ᐅ Planning a Single-Family Home: 550 sqm Plot, L-Shaped Layout, South-Facing, Gable Roof

Hi,

let’s start directly with the questionnaire.

Development Plan/Restrictions
Plot size: approx. 550sqm (5909 sqft)
Slope: no (approx. 0.5m (20 inches) height difference over 22m (72 feet) plot width)
Floor area ratio: 0.4
Plot ratio: n.a.
Building envelope, building line and boundary: 16m (52 feet) west-east + 3m (10 feet) border construction each side, 14m (46 feet) north-south, 5m (16 feet) setback from the house to the street
Edge development: yes (north: public access road, west and south: bike path, east: neighboring development with a semi-detached house, currently vacant)
Number of parking spaces: 2
Number of floors: 2
Roof pitch: 0-35°
Style: standard
Orientation: south-facing (garden)
Maximum heights/limits: eaves height 5.5-7m (18-23 feet), building height 10m (33 feet)
Additional requirements: none

Client Requirements
Style, roof type, building type: preferably gable roof
Basement, floors: no basement, 2 full floors + expandable attic
Number of occupants, ages: 4 for the main apartment (2x41, 9, 7)
Room requirements on ground and upper floors:
Ground floor: living-dining area, open kitchen, office/guest room, guest WC, utility/technical room
Upper floor: 2 children’s rooms each at least 15sqm (161 sqft) facing south, bedroom with window facing west, bathroom, second shower bathroom
Attic: multi-purpose room (hobby) + storage space due to missing basement
Office: family use or home office? Home office
Guests per year: occasional
Open or closed architecture: rather open (open galleries not included)
Traditional or modern construction: ...
Open kitchen, kitchen island: both yes
Number of dining seats: 6
Fireplace: no
Music/stereo wall: no
Balcony, roof terrace: no
Garage, carport: yes, but not yet decided which; placement on east side
Vegetable garden, greenhouse: no
Other wishes/special features/daily routine, including reasons why certain things are or are not wanted

• Backup kitchen was originally planned but removed due to space constraints
• Utility room also serves as laundry room since washing and drying will be done on the ground floor
• Children’s rooms facing south are mandatory, each at least 15sqm (161 sqft)
• Walk-in closet would be nice but not mandatory; better to have larger children’s rooms
• We prefer rectangular floor plans over square ones, partly because this leaves more room for the south-facing garden. And yes, I know squares are also rectangles.
• Layout in L-shape with living (south), dining (south-west) and kitchen (west) is basically fixed. The “I” shape did not appeal to us in any show home.
• Terrace will be on the south side
• A small path directly from kitchen to south-facing terrace is also planned

House Design
Whose design is it:
- Based on various floor plans from skilled forum members

What do you like most? Why?

• Platform staircase — our absolute favorite
• Not too deep building volume (9.4m / 31 feet) allows for more garden space
• Ground floor
• Living-dining area plus kitchen fits our requirements. We saw this in a show home and immediately agreed on this look.
• Office saves me constant stair climbing on home office days
• Utility room is probably large enough for technical equipment and laundry
• Upper floor
• Large and equally sized children’s rooms facing south
• Second bathroom on the upper floor is practical
• Bedroom facing west was important to us (evening sun). To the east, the neighbor’s semi-detached house with 2.5 floors would be very close (currently just a guess)

What don’t you like? Why?

• No backup kitchen — possibly make the walk-in closet smaller and move guest WC to the niche near office or utility room to create a small backup kitchen
• If backup kitchen is not feasible, then at least pantry under the stairs and slightly smaller utility room
• Bathroom could be a bit wider to accommodate a T-layout, which we really like

Price estimate according to architect/planner: ...
Personal price limit for the house including equipment: 500,000
Preferred heating technology: geothermal heat pump (or local heating network)

If you had to give up on something, which details/extensions
- Can you do without: garage
- Cannot do without:

Why did the design end up the way it is now? For example:,
Which of your wishes were implemented by the architect?
We studied various floor plans here in the forum and this is the result. Furniture (office, children’s rooms) and bathroom fittings are still missing here and there.

What makes it particularly good or bad in your opinion?
We like it, but there is certainly room for improvement here and there. The floor plan is already oriented almost perfectly.