ᐅ Single-family Home – Captain’s House Style – 150 m² – New Construction – Requesting Advice
Created on: 9 Oct 2019 10:54
E
Erisa2010
Hello everyone,
we have purchased a plot in Lower Saxony and have already had the first planning meeting with the architect from our building company, so the initial preliminary design is done. We have three options to choose from. We received a 3D file, which allowed us to virtually “walk through” the house beforehand. However, not everything convinced us, so I hope to get some good tips here for improvements.
Development Plan/Restrictions
Plot size: 595 m² (approximately 6400 sq ft)
Slope: rising along the north side from the driveway to the northeast corner, highest point about 1.30–1.50 m (approximately 4.3–4.9 ft) (retaining wall planned along boundary)
Building type: single-family house
Floor space index: 0.25
Number of floors: 1 full storey
Building setback: North 5 m (16 ft), South/West 3 m (10 ft)
Number of parking spaces: 2 as per development plan (1 carport, 1 parking space in front)
Orientation: south
Maximum heights/limits: ridge height above finished floor level (FFL) 9 m (30 ft), eaves height above FFL 4.5 m (15 ft)
Homeowner Requirements
Style, roof type, building form: solid captain’s house with gable facing south, pitched roof 45°
Basement, floors: 1 full storey, no basement
Number of people, age: 2 adults (30, 34), 2 children planned
Room requirements in basement, ground floor, upper floor:
Ground floor: guest toilet, utility room, kitchen, living/dining room
Upper floor: bathroom, master bedroom, 2 children’s rooms, storage room (washing machine/dryer raised)
Open kitchen, kitchen island: island solution (possibly without cooktop and maybe with seating) has not found a place yet; topic open: see below
Number of dining seats: 4 in kitchen, 6–8 in living/dining area
Fireplace: no
Music/stereo wall: no
Balcony: no
Terrace: yes, in front of kitchen and living/dining area
Cistern: yes
Heating/electricity: ground source heat pump and photovoltaic system with battery storage
Garage, carport: carport
Additional wishes/particulars, including reasons why certain options are preferred or not:
- Kitchen: We want to be able to eat with four people in the kitchen, mainly for weekday breakfasts or hot meals where the pot can remain on the stove. With children and high chairs, I don’t think a breakfast bar or counter makes sense!?
- Upper floor bathroom: Other homeowners recommended not locating the shower (and possibly the toilet too) on the wall adjacent to the bedroom due to noise.
- Window sizes still variable
House Design
Who designed it: by us in coordination with the architect of the building company
What do we particularly like, and why?
- Size of the kitchen, access to the terrace
- Door from kitchen to utility room
- Utility room with space for our 2 shelves (1.67 m (5.5 ft) wall) for food and household items, and recycling bag just around the corner (next to ventilation)
- Radiator valve concealed in utility room, upstairs also hidden in thicker wall
- Storage room on upper floor with space for washing machine and dryer on a platform, plus room for drying rack (room is ventilated)
- Large children’s rooms
What would we change in the current plan for the second draft:
- Change the kitchen-utility room door to open toward the kitchen to avoid collisions? (no sliding door solution)
- Possibly a light strip window in the guest toilet, so you don’t look in directly when entering the house and to improve light on the mirror, instead of only having light behind you (north side is generally darker) > move current bathroom window to the hallway
- Windows in the living/dining area should be shifted leftwards from the inside perspective, currently too close to the wall
- Possibly roof windows in the stairwell as the upper floor hallway is otherwise too dark
- Shower shelf without seat, only a half wall as a shelf for shower items; use the dead space behind the shower from the storage room side as a niche
- Children’s rooms are designed for 1.40 m (55 inch) beds, but 90 cm (35 inch) beds would also fit of course
What don’t we like and why?
- Ground floor hallway is too narrow
- Door to living/dining area is “under” the stairs (that is, the right doorway from the hallway), otherwise you can’t get to the kitchen
- Closed stair treads that I would have preferred are not feasible in this floor plan
- Double-sided stair railing in upper hallway (visually), although the hallway seems more open and less narrow this way
- Utility room has “excessively much space” in the middle of the room
- Upper bathroom: overall layout, bathroom feels small and outdated
Why is the design the way it is now?
