spacious. The zoning plan is very old. Whether this way of thinking is correct, I’ll let the new architect decide in the end.
What other property details do you need? Can I help in any way?
gregman22 schrieb:
What other information about the plot do you need? Can I help in any way? As I already mentioned: your personal preferences. You don’t have information about the plot yourself..
For example, when I was reading an hour ago, I noticed that you originally wanted a cubic design. Although your planning permission / building permit requires a roof, this does not apply to extensions. When I look at the structure from the general contractor, I don’t think of a modern build, but rather a conventional construction (apart from the hole/air space).
This kind of design tends to be overlooked rather than noticed.
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