ᐅ Single-family home, approximately 1500 square feet, with 2 children’s bedrooms – What do you think of the floor plan?
Created on: 4 Aug 2018 14:18
S
Stege90
Hello,
we have been offered a plot of land by a developer and would like to build our future home there. The plot is located at the end of a cul-de-sac in a traffic-calmed residential area (infilling development).
I should mention upfront that we have not yet received much information from the developer. We shared our rough requirements with him, and he has created a first draft, so far only for the ground floor.
It would be great if you could help us evaluate this early on before we progress too far in the planning and have to make major changes later.
The positioning of the house on the plot is due to the fact that all other options we considered would cast too much shadow on the rest of the plot.
The plot shown as undeveloped on the site plan has meanwhile been built on with a bungalow (marked). A carport will be constructed between the bungalow and our plot.
Development Plan / Restrictions
Plot size: approx. 750 m² (about 8,070 sq ft)
Slope: none
Floor area ratio: no information received yet
Plot ratio: no information received yet
Building window, building line, and boundary: no information received yet
Edge development: no information received yet
Number of parking spaces: no information received yet
Number of floors: no information received yet
Roof shape:
Architectural style:
Orientation: see image
Maximum heights / limits: ?
Additional requirements?
Client Requirements
Style, roof type, building type: A mono-pitched roof was preferred to minimize sloping ceilings, but according to the developer and the development plan this is not permitted, so a gable roof was proposed – this still needs clarification.
Basement, floors: no basement, 2 floors
Number of occupants, age: currently 3 (28, 28, 1), planned: second child
Space requirements on ground floor and upper floor: Ground floor: guest toilet, utility room, kitchen/dining room, living room; Upper floor: 3 bedrooms, office, bathroom
Office use: family or home office? office to be used occasionally as a mobile workspace; initially also as a guest room
Guests per year – every 3 months 2-4 people
Open or closed layout – rather closed
Conservative or modern construction: probably a mix
Open kitchen, kitchen island: open kitchen connected to dining room – no freestanding kitchen island; separation from dining area by a counter
Number of dining seats: minimum 6, option for a large dining table (big family)
Fireplace: no
Music / stereo wall: yes, in the living room where the sofa is currently planned (wall on the left towards the carport); sofa arranged in an L-shape facing north and east – pictures might be hung on the wall towards the dining room
Balcony, roof terrace: no
Garage, carport: garage was requested, but we also like the current proposal
Utility garden, greenhouse: no
Additional wishes / special features / daily routine, including reasons why certain things should or shouldn’t be included:
Bathroom – T-shaped bathroom with shower cabin desired; a large washbasin
Walk-in closet not desired
No basement
Access via the garage/carport
House Design
Designed by:
- planner from a construction company
What do you particularly like and why? What do you dislike and why?
We definitely want the carport to be wider than in the initial floor plan – at least 4 meters (about 13 feet).
Noticeable is the missing entrance area, i.e. the actual front door. Initially, this seemed strange to us, but it provides many opportunities for the interior layout, so after some consideration we don’t find it so bad.
Price estimate according to architect/planner; personal price limit for the house, including fittings: approx. €260,000
Preferred heating technology: not discussed yet
If you have to give up something, which features/extensions
- can you do without: garage – already left out by the developer to enable the design without a main entrance area
- cannot do without: kitchen/dining area – pantry next to the kitchen
Why is the design like it is? For example:
We do not want a completely open living/dining area. Therefore, the living room should be a separate, closed room.
[U]What is the most important / fundamental question about the floor plan summarized in 130 characters?
What do you think about the missing traditional entrance area?
Please feel free to criticize and offer suggestions for improvement. For now, the focus is on the house location on the plot and the ground floor layout. Since we are still at the beginning, many things are still changeable.
we have been offered a plot of land by a developer and would like to build our future home there. The plot is located at the end of a cul-de-sac in a traffic-calmed residential area (infilling development).
I should mention upfront that we have not yet received much information from the developer. We shared our rough requirements with him, and he has created a first draft, so far only for the ground floor.
It would be great if you could help us evaluate this early on before we progress too far in the planning and have to make major changes later.
The positioning of the house on the plot is due to the fact that all other options we considered would cast too much shadow on the rest of the plot.
The plot shown as undeveloped on the site plan has meanwhile been built on with a bungalow (marked). A carport will be constructed between the bungalow and our plot.
Development Plan / Restrictions
Plot size: approx. 750 m² (about 8,070 sq ft)
Slope: none
Floor area ratio: no information received yet
Plot ratio: no information received yet
Building window, building line, and boundary: no information received yet
Edge development: no information received yet
Number of parking spaces: no information received yet
Number of floors: no information received yet
Roof shape:
Architectural style:
Orientation: see image
Maximum heights / limits: ?
