Hello everyone,
My partner and I have finally purchased a large plot of land measuring 437 sqm (4700 sq ft) in Munich-Eching, and we will soon be building our prefabricated single-family house with Streif Haus. The plan is for approximately 145 sqm (1560 sq ft) of living space with dimensions of 9.96 m x 8.71 m (32.7 ft x 28.6 ft). Increasing this is simply not possible within our budget—for example, adding 1 meter (3.3 ft) on one side would cost roughly an additional €30,000.
So far, I have created all the floor plans using a software tool. Last Friday, we had our first meeting with the architect. Unfortunately, he dismissed several of our wishes:
- The gallery/open space over the upper floor,
- The layout of rooms on the upper floor (both children’s rooms are planned to face south, while the bedroom and bathroom face north, although we would prefer the opposite),
- All terrace requests,
- The design of the bathroom (we wanted a T-shaped layout with the sink set slightly into the room, the toilet and shower behind it, and a freestanding bathtub in the room), etc.
I have attached my plans for the ground floor and upper floor. Since the plot is not rectangular but rather irregularly shaped, positioning the house alone is a challenge because we naturally want the garden and the largest windows in the living room and kitchen to face south. In the attached site plan, the house is still positioned quite centrally (12 x 9 m / 39.4 x 29.5 ft). We will move it as far as possible to the right, towards the east.
We also considered changing the type of staircase (for example, to a half-landing staircase), but according to the architect, the straight staircase belongs to the "Cityvilla" house type by STREIF. I would appreciate your opinions on this. If I change the type of staircase, the entire floor plan will be discarded and the design will have to start from scratch — which is fine, as this is a “major” adjustment.
The architect is planning the entrance not on the south side directly from Schlossberg street, but on the north side: you would approach the property via the street, the house would run sideways along the garage, and you enter after the bend on the north side. So, opposite to what is shown in the site plan. This is quite a long way around. What do you think about this?
You will find comments below with questions. Feedback on the floor plan is welcome!
Building Regulations/Restrictions
Plot size: 437 sqm
Slope: none
Site coverage ratio
Floor area ratio
Building envelope, building line and boundary: Building line with house in the northwest (not yet accurately positioned on the site plan)
Edge development: As far northeast on the plot as possible, maintaining the legally required 6 m (20 ft) setback from neighbors.
Number of parking spaces: Planned 1 carport, 1 garage.
Number of floors: 2 (without basement)
Roof type: Hip roof or gable roof
Architectural style: modern
Orientation: southwest
Maximum heights/limits: n/a
Other requirements: n/a
Homeowner Requirements
Style, roof type, building type: Prefabricated house by STREIF, type "Cityvilla," no bay windows, rectangular
Basement, floors: No basement, 1.5 floors (no roof slopes, with roof hatch to a small, non-habitable attic)
Number of residents, age: 2 persons, 36 and 30 years old.
Space requirements for ground floor/upstairs:
Ground floor: large living room, open kitchen and dining area, utility/technical/pantry room (connected to kitchen), guest bathroom, hallway, guest room/office/hobby room.
Upper floor: bedroom, 2 children’s rooms, large bathroom, possibly a gallery
Office: Family use or home office? Both — upstairs for office (sometimes music is played here), downstairs is planned as a hobby room with fitness equipment. This may change when children are around.
Number of guest overnight stays per year: 10 nights
Open or closed architecture: open
Conservative or modern construction: modern
Open kitchen, kitchen island: open, preferably with kitchen island and access to utility/pantry room
Number of dining seats: 4-6
Fireplace: desired but still in planning—preliminarily included, to be built later due to priorities and budget.
Music/stereo wall: yes, with floor-standing speakers and external subwoofer.
Balcony, roof terrace: no. (Initially wanted, but considering the cost/benefit since we have a large garden.)
Garage, carport: First a garage, then a carport (2 parking spaces are mandatory).
