ᐅ Single-family home, approximately 160 m², Bauhaus style; first design draft based on our requirements

Created on: 23 Aug 2019 22:03

Hello everyone,

we've been looking forward to this for a long time, and now we can finally share our first draft floor plan/design for discussion. We’re very curious to hear your feedback.
Those of you who have seen my thread before (https://www.hausbau-forum.de/threads/efh-Bauhausstil-Wohnfläche-180m-mit-Doppelgarage.31853/) know what to expect, and here comes the gem.

Development Plan / Restrictions
Plot size: 530m² (about 5,700 sq ft)
Slope: No
Site coverage ratio (Grundflächenzahl): see screenshot
Floor area ratio (Geschossflächenzahl): see screenshot
Building envelope, building line, and boundaries: see screenshot
Edge development: see screenshot
Number of parking spaces: double garage
Number of floors: 2
Roof style: flat roof
Architectural style: Bauhaus
Orientation
Maximum height/limitations
Other requirements

The green highlighted area represents our plot => Parcel 8479

Cadastral map with pink parcels LP II, blue outlines, green line with marker.

Schematic representation of building use, site coverage ratio, WA and BauNVO references.

Schematic floor plan of a house with room layout and labels WA 1 2 WE

Homeowner Requirements
Style, roof type, building type: Bauhaus style, flat roof
Basement, floors: Basement yes, ground floor, upper floor
Number of residents, ages: 3 people, potentially 4: 33, 30, 2 years old
Space requirements on ground and upper floors: Initially planned 180 m² (about 1,940 sq ft) on two stories, now reduced to 160 m² (about 1,720 sq ft) after feedback, with the ground floor slightly larger than the upper floor, around 75–85 m² (810–915 sq ft)
Office: Family use or home office? Yes, in the basement (guest room <-> office)
Overnight guests per year: Hard to say, probably about 10 times per year with 2–5 guests each time
Open or closed architecture: Rather open
Conservative or modern construction: Rather modern
Open kitchen, cooking island: Island
Number of dining spaces: 1
Fireplace: Yes
Music/sound system wall: Our soundbar is sufficient
Balcony, roof terrace: Maybe, undecided (Architect’s comment: How often do you really go out for a beer on the balcony/roof terrace instead of the nice terrace on the ground floor?)
Garage, carport: Double garage, possibly single garage with carport
Kitchen garden, greenhouse: Small but nice (a few tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchinis…)

House Design
Planning by: Architect

What do you particularly like? Why? We like the architecture with the two offset rectangles, though we wonder if the extra cost (no price estimate yet) justifies this. We believe it is structurally more challenging than a simple "cube."
What don’t you like? Why? The size of the bedroom/walk-in closet/children’s room. It feels like the bedroom is missing 2–5 m² (about 20–55 sq ft), as is the second children’s room.
Price estimate according to architect/planner: The initial draft was around 550,000 EUR
Personal price limit for the house, including fixtures: 620,000 EUR
Preferred heating technology: Indifferent, but tendency toward heat pump.

If you had to give up something, which details/finishes
- You can give up: the current shape (nice but a cube would also do)
- You cannot give up: space

Why is the design the way it is now? For example:
Standard design from the planner? This is the second design resulting from last week’s discussion with us, and we find it very successful.
Which wishes were implemented by the architect? Absolutely, plus the idea he had to move the kitchen during development. The guest room has now moved to the basement, allowing more space on the ground floor (beforehand, it felt quite cramped and “squeezed”).
What makes it especially good or bad in your opinion? The architecture

...and now I’ll leave you alone with our house

Ground floor plan of a house with terrace, garden with trees and garage

Floor plan of a residential house with double garage, open living/kitchen area, terrace, and staircase.

Floor plan of a house: terrace, living-dining area with kitchen, hallway, vestibule, wardrobe, WC/shower.

Upper floor plan:

Floor plan of an upper floor: hallway, bathroom, bedroom, child 1, child 2, walk-in closet

Basement:

Site plan of a plot with parcels, building areas and road layout

ypg13 Sep 2019 11:43

#187

kaho674 schrieb:

Next time, be more careful with hiring and more precise when choosing.

I would say that you should keep in mind that a house design always starts with the basic structure. That’s what you build on.
The architect gave you two options to choose from, where you were supposed to select a base design. Among them was a style from him that initially caught your eye – but upon closer inspection wasn’t really what you wanted.
However, you could also say that it was only labeled as bad by you (let’s not even talk about the phrase “pushing through his concept”) when the details were discussed and it didn’t perform so well.

You didn’t consider that a rough design still needs refining, as can be seen in the other design too, but you talk about bugs. Sorry, but there are no bugs in either of them.

Notstrom schrieb:

c) that the floor plans here were so much better than those of the architect.

They really weren’t. They were just different (equally rough draft designs) and also needed adjustments. Of course, after all the negative feedback about the architect’s design, these seem better – but one should not forget: we laypeople judge without background knowledge about setbacks, structural integrity, and so on. The professional still has many other considerations in mind that the design must meet.
Without wanting to step on anyone’s toes (I hope @kaho674 and @ivenh0 understand what I mean here),
in post #37 the kitchen would be positioned in a way that wouldn’t be practical to work in; in #104 the kitchen is closed off (the architect simulated having both open and closed options); in #117 the living room would be far too dark and somewhere your design included a staircase with a landing, which wouldn’t fit in @ivenh0’s layout either.
I thought #46 (your absolute favorite a few days ago) was a very good starting point: open the kitchen, adjust the staircase and windows as well as the bathroom fittings (as mentioned), fine-tune some measurements here and there, give it a few weeks to settle. @11ant thought the bedroom/walk-in closet was really bad, but with some conceptual changes (which I haven’t mentioned here) I find it a great solution… finally something different and a cozy pleasure for the lady, as there’s definitely room to create a makeup nook, etc. And what do you do? You terminate the architect.

