ᐅ Single-family Home Without Basement – Floor Plan Discussion
Created on: 21 Apr 2018 10:46
S
Saarländle
Hello everyone,
we have already made significant progress with our floor plan. However, we would like to open it up for discussion to see if you notice any aspects we might have overlooked and that can still be changed at this stage.
Development plan/restrictions
Plot size: 534sqm (5748 sq ft)
Slope: no
Building envelope, building line, and boundary: see plan
Number of floors: 2
Roof type: gable
Orientation: as shown in the plan
Homeowners’ requirements
Style, roof type, building type: simple, open, practical
Basement, floors: no basement, 2 full floors
Number of people, ages: 2 adults around 40 and 2 children aged 3 and 6
Space needs on ground floor and upper floor: currently, most daily life happens on the ground floor
Office: family use or home office? Office and guest room or optional
Number of guest stays per year: 10
Open or closed layout: open
Open kitchen, kitchen island:
Number of dining seats: 6-8
Fireplace: no
Balcony, roof terrace: no
Garage, carport: yes
Utility garden, greenhouse: possibly
Other wishes/special features/daily routine, preferably with reasons why certain things should or should not be included
The idea behind the design was to have a large living-dining-kitchen area on the ground floor. At the same time, we definitely wanted a guest room/office on the ground floor as well.
The bathroom on the ground floor should serve not only as a guest bathroom but also help ease the morning routine by allowing simultaneous use of the bathrooms upstairs and downstairs.
House technology should take up as little space as possible on the ground floor and ideally be placed under the roof.
Upstairs, it was important that the children’s rooms are equally sized. The master bedroom should not have a walk-in closet.
The kitchen is currently just a placeholder. It will probably be designed as a U-shape.
Current open questions:
- Positioning and size of the windows
House design
Who created the plan:
- Architect
What do you particularly like? Why?
What do you dislike? Why?
Preferred heating system: air-to-water heat pump
If you had to give up, which details/extensions
- could you live without:
- could you absolutely not live without:
What is the most important/basic question about the floor plan summarized in 130 characters?
we have already made significant progress with our floor plan. However, we would like to open it up for discussion to see if you notice any aspects we might have overlooked and that can still be changed at this stage.
Development plan/restrictions
Plot size: 534sqm (5748 sq ft)
Slope: no
Building envelope, building line, and boundary: see plan
Number of floors: 2
Roof type: gable
Orientation: as shown in the plan
Homeowners’ requirements
Style, roof type, building type: simple, open, practical
Basement, floors: no basement, 2 full floors
Number of people, ages: 2 adults around 40 and 2 children aged 3 and 6
Space needs on ground floor and upper floor: currently, most daily life happens on the ground floor
Office: family use or home office? Office and guest room or optional
Number of guest stays per year: 10
Open or closed layout: open
Open kitchen, kitchen island:
Number of dining seats: 6-8
Fireplace: no
Balcony, roof terrace: no
Garage, carport: yes
Utility garden, greenhouse: possibly
Other wishes/special features/daily routine, preferably with reasons why certain things should or should not be included
The idea behind the design was to have a large living-dining-kitchen area on the ground floor. At the same time, we definitely wanted a guest room/office on the ground floor as well.
The bathroom on the ground floor should serve not only as a guest bathroom but also help ease the morning routine by allowing simultaneous use of the bathrooms upstairs and downstairs.
House technology should take up as little space as possible on the ground floor and ideally be placed under the roof.
Upstairs, it was important that the children’s rooms are equally sized. The master bedroom should not have a walk-in closet.
The kitchen is currently just a placeholder. It will probably be designed as a U-shape.
Current open questions:
- Positioning and size of the windows
House design
Who created the plan:
- Architect
What do you particularly like? Why?
What do you dislike? Why?
Preferred heating system: air-to-water heat pump
If you had to give up, which details/extensions
- could you live without:
- could you absolutely not live without:
What is the most important/basic question about the floor plan summarized in 130 characters?
The floor plans remind me of something inspired by a Huf Haus, but then translated into a "solid construction" style.
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
Saarländle schrieb:
...We don’t know how the neighbor on the left side is building. If we had placed the IDE garage on the right now, we would be closer to the neighbor and possibly fully in the house’s shadow. That’s why the garage is on the left. This needs to be read and appreciated twice: building based on ignorance of a 0% probability before considering the 50/50 rule.
Unless there is a view of the Alps or the Baltic Sea to the north, it is definitely best to orient the house toward the south. The garage can go at the bottom right of the plan. The entrance should also be there; shuffle the rooms around and you get full sun in the living area as well as the terrace in the southwest.
Otherwise, the design is nicely organized. I find it a bit too tidy, though, to the detriment of, for example, closet space in the bedroom. The large, symmetrical windows are not pleasing. I don’t like the living area at all, nor that northwest-facing window wall. Why the insistence on symmetry? It doesn’t suit the house and is not repeated upstairs. Then there’s no need to give the full treatment on the narrow side.