Vegetable garden, greenhouse: no.
Further wishes/particularities/daily routine, including reasons for preferences or exclusions:
The guest/fitness room is deliberately planned large to accommodate several exercise machines. Possibly a table tennis table will also be used in winter. The necessity of this is still being discussed. There is no basement. Later, a garden shed will be built in the yard.
Since we have limited space, any tips for storing items typically kept in a basement are very welcome!
A walk-in closet in the bedroom is desired.
House Design
Who designed the plan: Me, using a tool.
- Architect:
We already had a meeting with the architect. Several wishes were discouraged by him, such as a covered garage (east side), covered terrace in the garden (southwest), and the gallery on the first floor.
- The architect recommends having all sanitary facilities on one "level," meaning guest bathroom/technical room on the ground floor directly below the bathroom upstairs.
- He suggests placing the children’s rooms facing south rather than the bedroom or bathroom, as we initially wanted. (Children spend more time playing in their rooms with sunlight.) However, we would prefer sunlight in the bedroom and bathroom (bathroom planned with a frosted window) for a brighter and more relaxing atmosphere.
- Builder’s planner: Prefabricated house will be built with STREIF Haus. The architect is a STREIF architect.
- Do-it-yourself: We purchased the FastFertigPLUS product, meaning wall, floor, and garden work will be done by ourselves. Since I am very handy, wall and floor work should not be an issue. We are still considering whether to hire professionals for terrace construction and garden landscaping.
What do you particularly like?
Why? Large plot with a single-family house (for Munich standards).
The open spatial concept with a large living room, dining area, and open kitchen layout.
What do you dislike? Why?
The hallway takes up a lot of space, especially upstairs. If the hallway is restricted to the front side, the rooms can be made larger at the expense of openness (see attached test design). Not sure if this makes sense or if it just limits upstairs space too much.
The plot is large but irregular, making it challenging to position the house facing south while maintaining minimum setbacks.
Cost estimate according to architect/planner: €306,000 for the completed house excluding ancillary and planning costs.
Personal price limit for the house, including fittings: About €15,000 can still be budgeted. We expect higher costs after material selection, especially for sanitary fittings, sliding windows, and electronic blinds on the ground floor (upper floor with "standard" design).
Photovoltaic system with battery storage (including subsidy via KfW 40+) and garage are still under consideration.
Preferred heating technology: Air-to-air heat pump. Underfloor heating in the bathroom.
Possibly adding a photovoltaic system with battery. We will gather more information regarding cost/benefit.
If you had to give up on, which details/extensions
- could you do without: Gallery on the upper floor to enlarge the bedroom and children’s rooms. However, this reduces the optics and the bright and open feeling.
- could you not do without: Photovoltaic system, carport (in addition to garage)
Why did the design turn out the way it is? For example:
Standard design from planner? Self-created.
Which wishes from the architect were implemented? All sanitary facilities aligned vertically. Waiver of covered terraces, balconies, or roof overhangs. Entrance on the north side, meaning not directly from the street but around the house at a 90-degree angle. Does this make sense?
A mix of many examples from various magazines? Partly inspired by the STREIF show house in Cologne, for example the gallery.
What do you think makes it particularly good or bad?
Since it is mostly my own plan, hard to say. The architect plans the exit through the large window in the dining area (which makes sense). However, this leads to the largest garden area but closer to the street.
You have to walk briefly around the house to reach the "main" garden (basically an exit through the living room). I am not yet fully satisfied with the layout and access to the garden.
My partner and I have finally purchased a large plot of land measuring 437 sqm (4700 sq ft) in Munich-Eching, and we will soon be building our prefabricated single-family house with Streif Haus. The plan is for approximately 145 sqm (1560 sq ft) of living space with dimensions of 9.96 m x 8.71 m (32.7 ft x 28.6 ft). Increasing this is simply not possible within our budget—for example, adding 1 meter (3.3 ft) on one side would cost roughly an additional €30,000.