Additional requirements?
Client Requirements
Style, roof type, building type: A mono-pitched roof was preferred to minimize sloping ceilings, but according to the developer and the development plan this is not permitted, so a gable roof was proposed – this still needs clarification.
Basement, floors: no basement, 2 floors
Number of occupants, age: currently 3 (28, 28, 1), planned: second child
Space requirements on ground floor and upper floor: Ground floor: guest toilet, utility room, kitchen/dining room, living room; Upper floor: 3 bedrooms, office, bathroom
Office use: family or home office? office to be used occasionally as a mobile workspace; initially also as a guest room
Guests per year – every 3 months 2-4 people
Open or closed layout – rather closed
Conservative or modern construction: probably a mix
Open kitchen, kitchen island: open kitchen connected to dining room – no freestanding kitchen island; separation from dining area by a counter
Number of dining seats: minimum 6, option for a large dining table (big family)
Fireplace: no
Music / stereo wall: yes, in the living room where the sofa is currently planned (wall on the left towards the carport); sofa arranged in an L-shape facing north and east – pictures might be hung on the wall towards the dining room
Balcony, roof terrace: no
Garage, carport: garage was requested, but we also like the current proposal
Utility garden, greenhouse: no
Additional wishes / special features / daily routine, including reasons why certain things should or shouldn’t be included:
Bathroom – T-shaped bathroom with shower cabin desired; a large washbasin
Walk-in closet not desired
No basement
Access via the garage/carport
House Design
Designed by:
- planner from a construction company
What do you particularly like and why? What do you dislike and why?
We definitely want the carport to be wider than in the initial floor plan – at least 4 meters (about 13 feet).
Noticeable is the missing entrance area, i.e. the actual front door. Initially, this seemed strange to us, but it provides many opportunities for the interior layout, so after some consideration we don’t find it so bad.
Price estimate according to architect/planner; personal price limit for the house, including fittings: approx. €260,000
Preferred heating technology: not discussed yet
If you have to give up something, which features/extensions
- can you do without: garage – already left out by the developer to enable the design without a main entrance area
- cannot do without: kitchen/dining area – pantry next to the kitchen
Why is the design like it is? For example:
We do not want a completely open living/dining area. Therefore, the living room should be a separate, closed room.
[U]What is the most important / fundamental question about the floor plan summarized in 130 characters?
What do you think about the missing traditional entrance area?
Please feel free to criticize and offer suggestions for improvement. For now, the focus is on the house location on the plot and the ground floor layout. Since we are still at the beginning, many things are still changeable.
11ant schrieb:
I interpret it more like that I rather got the impression that the OP is satisfied with the general contractor’s proposal and now wants to make the best out of it.kaho674 schrieb:
I had more the impression that the OP is satisfied with the general contractor’s proposal and now wants to make the best out of it.That’s also the impression I got. General contractors can sometimes make the builder feel like they are being a nuisance with their suggestions and changes.
ypg schrieb:
General contractors can sometimes make the client feel like they are a nuisance with their suggestions and changes.That was the best one today. Always those annoying customers... I know the feeling.
Here too, I sense a strong resistance to advice.
And even though the original poster has already stated that the room layout will remain as is: I currently have a pantry facing south. This condition gives me daily associations in summer, imagining what it would be like to brutally lash out at an architect (and I’m generally not a violent person).
Moreover, the masons forgot the blind in my south-facing pantry (the owner's instruction for this four-unit building was: no blinds for the pantry on the north side! What was done: no blinds in any of the pantries! Unfortunately, the ceiling was already installed when the owner noticed this... the pantry in the apartment above mine eventually got a blind).
In short: I can also create sauna-like conditions in this room during summer. Even in the apartment above, with the blind-equipped pantry, the warm, cozy climate cannot be avoided in summer.
Therefore: you cannot store food in such rooms. It’s utterly nonsensical.
After living in the apartment for two years, I moved my pantry storage to the basement utility room and now have to run down from the kitchen on the ground floor every time I need something. Totally inconvenient!
I tried everything to cool the room designated as a pantry to some extent: Venetian blinds (but between the window and the blind, the sun heats up the room intensely), additional fly screens with silver coating, which are supposed to reflect sunlight and thus lower the temperature in the room (supposed to!!! and that’s as far as it goes), up to the only practical solution: open windows overnight, and first thing in the morning close windows and blinds, keep the door to the corridor open (to allow air exchange between the cooler corridor and the hot pantry). We still do this, even though, as mentioned, we have relocated the food downstairs. This reduces sauna-like conditions to merely “quite warm.” But under no circumstances can you store potatoes, onions, or just vegetables in such a room.