Notstrom schrieb:

More change requests from us are:
- The fireplace on the ground floor will be moved next to the dining/living area so we can have a passage from the hallway to the living room (the wall will be adjusted accordingly…)
- The wall in the kitchen will be removed to realize an island kitchen
- The wrap-around terrace will be extended to the window front of the living room to create an exit there (sliding door!)
- South of the dining table we want to replace the sliding door with a glass panel (possibly including a balcony door)
- Possibly replace the spiral staircase with a staircase with a landing. Architect’s note: That requires space
- Possibly tweak the floor area (currently about 148m² (1600 sq ft))
- Enlarge the window on the stairwell on the upper floor

Open points:
- Bathroom size. Finding space for a closet or similar is difficult because of the two entrances to the bathroom; might need to reconsider
- Simulation of a hipped roof on the existing house
- Possibly adjust some windows again in certain places (e.g. stairwell, see north elevation; floor-to-ceiling in children’s room likewise on north elevation; light strip in kitchen, see south elevation)
- We find the front of the house (east elevation) a bit dull, but we will get to that later; for now, the floor plan has absolute priority

These requested changes are purely fine-tuning...

I would say: go to a general contractor if you want a customized Rensch house. Or give a freelance architect free rein and time to develop something.
Or take "#46, Rensch house, ivenh0, Katja floor plan" and have that refined.

11ant13 Sep 2019 12:08

#188

Notstrom schrieb:

That was a reference to the pumpkins stacked on top of each other.

I’m just wondering if there might also be a monthly pass for the "cow bus."

Notstrom schrieb:

That pretty much complicated everything for us because of the shape...

That was probably a typical case of "Form follows function" (or as in Cinderella: “There’s blood in the shoe, but the right bride is still at home”).

DASI90 schrieb:

Besides, in my opinion, architects each have their own style, which naturally always shows up in their designs.

To a certain extent, I’d hope such architects reserve their work for clients who actually want everyone to see which architecture boutique their show-off house was made in. Then by all means, feel free to add an engraving on the front door side panel: “styled by Priv.-Doz. Dr.-Ing. h.c. von So-and-So.”

Zaba12 schrieb:

Here, the floor plans are still relatively "civilized." The issues around construction financing are another level entirely.

Strange, isn’t it? – especially since this section is 99% free of 11ant users.

ypg schrieb:

I’d say: go with a general contractor if you want a customized Rensch house. Or give a freelance architect free rein and time to develop something.

ypg schrieb:

I’d say you should keep in mind that a house design always starts with the basic framework. And you then build on that. The architect gave you two options to choose a basis from,

In my opinion, the architect here didn’t start with a basic framework but jumped straight into a design that was too specific to the fundamental decision between two completely different building forms. On the other hand, I must also defend their profession: in the past, an architect could work the way they were trained – the client came as a layperson, at best with a rough sketch on graph paper. Nowadays, an architect has to expect clients to arrive heavily informed, carrying a bubble of dream house images and even their own 3D animated plans, expecting the architect to instantly pull up colorful simulations on their laptop that match exactly what’s being discussed. It makes sense that architects prepare a catalogue of hairstyle-like options, which naturally includes models from the major market providers’ architect house style range – even though they should know this also sets false anchors with clients that are hard to undo.

https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/

Matthew0313 Sep 2019 12:45

#189

What are the next concrete steps? Mediator? Lawyer? Settlement offer?

Notstrom13 Sep 2019 12:47

#190

Matthew03 schrieb:

So, what are the concrete next steps? Mediator? Lawyer? Settlement offer?

I will make him an offer as discussed on the phone yesterday.
I just spoke with the Chamber of Architects, and they suggested I try that approach. Around 100€/hour would be appropriate. How much effort it will take? No idea.

kaho67413 Sep 2019 14:00

#191

Notstrom schrieb:

How much effort is involved? No idea.

Ask the new architect.

Notstrom8 Oct 2019 21:41

#192

Dear forum members,

Disclaimer: Please only post constructive and relevant comments. No further pro-architect or pro-technical discussion. We are currently expanding this project significantly, learning from it, gaining experience, and simply want to create something nice.

Attached is our latest draft for our house-building project. If anyone notices similarities to the previous version: that’s intentional. Why? The south/west sides automatically determine the terrace location; the garage therefore has to be positioned on the north side to fully utilize the terrace and garden area (boundary construction).

We still have a few ideas but look forward to your feedback. Below are our change requests / ideas / notes which we will also discuss again with the architect:

Guest toilet missing a shower
Remove door between hallway and wardrobe
Window front in living/dining area to have one instead of three sections
Width of the wardrobe? Is it really “usable” like this?
Check width of passage between living and dining area -> stove! It seems a bit narrow to us...
Is the wall of the dining room (not the corner piece, but the extension from the hallway to the corridor) into the corridor necessary?
Freestanding kitchen island?
Kitchen: create space for built-in cabinets
Kitchen: optimize window (either move the sink or the window...)
Plan a window element in the stairwell -> so far only one window, would like it elongated downward

ᐅ Single-family home, approximately 160 m², Bauhaus style; first design draft based on our requirements

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