So far, I have created all the floor plans using a software tool. Last Friday, we had our first meeting with the architect. Unfortunately, he dismissed several of our wishes:
- The gallery/open space over the upper floor,
- The layout of rooms on the upper floor (both children’s rooms are planned to face south, while the bedroom and bathroom face north, although we would prefer the opposite),
- All terrace requests,
- The design of the bathroom (we wanted a T-shaped layout with the sink set slightly into the room, the toilet and shower behind it, and a freestanding bathtub in the room), etc.
I have attached my plans for the ground floor and upper floor. Since the plot is not rectangular but rather irregularly shaped, positioning the house alone is a challenge because we naturally want the garden and the largest windows in the living room and kitchen to face south. In the attached site plan, the house is still positioned quite centrally (12 x 9 m / 39.4 x 29.5 ft). We will move it as far as possible to the right, towards the east.
We also considered changing the type of staircase (for example, to a half-landing staircase), but according to the architect, the straight staircase belongs to the "Cityvilla" house type by STREIF. I would appreciate your opinions on this. If I change the type of staircase, the entire floor plan will be discarded and the design will have to start from scratch — which is fine, as this is a “major” adjustment.
The architect is planning the entrance not on the south side directly from Schlossberg street, but on the north side: you would approach the property via the street, the house would run sideways along the garage, and you enter after the bend on the north side. So, opposite to what is shown in the site plan. This is quite a long way around. What do you think about this?
You will find comments below with questions. Feedback on the floor plan is welcome!
Building Regulations/Restrictions
Plot size: 437 sqm
Slope: none
Site coverage ratio
Floor area ratio
Building envelope, building line and boundary: Building line with house in the northwest (not yet accurately positioned on the site plan)
Edge development: As far northeast on the plot as possible, maintaining the legally required 6 m (20 ft) setback from neighbors.
Number of parking spaces: Planned 1 carport, 1 garage.
Number of floors: 2 (without basement)
Roof type: Hip roof or gable roof
Architectural style: modern
Orientation: southwest
Maximum heights/limits: n/a
Other requirements: n/a
Homeowner Requirements
Style, roof type, building type: Prefabricated house by STREIF, type "Cityvilla," no bay windows, rectangular
Basement, floors: No basement, 1.5 floors (no roof slopes, with roof hatch to a small, non-habitable attic)
Number of residents, age: 2 persons, 36 and 30 years old.
Space requirements for ground floor/upstairs:
Ground floor: large living room, open kitchen and dining area, utility/technical/pantry room (connected to kitchen), guest bathroom, hallway, guest room/office/hobby room.
Upper floor: bedroom, 2 children’s rooms, large bathroom, possibly a gallery
Office: Family use or home office? Both — upstairs for office (sometimes music is played here), downstairs is planned as a hobby room with fitness equipment. This may change when children are around.
Number of guest overnight stays per year: 10 nights
Open or closed architecture: open
Conservative or modern construction: modern
Open kitchen, kitchen island: open, preferably with kitchen island and access to utility/pantry room
Number of dining seats: 4-6
Fireplace: desired but still in planning—preliminarily included, to be built later due to priorities and budget.
Music/stereo wall: yes, with floor-standing speakers and external subwoofer.
Balcony, roof terrace: no. (Initially wanted, but considering the cost/benefit since we have a large garden.)
Garage, carport: First a garage, then a carport (2 parking spaces are mandatory).
Vegetable garden, greenhouse: no.
Further wishes/particularities/daily routine, including reasons for preferences or exclusions:
The guest/fitness room is deliberately planned large to accommodate several exercise machines. Possibly a table tennis table will also be used in winter. The necessity of this is still being discussed. There is no basement. Later, a garden shed will be built in the yard.
Since we have limited space, any tips for storing items typically kept in a basement are very welcome!
A walk-in closet in the bedroom is desired.