- Kitchen: Since during the week I don’t want to carry everything to the big dining table for breakfast, having a dining area in the kitchen is important to me. Visually, having a kitchen seating area “next to” a large dining table seemed odd, so we currently planned a half-height wall to separate the two, behind which the kitchen table could be placed, so it still feels somewhat open. I’m not sure whether the wall length is sufficient, though.
- At first, we liked a straight staircase, but it protrudes quite far through the house both downstairs and upstairs.
[U]What is the most important/basic question about the floor plan, summarized in 130 characters?[/U]
How can the hallway be designed to feel less narrow? We’re open to other stair styles. There needs to be space for a wardrobe niche that isn’t too visible, ideally in front of the guest toilet. Maybe a new design will also improve the upstairs bathroom situation?
I look forward to your comments and ideas!
Best regards, Erisa
we have purchased a plot in Lower Saxony and have already had the first planning meeting with the architect from our building company, so the initial preliminary design is done. We have three options to choose from. We received a 3D file, which allowed us to virtually “walk through” the house beforehand. However, not everything convinced us, so I hope to get some good tips here for improvements.
Development Plan/Restrictions
Plot size: 595 m² (approximately 6400 sq ft)
Slope: rising along the north side from the driveway to the northeast corner, highest point about 1.30–1.50 m (approximately 4.3–4.9 ft) (retaining wall planned along boundary)
Building type: single-family house
Floor space index: 0.25
Number of floors: 1 full storey
Building setback: North 5 m (16 ft), South/West 3 m (10 ft)
Number of parking spaces: 2 as per development plan (1 carport, 1 parking space in front)
Orientation: south
Maximum heights/limits: ridge height above finished floor level (FFL) 9 m (30 ft), eaves height above FFL 4.5 m (15 ft)
Homeowner Requirements
Style, roof type, building form: solid captain’s house with gable facing south, pitched roof 45°
Basement, floors: 1 full storey, no basement
Number of people, age: 2 adults (30, 34), 2 children planned
Room requirements in basement, ground floor, upper floor:
Ground floor: guest toilet, utility room, kitchen, living/dining room
Upper floor: bathroom, master bedroom, 2 children’s rooms, storage room (washing machine/dryer raised)
Open kitchen, kitchen island: island solution (possibly without cooktop and maybe with seating) has not found a place yet; topic open: see below
Number of dining seats: 4 in kitchen, 6–8 in living/dining area
Fireplace: no
Music/stereo wall: no
Balcony: no
Terrace: yes, in front of kitchen and living/dining area
Cistern: yes
Heating/electricity: ground source heat pump and photovoltaic system with battery storage
Garage, carport: carport
Additional wishes/particulars, including reasons why certain options are preferred or not:
- Kitchen: We want to be able to eat with four people in the kitchen, mainly for weekday breakfasts or hot meals where the pot can remain on the stove. With children and high chairs, I don’t think a breakfast bar or counter makes sense!?
- Upper floor bathroom: Other homeowners recommended not locating the shower (and possibly the toilet too) on the wall adjacent to the bedroom due to noise.
- Window sizes still variable
House Design
Who designed it: by us in coordination with the architect of the building company
What do we particularly like, and why?
- Size of the kitchen, access to the terrace
- Door from kitchen to utility room
- Utility room with space for our 2 shelves (1.67 m (5.5 ft) wall) for food and household items, and recycling bag just around the corner (next to ventilation)
- Radiator valve concealed in utility room, upstairs also hidden in thicker wall
- Storage room on upper floor with space for washing machine and dryer on a platform, plus room for drying rack (room is ventilated)
- Large children’s rooms
What would we change in the current plan for the second draft:
- Change the kitchen-utility room door to open toward the kitchen to avoid collisions? (no sliding door solution)
- Possibly a light strip window in the guest toilet, so you don’t look in directly when entering the house and to improve light on the mirror, instead of only having light behind you (north side is generally darker) > move current bathroom window to the hallway
- Windows in the living/dining area should be shifted leftwards from the inside perspective, currently too close to the wall
- Possibly roof windows in the stairwell as the upper floor hallway is otherwise too dark
- Shower shelf without seat, only a half wall as a shelf for shower items; use the dead space behind the shower from the storage room side as a niche
- Children’s rooms are designed for 1.40 m (55 inch) beds, but 90 cm (35 inch) beds would also fit of course
What don’t we like and why?
