Hello everyone,
I’m sharing our architect’s design for discussion and would appreciate your assessments—what doesn’t work well and what could be done differently.
First, about the plot: it faces northeast with a slope towards the back in the northeast direction (650 m² (7,000 sq ft)), which is why there is a terrace both at the front and rear of the house due to the north-facing orientation. The floor plan consists of basically two building volumes: the left part is two stories and follows the slope of the land, meaning it is positioned lower. The front right part is a single story and stands higher than the second volume. You go down six steps from volume 1 to volume 2 and up again the other way, so it’s a split-level house. Please note, we don’t need to discuss accessibility concerns related to the steps, as we are already aware.
Both volumes have a mono-pitched roof. My main concern is the layout of the rooms and their sizes. The total footprint of the house is 175 m² (1,883 sq ft), including utility areas. The storage room on the right side of the building is optional for now, but as things stand, we plan to include it.
Don’t be confused by the stairs—they were drawn by hand and didn’t come out well in the software 🙂
Overall, we quite like the floor plan. What I personally don’t like is the bathroom upstairs; I think it’s too small for a main bathroom. Our architect suggested enlarging it at the expense of the adjacent children’s room. The downside would be that the children’s rooms become too small, right?
Question about the kitchen: we’d like to have an island. Is the kitchen size sufficient for that?
It was important to us to maintain visual contact from the dining area to the living room, just as background information.
Now it’s your turn—many thanks in advance for your feedback.
Best regards,
Thomas
I’m sharing our architect’s design for discussion and would appreciate your assessments—what doesn’t work well and what could be done differently.
First, about the plot: it faces northeast with a slope towards the back in the northeast direction (650 m² (7,000 sq ft)), which is why there is a terrace both at the front and rear of the house due to the north-facing orientation. The floor plan consists of basically two building volumes: the left part is two stories and follows the slope of the land, meaning it is positioned lower. The front right part is a single story and stands higher than the second volume. You go down six steps from volume 1 to volume 2 and up again the other way, so it’s a split-level house. Please note, we don’t need to discuss accessibility concerns related to the steps, as we are already aware.
Both volumes have a mono-pitched roof. My main concern is the layout of the rooms and their sizes. The total footprint of the house is 175 m² (1,883 sq ft), including utility areas. The storage room on the right side of the building is optional for now, but as things stand, we plan to include it.
Don’t be confused by the stairs—they were drawn by hand and didn’t come out well in the software 🙂
Overall, we quite like the floor plan. What I personally don’t like is the bathroom upstairs; I think it’s too small for a main bathroom. Our architect suggested enlarging it at the expense of the adjacent children’s room. The downside would be that the children’s rooms become too small, right?
Question about the kitchen: we’d like to have an island. Is the kitchen size sufficient for that?
It was important to us to maintain visual contact from the dining area to the living room, just as background information.
Now it’s your turn—many thanks in advance for your feedback.
Best regards,
Thomas
The utility room is too far away from the kitchen for my taste.
The bathroom on the upper floor is too far from the bedroom and too small.
I find the ground floor too complicated in layout with long distances: living room to kitchen, kitchen to toilet or utility room. The access to the office/guest room doesn’t seem practical.
There is no window in the guest toilet.
The children’s rooms are too close to the stairway leading to the dining area, which I don’t find ideal. Privacy and noise are a concern. If you have guests over, every sound travels upstairs, and at the same time, you (and your guests) can see your child from the dining table when they go to the bathroom. This might be acceptable for younger children, but when they become teenagers, they will likely feel very uncomfortable showing themselves to adults in their sleepwear.
The bathroom on the upper floor is too far from the bedroom and too small.
I find the ground floor too complicated in layout with long distances: living room to kitchen, kitchen to toilet or utility room. The access to the office/guest room doesn’t seem practical.
There is no window in the guest toilet.
The children’s rooms are too close to the stairway leading to the dining area, which I don’t find ideal. Privacy and noise are a concern. If you have guests over, every sound travels upstairs, and at the same time, you (and your guests) can see your child from the dining table when they go to the bathroom. This might be acceptable for younger children, but when they become teenagers, they will likely feel very uncomfortable showing themselves to adults in their sleepwear.
I can only agree with Manu1976; personally, the ground floor seems too convoluted for me, and the utility room, which apparently is also supposed to accommodate the heating system, is too small (where would the ironing board, decorations, seasonal clothing, washing machine, supplies, etc. all fit). Also, consider whether the size of the wardrobe for four people including guests is really sufficient.
Hmm, so northeast is at the top of the plan – right?
I agree with Manus’s objections and would add that the kitchen space is very difficult to furnish. What about the refrigerator, built-in oven at eye level, possibly also a dishwasher, etc.? In addition, the kitchen work area is pushed into the darkest corner of the room.
The dining area is quite tight with a depth of 300 cm (10 feet), plus a sideboard and the terrace exit, especially since the table shown is probably only about 75 cm (30 inches) deep.
The bedroom/dressing room takes up a relatively large floor area but offers comparatively little storage space.
I agree with Manus’s objections and would add that the kitchen space is very difficult to furnish. What about the refrigerator, built-in oven at eye level, possibly also a dishwasher, etc.? In addition, the kitchen work area is pushed into the darkest corner of the room.
The dining area is quite tight with a depth of 300 cm (10 feet), plus a sideboard and the terrace exit, especially since the table shown is probably only about 75 cm (30 inches) deep.
The bedroom/dressing room takes up a relatively large floor area but offers comparatively little storage space.
Hello, thank you very much for the responses so far.
The floor plan has an open layout, which is what we wanted. Naturally, this means it can get noisier upstairs where the kids are, but they do have doors on their rooms. The washing machine and dryer are located in the downstairs restroom, which frees up the utility room. Additionally, there is storage space above the kitchen and hallway under the sloped roof, accessible via a pull-down ladder, which is about 21m² (226 sq ft).
I don’t understand the concern about the kitchen being a dark room, since it faces southwest. The top of the plan is northeast. I also didn’t find the dining/gallery area particularly small, but of course you need to measure the table and see if it fits with the door to the outside. It was important for us to have the option to extend the table.
Regarding the master bedroom, I agree that it is relatively large and doesn’t offer much usable space. The question is how else it could be arranged.
How large should a children’s bedroom be at minimum? And how big should a bathroom upstairs be? Based on your experience or general impressions.
The floor plan has an open layout, which is what we wanted. Naturally, this means it can get noisier upstairs where the kids are, but they do have doors on their rooms. The washing machine and dryer are located in the downstairs restroom, which frees up the utility room. Additionally, there is storage space above the kitchen and hallway under the sloped roof, accessible via a pull-down ladder, which is about 21m² (226 sq ft).
I don’t understand the concern about the kitchen being a dark room, since it faces southwest. The top of the plan is northeast. I also didn’t find the dining/gallery area particularly small, but of course you need to measure the table and see if it fits with the door to the outside. It was important for us to have the option to extend the table.
Regarding the master bedroom, I agree that it is relatively large and doesn’t offer much usable space. The question is how else it could be arranged.
How large should a children’s bedroom be at minimum? And how big should a bathroom upstairs be? Based on your experience or general impressions.
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