By the way, not even in the pantry with blinds in the apartment above me. Despite the blinds being consistently pulled down, it still gets uncomfortably warm in summer.
A PANTRY FACING SOUTH IS COMPLETE NONSENSE!
A designer who consistently plans and allows this should not be called one.
Put the pantry somewhere else if the kitchen layout cannot be changed, but where it is now, it’s nonsense. You won’t be able to use it.
The entire ground floor is one of the worst designs I have ever seen. But a man’s will is his heaven. The original poster wants to stick to it. Let him be happy with that.
Overall, the entire plan fits with the pantry’s location and therefore deserves the label I gave it in capital letters.
I really wonder sometimes what kind of people become planners here (I don’t want to believe this is really a proper, genuine architect…).
And even though the original poster has already stated that the room layout will remain as is: I currently have a pantry facing south. This condition gives me daily associations in summer, imagining what it would be like to brutally lash out at an architect (and I’m generally not a violent person).
Moreover, the masons forgot the blind in my south-facing pantry (the owner's instruction for this four-unit building was: no blinds for the pantry on the north side! What was done: no blinds in any of the pantries! Unfortunately, the ceiling was already installed when the owner noticed this... the pantry in the apartment above mine eventually got a blind).
In short: I can also create sauna-like conditions in this room during summer. Even in the apartment above, with the blind-equipped pantry, the warm, cozy climate cannot be avoided in summer.
Therefore: you cannot store food in such rooms. It’s utterly nonsensical.
After living in the apartment for two years, I moved my pantry storage to the basement utility room and now have to run down from the kitchen on the ground floor every time I need something. Totally inconvenient!
I tried everything to cool the room designated as a pantry to some extent: Venetian blinds (but between the window and the blind, the sun heats up the room intensely), additional fly screens with silver coating, which are supposed to reflect sunlight and thus lower the temperature in the room (supposed to!!! and that’s as far as it goes), up to the only practical solution: open windows overnight, and first thing in the morning close windows and blinds, keep the door to the corridor open (to allow air exchange between the cooler corridor and the hot pantry). We still do this, even though, as mentioned, we have relocated the food downstairs. This reduces sauna-like conditions to merely “quite warm.” But under no circumstances can you store potatoes, onions, or just vegetables in such a room.
By the way, not even in the pantry with blinds in the apartment above me. Despite the blinds being consistently pulled down, it still gets uncomfortably warm in summer.
A PANTRY FACING SOUTH IS COMPLETE NONSENSE!
A designer who consistently plans and allows this should not be called one.
Put the pantry somewhere else if the kitchen layout cannot be changed, but where it is now, it’s nonsense. You won’t be able to use it.
The entire ground floor is one of the worst designs I have ever seen. But a man’s will is his heaven. The original poster wants to stick to it. Let him be happy with that.
Overall, the entire plan fits with the pantry’s location and therefore deserves the label I gave it in capital letters.
I really wonder sometimes what kind of people become planners here (I don’t want to believe this is really a proper, genuine architect…).
Climbee schrieb:
Sometimes I really wonder what kind of people become planners here (I don’t want to believe they’re actually proper, real architects...) I think a lot of it comes down to extreme desensitization when it comes to discussions with clients. If you’ve advised a client 100 times, and all 100 times your advice was ignored and the client’s wishes were treated like gospel, by the 101st time you just think – whatever, go ahead.
We experience this exactly the same way here. Most new homeowners have set their minds on something. You can repeat a hundred times, “Uh – the pantry on the south side – that’s going to be a problem.” But it doesn’t matter. They just go through with it.
@Climbee a great post based on real-life experience. I really hope the OP takes it to heart and doesn’t think, “Oh, it will turn out fine.”
I don’t believe that. If our architect advises against something (for logical reasons), I definitely wouldn’t say, “No, do it anyway.” It’s his job to point out anything he notices, after all, he does this every day and I’m building a house for the first time. Ideally, he wouldn’t plan it that way from the start (a storage room facing south), so there wouldn’t even be a discussion. And our architect has been around for a long time and there were points during the planning where he deliberately said, “No, we are definitely not doing it that way.” If anyone becomes desensitized, it’s not him.
kaho674 schrieb:
I think it also has a lot to do with becoming desensitized when discussing things with the client.
I don’t believe that. If our architect advises against something (for logical reasons), I definitely wouldn’t say, “No, do it anyway.” It’s his job to point out anything he notices, after all, he does this every day and I’m building a house for the first time. Ideally, he wouldn’t plan it that way from the start (a storage room facing south), so there wouldn’t even be a discussion. And our architect has been around for a long time and there were points during the planning where he deliberately said, “No, we are definitely not doing it that way.” If anyone becomes desensitized, it’s not him.
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