House Design
Who designed the plan: Me, using a tool.
- Architect:
We already had a meeting with the architect. Several wishes were discouraged by him, such as a covered garage (east side), covered terrace in the garden (southwest), and the gallery on the first floor.
- The architect recommends having all sanitary facilities on one "level," meaning guest bathroom/technical room on the ground floor directly below the bathroom upstairs.
- He suggests placing the children’s rooms facing south rather than the bedroom or bathroom, as we initially wanted. (Children spend more time playing in their rooms with sunlight.) However, we would prefer sunlight in the bedroom and bathroom (bathroom planned with a frosted window) for a brighter and more relaxing atmosphere.
- Builder’s planner: Prefabricated house will be built with STREIF Haus. The architect is a STREIF architect.
- Do-it-yourself: We purchased the FastFertigPLUS product, meaning wall, floor, and garden work will be done by ourselves. Since I am very handy, wall and floor work should not be an issue. We are still considering whether to hire professionals for terrace construction and garden landscaping.
What do you particularly like?
Why? Large plot with a single-family house (for Munich standards).
The open spatial concept with a large living room, dining area, and open kitchen layout.
What do you dislike? Why?
The hallway takes up a lot of space, especially upstairs. If the hallway is restricted to the front side, the rooms can be made larger at the expense of openness (see attached test design). Not sure if this makes sense or if it just limits upstairs space too much.
The plot is large but irregular, making it challenging to position the house facing south while maintaining minimum setbacks.
Cost estimate according to architect/planner: €306,000 for the completed house excluding ancillary and planning costs.
Personal price limit for the house, including fittings: About €15,000 can still be budgeted. We expect higher costs after material selection, especially for sanitary fittings, sliding windows, and electronic blinds on the ground floor (upper floor with "standard" design).
Photovoltaic system with battery storage (including subsidy via KfW 40+) and garage are still under consideration.
Preferred heating technology: Air-to-air heat pump. Underfloor heating in the bathroom.
Possibly adding a photovoltaic system with battery. We will gather more information regarding cost/benefit.
If you had to give up on, which details/extensions
- could you do without: Gallery on the upper floor to enlarge the bedroom and children’s rooms. However, this reduces the optics and the bright and open feeling.
- could you not do without: Photovoltaic system, carport (in addition to garage)
Why did the design turn out the way it is? For example:
Standard design from planner? Self-created.
Which wishes from the architect were implemented? All sanitary facilities aligned vertically. Waiver of covered terraces, balconies, or roof overhangs. Entrance on the north side, meaning not directly from the street but around the house at a 90-degree angle. Does this make sense?
A mix of many examples from various magazines? Partly inspired by the STREIF show house in Cologne, for example the gallery.
What do you think makes it particularly good or bad?
Since it is mostly my own plan, hard to say. The architect plans the exit through the large window in the dining area (which makes sense). However, this leads to the largest garden area but closer to the street.
You have to walk briefly around the house to reach the "main" garden (basically an exit through the living room). I am not yet fully satisfied with the layout and access to the garden.
Features like bay windows are unfortunately not an option – they come with an incredibly high additional cost.
Since we don’t have that many square meters anyway, we won’t reduce the overall footprint of the house. We will stick to a built area of exactly 9.96 m x 8.71 m (33 ft x 29 ft).
If the house can’t be extended further to the northeast and we choose an entrance on the east side, wouldn’t a large garage connected directly to the house make sense? Although I think the front door might end up being too close in that case. Hmm.
Since we don’t have that many square meters anyway, we won’t reduce the overall footprint of the house. We will stick to a built area of exactly 9.96 m x 8.71 m (33 ft x 29 ft).
If the house can’t be extended further to the northeast and we choose an entrance on the east side, wouldn’t a large garage connected directly to the house make sense? Although I think the front door might end up being too close in that case. Hmm.
jay2jay schrieb:
It is, of course, important that the windows are arranged symmetrically.Otherwise, does a little dog die on Mars?https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
How are the ground floor from post 41 and the upper floor variants from post 42 supposed to fit together? The stair position is different.
