ᐅ Moving the house and garage forward: Avoid sightlines to the neighbor and make the terrace sunnier

Hello everyone,

We are currently planning our house and are considering moving the house and garage further back towards the garden (the red house, as currently shown on the site plan attached). The main reason is the situation with the neighbor.

Specifically:
• At the moment, depending on the positioning, we would have a more direct view of the neighbor’s garage / neighboring buildings
- partially visible from windows as well (on the west side, there is a fixed window measuring 2.98 x 2.24 meters (9.8 x 7.3 feet) on the ground floor/living room)
• We hope that moving the house and garage further away from the street will
1. significantly reduce or eliminate the view of the neighbor’s garage,
2. improve the distance / spatial relationship to the neighboring house,
3. and possibly allow more sunlight onto the terrace (less shading from neighbor’s buildings).

Orientation / surroundings:
• North is at the top, west to the left
• There is a neighboring house/building to the west that could block sunlight, especially later in the day.

Question for you:
From your experience, how much does the position of the house and garage affect
• sight lines (views of the neighbor’s garage/building from the terrace and windows),
• perceived distance/privacy from the neighbor,
• and the sunlight exposure of the terrace?

What rules of thumb or planning methods do you use to realistically estimate this (shadow casting, heights/distances, sight lines)?

Additional: garden planning next steps

If we move the house/garage closer to the street, we lose about 2–3 meters (6.5–10 feet) of garden depth.
Planned for later:
• second terrace (planned for the upper right area of the garden),
• privacy screen,
• garden shed.

We would also appreciate brief assessments on whether this is practical on approximately 179 m² (1930 ft²) of usable space (with the house moved further into the plot, about 9.44 m (31 feet) depth x 18.98 m (62 feet) width remains in front of the terrace (although the distance from the house edge to the property boundary is 15.64 m (51 feet), there is a 4-meter-wide (13 feet) terrace and the terrace stairs with a height of 2.20 m (7.2 feet) due to the slight slope of our plot between them).

Alternatively, with the garage directly at the street, the garden depth would increase by about 3 meters (10 feet), resulting in roughly 236 m² (2540 ft²) of pure garden area in front of the terrace (12.44 x 18.98 m (41 x 62 feet)).

Would you therefore recommend pushing the house and garage further into the property for better light and appearance (no garage right in front of the living room window), possibly with a parking space for 1–2 cars in front of the garage, even though this would reduce garden space and incur significant additional costs for the extra filling?

Thank you!

Seni99 schrieb:
1. significantly reduce or eliminate the view of the neighbor’s garage,

You can usually avoid views of nearby neighbor buildings—whether attractive or unattractive—as well as undesirable views into your living room, primarily through thoughtful planning. This means not designing your most private relaxation area with a large window facing that direction.
However, if the situation is already set and such considerations were overlooked, you can still use a hedge, shrub, or group of bushes or trees as privacy screening for your property.

Seni99 schrieb:
2. improve the distance / visual impact relative to the neighboring house,

The distance and visual impact then become less important.

Seni99 schrieb:
3. and possibly bring more sun onto the terrace (less shading from neighboring buildings).

As I understand the drawing and your description, you have planned a north-facing terrace. When the sun is high in the southern sky, the terrace will still get some sunlight, but in the afternoon your garage or the house itself will block the sun. I don’t think you will gain any significant advantage by shifting the building, but you also wouldn’t be at a disadvantage.
The question is whether your site orientation has been planned incorrectly. Personally, I would have kept the southwest corner completely free for a living area such as a dining room or kitchen.
While it doesn’t matter how others arrange their homes, all of my neighbors across the street have your orientation and have positioned their houses toward the back of the plot, placing their terraces at the front with hedges for privacy.
North-facing terraces certainly have their merits, but that seems somewhat contrary to your current ideas.

What does the zoning plan say about how far you can build to the north? Do you prefer evening or morning sun?

Why does the neighbor have the garage so far forward?