- Ground floor hallway is too narrow
- Door to living/dining area is “under” the stairs (that is, the right doorway from the hallway), otherwise you can’t get to the kitchen
- Closed stair treads that I would have preferred are not feasible in this floor plan
- Double-sided stair railing in upper hallway (visually), although the hallway seems more open and less narrow this way
- Utility room has “excessively much space” in the middle of the room
- Upper bathroom: overall layout, bathroom feels small and outdated
Why is the design the way it is now?
- Kitchen: Since during the week I don’t want to carry everything to the big dining table for breakfast, having a dining area in the kitchen is important to me. Visually, having a kitchen seating area “next to” a large dining table seemed odd, so we currently planned a half-height wall to separate the two, behind which the kitchen table could be placed, so it still feels somewhat open. I’m not sure whether the wall length is sufficient, though.
- At first, we liked a straight staircase, but it protrudes quite far through the house both downstairs and upstairs.
[U]What is the most important/basic question about the floor plan, summarized in 130 characters?[/U]
How can the hallway be designed to feel less narrow? We’re open to other stair styles. There needs to be space for a wardrobe niche that isn’t too visible, ideally in front of the guest toilet. Maybe a new design will also improve the upstairs bathroom situation?
I look forward to your comments and ideas!
Best regards, Erisa
Erisa2010 schrieb:
We need to finalize it by Wednesday.So, you just have to die. Everything else isn’t necessary. Otherwise, it will just become stressful, which I wouldn’t put myself through.Erisa2010 schrieb:
Unfortunately, the architect is reluctant to make the living room wider because she’s concerned that the ceiling would have to be made significantly thicker due to structural reasons.Oh dear, what do all the homebuilders do who have widths wider than 11.16m (36.6 ft)?Erisa2010 schrieb:
If this wasn’t clear before, we want to put shelves in the utility room as well, where food will be stored. You can see it in the new floor plan (original dimensions). The corridor in front of it is wide enough for us; there is a similar amount of space in the current apartment, and that’s sufficient.
...
We had also thought about it, but I want to keep the passage to the kitchen clear, as the utility room also serves as a pantry substitute. And if I imagine that the utility room is also used as a secondary entrance with dirty shoes, etc., people often still wear a jacket that should go to the cloakroom or want to wash their hands in the bathroom.If I understand this correctly, most daily life happens in your utility room? How should I imagine that? When the kids come running into the utility room with muddy boots, can the dirt just stay there? Or have you tiled the room up to the ceiling and plan to spray it down—including the food—with a pressure washer? The heating also keeps the room nice and warm, so the fruit flies must love the bananas since they get so soft there.
Erisa2010 schrieb:
I initially rearranged the square of storage/toilet/cloakroom to make the storage room (then a guest room) wider (toilet in the corner of the house, cloakroom in front, storage room between the living room and the toilet/cloakroom corridor), but it doesn’t fit with the pipes upstairs. Then the ventilation pipe would either be centered on the exterior wall of Child II’s room or, if the toilet’s waste pipe is placed in the corner, a complete duct would have to run along Child II’s wall since the washing machine still needs a drain going down. An extra drain pipe going down from the washing machine, combined with the guest toilet in the corner, would run through the foyer in front, which means the hallway would have to be wider again and the storage room narrower.Lost me there. Sorry, I see a change but wouldn’t call it a breakthrough. At least consider swapping the bedroom with Child 2’s room, then the bathroom with the bedroom, and Child 2’s room becomes the bathroom. Adjust the doors and corridors accordingly too.
Erisa2010 schrieb:
I can’t remember ever sitting in bed with my laptop in my current apartment; I definitely prefer the couch for that. Me neither. That was usually the phone.
Erisa2010 schrieb:
And if I imagine using the utility room also as a secondary entrance... I would reconsider that: if the utility room also has to serve as a pantry, I would skip the exterior door. First, having a side door next to the main entrance looks a bit odd; two adjacent doors are unnecessary – one of them is one too many – and third, three doors take up quite a bit of storage space in the utility room.
Since the coat storage is in the hallway, it’s better to avoid dragging dirt into another room. As mentioned before, you can use the space for the door more effectively elsewhere.
If you’re already working on the wastewater planning, I would recommend properly designing the bathroom; otherwise, you might face unpleasant surprises.
Consider installing a walk-in shower and/or switching the toilet and bathtub if necessary.
By the way, I would avoid the stress. The house shouldn’t be designed in a hurry.
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