ᐅ Single-family home for a family with four children – somehow still not quite balanced
Created on: 7 Feb 2026 15:48
4
4kidssunDear forum,
We want to build a single-family house on the outskirts of Munich with an architect, but we keep going back and forth without making much progress. Details are below, and we would greatly appreciate your opinions.
Many thanks for taking the time, and best regards!
Development plan / restrictions
Plot size: just under 700 sqm (around 7,535 sq ft)
Slope: no
Floor area ratio (FAR)
Site coverage ratio
Building envelope, building line and building boundary: none, corner lot
Edge development
Number of parking spaces: 1
Number of floors: ground floor + attic + basement (which is already suitable)
Roof type: currently gable roof in three directions, as we want solar panels
Style: modern – lots of glass with gable roof
Orientation: southwest-facing terrace, garden also southwest
Maximum heights / limitations
Other regulations
Homeowners’ requirements
Style, roof type, building type: gable (see above)
Basement, floors: basement, ground floor, attic
Number of people, ages: 6 people – 4 children (3-11 years old)
Room requirements on ground floor and upper floor
Office: family use or home office? – work in the basement if needed
Overnight guests per year: rather no
Open or closed layout: living-dining area rather open
Conservative or modern construction: modern
Open kitchen, cooking island: yes
Number of dining seats: 6 people
Fireplace: yes
Music / stereo wall: no
Balcony, roof terrace: optional balcony
Garage, carport
Kitchen garden, greenhouse
Other wishes / special features / daily routine, also reasons why certain things should or should not be included: Since we have three sons and four children in total, the overall layout is still not quite practical enough for me. We rarely enter the house through the garage but mostly through the main entrance, and it is important to me to have a wardrobe directly at the entrance, so we don’t have to keep going back inside with street shoes (which is currently the case).
House design
Who created the plan:
- Planner from a construction company
- Architect: architect
- Do-it-yourself
What do you like about it and why? – We generally like the living-dining area and that the living room is lower with a fireplace.
What do you not like and why? – We only somewhat like the division of the house into two parts and feel that the proportions between the living-dining-kitchen area, where we spend 90% of our time and like to gather with six people, and the entrance are somehow unbalanced. Furthermore, we find the children’s rooms upstairs quite close to the neighboring house (approx. 10 m (33 ft) distance, wall without windows – what is your assessment?). Also, we are not satisfied with the location of the staircase – maybe it should be moved to another corner or the north side of the house? From our point of view, with four children, the wardrobe should be very close to the entrance area. Overall, we find the ground floor layout unbalanced – large hallway but not a very spacious living area. We would prefer a smaller hallway and a larger living space.
Price estimate according to architect/planner: 1.2 million
Personal budget for the house, including fixtures and fittings: similar
Preferred heating technology: geothermal and solar heat pump
If you had to give up on certain details / expansions:
- You can give up on: air shaft, possibly also garage entrance
- You cannot give up on:
Why is the design the way it is now? For example:
Standard design from the planner?
Which requests were implemented by the architect? The living-dining area was suggested by us, since we liked having plenty of sunlight from east and west in the dining room.
A mixture of many examples from various magazines...
What do you think makes it particularly good or bad?
We want to build a single-family house on the outskirts of Munich with an architect, but we keep going back and forth without making much progress. Details are below, and we would greatly appreciate your opinions.
Many thanks for taking the time, and best regards!
Development plan / restrictions
Plot size: just under 700 sqm (around 7,535 sq ft)
Slope: no
Floor area ratio (FAR)
Site coverage ratio
Building envelope, building line and building boundary: none, corner lot
Edge development
Number of parking spaces: 1
Number of floors: ground floor + attic + basement (which is already suitable)
Roof type: currently gable roof in three directions, as we want solar panels
Style: modern – lots of glass with gable roof
Orientation: southwest-facing terrace, garden also southwest
Maximum heights / limitations
Other regulations
Homeowners’ requirements
Style, roof type, building type: gable (see above)
Basement, floors: basement, ground floor, attic
Number of people, ages: 6 people – 4 children (3-11 years old)
Room requirements on ground floor and upper floor
Office: family use or home office? – work in the basement if needed
Overnight guests per year: rather no
Open or closed layout: living-dining area rather open
Conservative or modern construction: modern
Open kitchen, cooking island: yes
Number of dining seats: 6 people
Fireplace: yes
Music / stereo wall: no
Balcony, roof terrace: optional balcony
Garage, carport
Kitchen garden, greenhouse
Other wishes / special features / daily routine, also reasons why certain things should or should not be included: Since we have three sons and four children in total, the overall layout is still not quite practical enough for me. We rarely enter the house through the garage but mostly through the main entrance, and it is important to me to have a wardrobe directly at the entrance, so we don’t have to keep going back inside with street shoes (which is currently the case).
