ᐅ Preliminary design floor plan for a single-family house with double garage, feedback requested

Hello everyone.

My wife and I are currently planning our house with our architect and now have a preliminary draft of the floor plan for which we would like to get your feedback.

The house will be built in a new residential area with the following conditions.

Development Plan / Restrictions
Plot size: 619 m2 (6660 sq ft)
Floor area ratio (FAR): 0.35
Gross floor area ratio (GFAR): 0.6
Building envelope, building line and boundary: Building boundary 2.50 meters (8 feet)
Edge development: Max. 9 meters (30 feet)
Number of parking spaces: 1.5
Garage: Double garage, additional parking spaces in the yard in front of the garage
Number of floors: 2 floors with wall height of 6.50 meters (21 feet) on the eaves side
Roof type: No general restrictions on roof design
Architectural style: Classic, straightforward
Building plot: P06
Other: The construction area is located on a plateau with sloping terrain towards the south and west, offering a view over a river valley.

Owners’ Requirements
Architectural style, roof type, building type: Classic single-family house with gable roof and basement
Number of floors: Fully basement, two full floors above ground
Number of occupants, age: Couple (mid-30s), one infant, another child planned
Space requirements on ground floor and upper floor: Desired living area between 180 and 210 m2 (1937 and 2260 sq ft)
Office: Family use or home office?
Used as a home office but also for private use by family members
Guests per year:
Not yet predictable, guest room will be regularly used by grandparents and friends
Open or closed architecture:
Open, but with defined separate areas
Conservative or modern design: Probably conservative
Open kitchen, kitchen island: Open kitchen with kitchen island, adjacent pantry
Number of dining seats: 6–8
Fireplace: Yes, possibly also as room divider
Music/stereo wall: Not present, standard media wall
Balcony, roof terrace: No, but a large terrace facing south/west with a roof covering
Garage, carport: Double garage with storage space, access through a mudroom into the house
Other wishes / special features / daily routine, also reasons why some things should or should not be done:
Separated hallway for sound insulation of bedrooms, open living and dining area, mudroom as access to the garage, master bedroom facing north, two children’s rooms

House Design
Planning by: Architect
What do you particularly like? Why?
Bay window with a view over the beautiful valley, garden orientation at the front of the house
What do you not like? Why?
Shape of the children’s rooms, long and narrow and possibly too little natural light
Corridor on the upper floor is quite narrow – could this cause problems? Especially when moving furniture, etc. The house is generally rather long and narrow
Price estimate according to architect/planner: Not yet available
Personal price limit for the house including fittings: 700,000€
Preferred heating system: Heat pump, possibly combined with district heating

The current draft is attached, along with some updates from our side regarding the current status.

On the upper floor, we are planning, as a deviation from the draft, a concrete ceiling and also to align the ceiling height with that of the ground floor.
In addition, we are discussing the size of the children’s rooms. In the previous version, the house was about 0.5 m (1.6 feet) narrower. This naturally reduces the width of the children’s rooms by 0.25 m (10 inches) each to just under 3 m (10 feet) and an area of about 16 m2 (172 sq ft). The older drafts of the ground and upper floors are also attached.
Is a width of just under 3 m (10 feet) enough for a children’s room? Because that half meter more in the overall house width clearly makes a significant difference in terms of area, cost, and distance to the neighbor.

We look forward to your assessment and constructive criticism of the design.

Thank you very much and best regards.

This is a fresh design with nice features that, fortunately, don’t prioritize space efficiency above all else. Your wishes seem to be well accommodated. I find the brewing room interesting—it sounds like a nice hobby.

Guests have a sleeping space suitable for one or two nights but not really inviting for longer stays. If the goal is to avoid long visits, this is well resolved.

What kind of sport do you plan to do in the basement—is the space in this hallway area sufficient?

OK, you want a walk-in closet—that has been very popular for years. Maybe someone with experience in such a closet can share their insights. In my opinion, what the architect has drawn there is unsuitable because there is far too little room to move around. This "walk-in closet" is basically just a storage room if there are continuous cabinets on both sides.

The distance from the bed to the bathroom seems too long to me.

vineyard9 schrieb:

Is the width of just under 3m (10 feet) sufficient for a child’s bedroom?

Objectively, yes, that is enough. We had that in our terraced house where the children grew up until they were 17 and 19. A wider room would have been nicer. If I were designing a new build myself, I wouldn’t go with that.

vineyard9 schrieb:

Bay window overlooking the beautiful valley, garden facing the front of the house

Then the sofa placement doesn’t fit. You would be sitting with your back to the view.

vineyard9 schrieb:

Long and narrow, and possibly too little light

Children’s bedrooms need good lighting; it won’t be very bright from the window, but that’s manageable.

I am currently unable to visualize the house on the site plan in relation to the elevations and slope. I also don't know how the slope interacts with the terrace and the basement. Is there a drawing that shows the elevation measurements? A cross-section?

I understand the idea of building with the slope, as in the proposed design, to minimize work related to the slope and to position the basement correctly from the start. That is not the case here, and I think this goes against the characteristics of the plot.

Regarding your concerns: 130 cm (51 inches) or even more is not narrow! Based on your information, I would have expected 90-100 cm (35-39 inches). And whether a child's room is 2.90 m (9 ft 6 in) or 3.20 m (10 ft 6 in) doesn’t really matter. In the past, rooms were 2.20 m (7 ft 3 in) high — not ideal, but livable. However, I do find that the windows upstairs are very limited. This leaves the child with few options.

That vestibule, or this extension, looks awful to me. Also, that airplane wing-like element is not only excessively large but also impractical. Is this design from you? I assume it was just signed off by the architect? It seems unwise in many areas, both functionally and in terms of construction.

I would swap the bathroom and master bedroom, because currently your drain pipe runs right through your kitchen/living area.

So, even after a more thorough review, I still find more and more questions and some mistakes that I probably would not expect from a professional.

The pantry feels miles away from the entrance, despite being close. The island acts as a barrier.
The doors are all very random, sometimes wider, sometimes narrower.
The technical installations are located at the back of the property.
Window positions have been overlooked.
The staircase is, of course, poorly designed, but that might be intentional.
The slope is not used for the basement.
Washbasins are placed in very dark areas, the toilet lacks privacy, and drainage could be challenging.

Where are you building (north-south slope)? Even 180 sqm (1,940 sq ft) costs at least 540,000 euros, with the basement around 100,000 euros. Additional costs of 60,000 euros are probably underestimated. This does not include the kitchen.
I would suggest reconsidering the size or preparing for higher expenses.