ᐅ Floor Plan Design / Initial Draft for Preliminary Feedback

Hello,

I would appreciate any feedback on these ideas. Much of it is not yet finalized because I am primarily looking for initial input.

The planned house will be built on a plot that slopes approximately 1 meter (3.3 feet) from north to south. However, the ground floor can only be 30 cm (12 inches) above street level. The house must have a 40° pitched roof. Two full stories are possible, but we are planning for 1.5 stories with a knee wall height of 1.50 meters (5 feet). Eventually, two adults and two children will live in the house. I have not yet planned the upper floor because, in my view, the ground floor is more complex; once that is finalized, I will work on the upper floor.

The current design is based on a 10 x 10 meter (33 x 33 feet) slab foundation. Wall thicknesses may add to this, or the rooms might be slightly smaller. The wall between the guest room and living room could possibly be moved along the yellow line. Likewise, the closet in the hallway might be relocated under the stairs. The red/gray areas in the images are placeholders for the fireplace.

I created everything on the computer since it allows me to try different variations more quickly.

I look forward to your feedback and plan to post the next steps here as well.

Good luck,
LiquidSky

Back to square one: don’t withdraw 4,000 euros, but invest that amount and bring your ideas (as text, not images) to an architect.

This won’t work. The upper floor is missing, possibly the ground floor, service shafts, and the actual walls.

And basically... everything is missing. This is not a design but rather material for the recycling bin.

Sorry, it’s harsh, but it’s the truth, as much as I regret it.

Door to the room breaks up the living room -> no usable space.
Door to the utility room is too far away and awkwardly positioned in the kitchen.
The correct wall thickness would result in a different floor plan... (then, for example, the living room would no longer be a living room but rather a living corridor).
I know it’s fun to work on this, but professionals consider functionality, structural integrity of both floors, and exterior views from the start. Your "idea" can be found plenty online if you search for floor plans of a city villa. However, those include accurate measurements as well as functioning walls, so take a look there 🙂

Regarding the topic: building from the bottom up is easier. My architect told me that planning from top to bottom is simpler. 🙂

30cm (12 inches) higher than street level with the ground floor? You mean including the basement, right?

Silly question, but are you building in the outskirts of Frankfurt am Main?

Thank you for your comments!

I have to admit that the information from Toxicmolotow didn’t really help me.

But for your information:
- We have already met with an architect and shared our budget and requirements.
- According to his cost plan, the design is clearly over our budget, but he said that this estimate includes a large contingency.
- So the plan was submitted to the authorities.
- After a few weeks, we received actual quotes based on the plan, and there was no contingency included in those estimates, so the plan is unaffordable for us.
--> Result: several weeks of planning, a withdrawn building permit / planning permission application, some valuable experience gained, but no affordable floor plan — for the next attempt, I won’t just work with text, but with some concrete ideas.

- I am reconsidering the door to the study; maybe I will place it opening into the hallway. That might even be more practical if, for example, the insurance agent or others don’t need to walk through half the house.
- The idea behind the utility room door was to allow access from the garage, providing an easy way to bring things like beverage crates into the house and then into the kitchen if needed. But it might be better to have the door located in the hallway instead.
- I will sketch in the walls, but I’m not in a hurry to limit the house’s footprint in every direction by 50cm (20 inches).
- Once I am satisfied with the plan and general layout, I will return to the architect.

- I find the ground floor more challenging because I have dependencies here (location of entrance, routing of utilities, and garage position).
- According to the development plan, the finished floor level of the ground floor can only be up to 30cm (12 inches) above the street in front of the property. We will not build a basement. We had considered a basement, but only if the garage could be located there and if we were allowed an elevation of 1.50m (5 feet) above street level for the ground floor. This would have allowed us, due to the slope of the land, to use one half of the basement as normal living space — but the authorities do not permit exceptions to the development plan.
- We are building in western Saxony.

Thank you for the constructive comments. Over time, you tend to become a bit blind to the process.
I know how rough the draft still is, but based on my previous experience, I would rather invest more work in the preliminary plan now than fail later using the professional documents including walls, structural details, and exterior views.

I will post updates here whenever I have time.

Good luck!

LiquidSky schrieb:

--> Result: ... gained some experience ...

You wouldn’t notice that from the custom design at all.

For clarity and based on your details, you didn’t hire an independent architect, right? Otherwise, you would have completed phase 6 according to HOAI, which doesn’t seem to fit.

Your plans show quite a few issues: the entrance is unattractive, the staircase is located in the utility zone, the living room feels enclosed and is a walk-through space, and the utility room is a trapped space.

What does the plot and neighboring development look like?

WD