ᐅ Floor Plan for a Single-Family Home, 175 m² – Suggestions for Improvement?

Hello,

We are currently working on the floor plan design. Attached is the architect’s proposal. Overall, we like the layout very much, but I feel there is unnecessarily large living space lost to the hallway/entrance area/staircase. Does anyone have suggestions for improvement?

Development Plan / Restrictions
Plot size: 2,200 m2 (0.54 acres)
No slope
Location: Saxony-Anhalt
Number of stories: 2 floors
There is no formal development plan; the building should just fit the character of the street (residential area only)

Client Requirements
Style, roof type, building type: simple design, mono-pitched roof
No basement
Number of occupants, ages: four people, including two children of preschool age
Space needs on ground floor: living room, large kitchen, pantry, WC with shower, guest room, utility room
Space needs on upper floor: master bedroom, walk-in closet, three children’s rooms, bathroom, additional toilet
Overnight guests per year: once per month
Closed architecture
Conservative construction style
Kitchen: preferably with an island
Number of dining seats: 6
No balcony or roof terrace
No garage or carport

House Design
Planner: architect
What do you particularly like and why? Flexible and adaptable floor plan; it could be converted into two separate units later on
What do you dislike and why? Too much living space wasted on the hallway/entrance/staircase
Preferred heating system: heat pump, underfloor heating

If you had to give up something, which details or extras?
Can be omitted: open gallery on the upper floor, additional toilet on the upper floor
Cannot be omitted: floor plan must remain adaptable

Why was the design made the way it is now?
It is important to us that the single-family house can be divided into two separate living units

What is the most important/fundamental question about the floor plan, summarized in 130 characters?
Can the hallway/entrance/staircase be made smaller?

Please draw your desired furniture to scale. I see a few corners that I don’t like very much, but first, I would like to understand how you plan to use the space.

Dizzy05 schrieb:

Floor plan flexible and adaptable, it could be converted into two separate units later

Dizzy05 schrieb:

It is important to us that the single-family house can be divided into two separate living units

The two living units are very well designed.

I am looking for a single-family house where one family lives. To me, this floor plan does not resemble a single-family house.

Exactly, these are already two separate apartments, each with a narrow, dark hallway.
And architects design things like this? 🙄 Truly terrible!

On the ground floor, the dining table must be placed in the kitchen, otherwise the living/dining room becomes very cramped with the sofa.
I would prepare the door to the hallway but not install it, to allow easier access to the pantry when carrying groceries.
In the upper floor, one child's bedroom is noticeably smaller than the other two.
The walk-in closet lacks an access to the bedroom.

Living in the house alone (so just one dwelling unit) seems really difficult to me... Nothing quite fits properly.

For two dwelling units, everything is probably fairly well divided and mostly makes sense, but in my opinion, it’s not very suitable as a single-family home.

The most important and nicest room in the house is, of course, the living/dining/kitchen area – here I miss a proper dining space.
Your living room is already quite small, and it will be almost impossible to set up a suitable dining area since the kitchen is in a straight line next to it. I also find this visually very challenging.