The corridor between the garage and the house is too narrow at 1.25 meters (4.1 feet)... we have 2 meters (6.6 feet), and I definitely wouldn’t recommend any less. In the evening, the garage casts a shadow over the terrace.
All the utility rooms are on your sunny side... [emoji20]
.......> My suggestion:
Garage west, stairs in the northeast, entrance southeast, and so on.
Children’s rooms in the southeast/southwest, etc.
Then nothing stands in the way of a sunny garden and a sunny terrace in the southwest.
S
Saarländle22 Apr 2018 16:15Okay, I needed some time to let this sink in :-(
But I think I finally understand what you meant. Admittedly, I hadn’t really thought about it anymore because we had already defined the position of the garage on the left side of the plan quite early on.
But let’s run through it:
Let’s assume I would move the garage back to the right side of the plan. Then the sunny side on the left would be free again. Regardless of how the rooms are arranged now, whether just mirrored or mixed up.
- Would I really get that much more sun, since the sun is usually quite high in the south and therefore the shadow cast by the house on the left would be negligible?
- Does this still apply if the house were to shift 3 m (10 feet) to the left again?
Is there any simple freeware program that can visualize the shadow cast by the neighboring house at different times and seasons?
But I also have to ask from the other perspective. As the plan is now, we wouldn’t get direct southern sunlight. But by the afternoon at the latest, the southwest sun should reach all living areas, right, or am I misunderstanding something here?
In any case, I will definitely take this up again and discuss it with my wife and the architect. So, thanks already for pointing this out!
Now, regarding the other points:
What exactly don’t you like about the bedroom or living area, or what could be improved?
I think the passage width between the garage and the house is a good point. I will have to check if we can widen it.
One last thing: why does the garage cast a shadow on the terrace in the evening??? Or did you mean in the morning?
But I think I finally understand what you meant. Admittedly, I hadn’t really thought about it anymore because we had already defined the position of the garage on the left side of the plan quite early on.
But let’s run through it:
Let’s assume I would move the garage back to the right side of the plan. Then the sunny side on the left would be free again. Regardless of how the rooms are arranged now, whether just mirrored or mixed up.
- Would I really get that much more sun, since the sun is usually quite high in the south and therefore the shadow cast by the house on the left would be negligible?
- Does this still apply if the house were to shift 3 m (10 feet) to the left again?
Is there any simple freeware program that can visualize the shadow cast by the neighboring house at different times and seasons?
But I also have to ask from the other perspective. As the plan is now, we wouldn’t get direct southern sunlight. But by the afternoon at the latest, the southwest sun should reach all living areas, right, or am I misunderstanding something here?
In any case, I will definitely take this up again and discuss it with my wife and the architect. So, thanks already for pointing this out!
Now, regarding the other points:
What exactly don’t you like about the bedroom or living area, or what could be improved?
I think the passage width between the garage and the house is a good point. I will have to check if we can widen it.
One last thing: why does the garage cast a shadow on the terrace in the evening??? Or did you mean in the morning?
I find the clear passage width functionally adequate but visually too narrow (especially when you turn around at the end in front of a significantly wider entrance). It’s not possible to make it wider due to the other dimensions.
To me, this plot would work better with a different house or one arranged differently. It seems there is a favorite house design being forced onto the plot. A better, more practical approach is to let the plot guide the design and only transfer individual character elements of the favorite house onto the “plot-inspired” design.
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
To me, this plot would work better with a different house or one arranged differently. It seems there is a favorite house design being forced onto the plot. A better, more practical approach is to let the plot guide the design and only transfer individual character elements of the favorite house onto the “plot-inspired” design.
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
S
Saarländle22 Apr 2018 17:20No favorite house, no Huf Haus floor plan,...
But maybe the architect
But maybe the architect
The 1.25 meters (4 feet) at the entrance are too narrow. Just imagine an entrance hallway of that width. Outdoors, it’s no different. Guests have to line up, the mail carrier with a large package has to sideways squeeze through, and even carrying a laundry basket will be tight. When a family visits, they have to go one after another... it will be dark there anyway. But you could simply do without the garage there [emoji6].
Regarding the question: the sun also casts shadows from the garage... just check the sun’s path at Sonnenverlauf Punkt de.
I wouldn’t move the house further to the left, why would you? The garage on the right in front of the house, so you can basically drive right in [emoji4].
Edit: Space in the bedroom for enough wardrobe (3 meters (10 feet) running width).
Living room: Avoid placing the sofa under the window; put the sofa against the interior wall so you can look outside. TV opposite, so remove that window. Adjust the west-facing window to about 1/3 and 2/3, this looks nicer and is easier to furnish.
Regarding the question: the sun also casts shadows from the garage... just check the sun’s path at Sonnenverlauf Punkt de.
I wouldn’t move the house further to the left, why would you? The garage on the right in front of the house, so you can basically drive right in [emoji4].
Edit: Space in the bedroom for enough wardrobe (3 meters (10 feet) running width).
Living room: Avoid placing the sofa under the window; put the sofa against the interior wall so you can look outside. TV opposite, so remove that window. Adjust the west-facing window to about 1/3 and 2/3, this looks nicer and is easier to furnish.
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