Do you need one or two parking spaces (not want)? I interpret your excerpt to mean that there must be at least 5 m (16 feet) in front of a garage (literally, so not in front of a parking space) in any case, and that this space does not count as a second parking spot.
Do you need one or two parking spaces (not want)? I interpret your excerpt to mean that there must be at least 5 m (16 feet) in front of a garage (literally, so not in front of a parking space) in any case, and that this space does not count as a second parking spot.
jay2jay schrieb:
Which option would you prefer and possibly modify?
For a meaningful discussion, all floors should always be shown, ideally with a north arrow or "N" correctly positioned. Also, it remains unconvincing if you don’t use accurate wall thicknesses. If you already have a supplier, check what wall dimensions they offer. For rough planning, you can start with 40 cm (16 inches) exterior walls and 20 cm (8 inches) interior walls. Furthermore, it is quite awkward to show the property dimensions if corners are cut off or the entire plot is not depicted. How important the corner is or isn’t doesn’t really matter at this stage.
jay2jay schrieb:
On the sketch, you can still see an old layout of the living room. The TV wall feels too narrow to me, especially considering it will become even tighter once the actual thickness of the exterior walls is taken into account. What do you think?I don’t find the TV wall that bad. I think the width could work, depending on what you have planned. What bothers me more is that the sofa looks extremely close to the TV wall; you should draw that realistically. I estimate about 5m (16 ft) from the exterior wall to the TV wall, and at least 4m (13 ft) of distance should be kept, so there won’t be much space behind the sofa. Similarly, the gap between the outside of the sofa and the dining table could be quite tight – will you still be able to get through there?
Also, the passage between the staircase and the dining table leading to the kitchen seems quite narrow to me, probably only about 3m (10 ft)? A fully occupied dining table can easily take up 2.5m (8 ft), so how will you get to the kitchen then?
For comparison: we have an open plan living-dining-kitchen area aligned similarly to yours, but with nearly 11m (36 ft) of clear space (and it’s just about enough!).
You have 3m (10 ft) less—I’m not sure how that will work.
Sofa = 3m (10 ft) + Table = 2m (6.5 ft) + Kitchen = 3m (10 ft) totals 8m (26 ft), and that’s without considering any walkways in between!
So, a bit more awake than this morning, here’s some additional input from me:
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
kaho674 schrieb:
If you already have a provider, check what type of walls they offer.
jay2jay schrieb:I didn’t quite understand that either: the discussion is about the current status of the architect’s plans, but what is shown is an amateur’s sketch (???). In the drawing in post #41, three “plots” and their respective floor area ratios are mentioned. They probably mean cadastral parcels, which might be more practical to combine first into one complete building plot.
The architect planned our house on the plot in what seems to be the "best" way.
jay2jay schrieb:For that, I have a mantra: “follow gravity,” meaning develop the ground floor from the upper floor (as the latter is more complex). Amateurs often struggle here due to lack of experience or practice, but the real issue is the approach of starting with the ground floor. They begin with specific room shapes and locations rather than the “overall” spatial concept. Otherwise, they would quickly realize where the plan “glows brightest”: namely where the ratio “wishes : square meters” is most intense. Hot spots include dressing rooms, showers, pantries, entries and exits (including terraces, garages, main and side entrances). If you also consider where downpipes get their name from, it becomes clear why it’s unwise to design floor plans from the bottom up. The result tends to be rooms where all the furniture fits, but you can only walk through with your stomach pulled in, doors get cramped in corners, and when you finally fix these issues and it “works” upstairs, it’s only at the cost of head-height dormers and/or boxed-in downpipes next to the TV and dining table.
The upper floor is still giving us real trouble because I can’t find an optimal layout for the rooms.
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
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