House design
Who created the plan:
- Planner from a construction company
- Architect: architect
- Do-it-yourself
What do you like about it and why? – We generally like the living-dining area and that the living room is lower with a fireplace.
What do you not like and why? – We only somewhat like the division of the house into two parts and feel that the proportions between the living-dining-kitchen area, where we spend 90% of our time and like to gather with six people, and the entrance are somehow unbalanced. Furthermore, we find the children’s rooms upstairs quite close to the neighboring house (approx. 10 m (33 ft) distance, wall without windows – what is your assessment?). Also, we are not satisfied with the location of the staircase – maybe it should be moved to another corner or the north side of the house? From our point of view, with four children, the wardrobe should be very close to the entrance area. Overall, we find the ground floor layout unbalanced – large hallway but not a very spacious living area. We would prefer a smaller hallway and a larger living space.
Price estimate according to architect/planner: 1.2 million
Personal budget for the house, including fixtures and fittings: similar
Preferred heating technology: geothermal and solar heat pump
If you had to give up on certain details / expansions:
- You can give up on: air shaft, possibly also garage entrance
- You cannot give up on:
Why is the design the way it is now? For example:
Standard design from the planner?
Which requests were implemented by the architect? The living-dining area was suggested by us, since we liked having plenty of sunlight from east and west in the dining room.
A mixture of many examples from various magazines...
What do you think makes it particularly good or bad?
4kidssun schrieb:
Building window, building alignment, and building boundary – do not exist, great plot This causal connection is unknown to me.
4kidssun schrieb:
Number of floors: ground floor + attic + basement (which already fits) It is always advisable to show all floor plans...
4kidssun schrieb:
Roof shape currently gable roof in three directions, as we wanted solar panels ... and here probably urgently also elevations.
4kidssun schrieb:
Furthermore, we find the children’s rooms upstairs quite close to the neighbor’s house (about 10m (33 feet) distance, wall without windows – how do you assess that?). Which invisible neighboring house do you mean?
4kidssun schrieb:
What do you particularly like? Why? – We generally like the living-dining area, that the living room is lower and has a fireplace.
What don’t you like? Why? We find the division of the house only moderately attractive and feel that the proportions between the living-dining-kitchen area, where we spend 90% of our time and often with six people, and the entrance area are somehow unbalanced. I don’t understand: if not you, who else suggested this design and its features to the architect?
Ceterum censeo: what purpose are the many speculative measurements supposed to serve? They do nothing but create sloppy gaps!
We do not see property boundaries, the surrounding neighborhood context, elevation differences, or similar aspects here. Does the angled segmentation of the floor plan serve to fend off the fear of a boring house design?
These are quite impressive drawings for someone who understands their meaning – but a guessing puzzle nightmare for everyone else!
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
H
hanghaus20237 Feb 2026 19:40Is there a site plan or cadastral map showing the neighboring buildings?
What does the roof look like?
Are there any elevations?
Is there a zoning plan or building permit / planning permission?
What does the roof look like?
Are there any elevations?
Is there a zoning plan or building permit / planning permission?
H
hanghaus20237 Feb 2026 19:54ypg schrieb:
The question for now remains: where is south located? Please respond. In my opinion, at the bottom.Hello, first of all, thank you for the feedback – I will try to gather more information.
South is actually at the bottom.
I can gladly take a photo of the exterior view shortly.
Unfortunately, the neighboring house to the west is not visible, as it is being built at the same time. We don’t have the exact building permit / planning permission, but we expect approximately 12m (39 feet) north-south extension.
I will also upload a floor plan again (unfortunately, I only have these drawings from the architect, which I find somewhat unclear since the dimensions refer to window distances).
Regarding the building envelope, I understood from the architect that we can shift the building as we want, so there is effectively no fixed building envelope. I am not an architect myself.
Oriented floor plan: To the south there are semi-detached houses, we are at 292 - 17 (the existing building is shown), to the west a new house is being built, of which we only roughly know the location (it should lie at most to the north and east).
South is actually at the bottom.
I can gladly take a photo of the exterior view shortly.
Unfortunately, the neighboring house to the west is not visible, as it is being built at the same time. We don’t have the exact building permit / planning permission, but we expect approximately 12m (39 feet) north-south extension.
I will also upload a floor plan again (unfortunately, I only have these drawings from the architect, which I find somewhat unclear since the dimensions refer to window distances).
Regarding the building envelope, I understood from the architect that we can shift the building as we want, so there is effectively no fixed building envelope. I am not an architect myself.
Oriented floor plan: To the south there are semi-detached houses, we are at 292 - 17 (the existing building is shown), to the west a new house is being built, of which we only roughly know the location (it should lie at most to the north and east).
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