ᐅ Split-Level Single-Family House Floor Plan – Architect’s Design

Hello dear forum members,

We are very excited to renovate a settlement house from the 1960s. Many thanks for this forum and the great opportunity to share our plan and receive your feedback:

Development Plan/Restrictions
Plot size: 519 m2 (5583 sq ft)
Slope: no
Site coverage ratio: 1
Floor area ratio: 2.5
Building envelope, building line, and boundary: 3 m (10 ft) setback from the property line
Edge development: see pictures
Number of parking spaces: 2 or 3
Number of floors: 2.5
Roof type: gable roof (original building) and flat roof (extension)
Architectural style: modern
Orientation: south
Maximum heights/limits: see pictures
Additional requirements: The house needs a complete renovation. It is a single-family home with split levels. We wanted direct access to the garden at ground level, so our architect recommended an extension for a cloakroom, hallway, kitchen, and dining room. This extension is planned as a wooden construction (vertical spruce cladding painted black). The living room (accessed from the dining room by 7 steps), toilet, and office are located on the first split level, then one half level up is currently planned as the master bedroom. This floor contains only this one room. One more half level up / on the top floor, there are two equally sized children’s rooms plus a toilet and bathroom planned.

Client Requirements
Architectural style, roof type, building type: renovation of existing building and extension
Basement, floors: 1 basement and 2.5 floors
Number of people, ages: 2 adults and 2 children (3 and 6 years old)
Space requirement on ground floor and upper floors: 150 m2 (1615 sq ft)
Office: family use or home office? Home office
Overnight guests per year: 1-2
Open or closed architecture: open
Conservative or modern construction: modern
Open kitchen, kitchen island: open kitchen, kitchen island yes
Number of dining seats: 8–12
Fireplace: yes
Music/stereo wall: not planned
Balcony, roof terrace: no
Garage, carport: 1 carport, former garage repurposed as storage for bicycles, etc.
Utility garden, greenhouse: no
Additional wishes/special features/daily routine, also reasons for why this or that should or should not be included:

House Design
Designer: architect

What do you particularly like? Why?
- Single-family house can be preserved (inherited from grandmother)
- Ground-level garden access very well solved
- Good floor plan concept and a unique idea – not a standard layout
- Open space combining kitchen/dining and living room with 7 steps – maybe the entrance could be raised to reduce this to 5 steps to the living room. Do we need fall protection, and if so, what kind?
- Spacious areas, especially in the living space
- Children’s rooms orientation and size
- Generally generous spaces in the basement, WC, and office

What do you not like? Why?
- Unsure whether the open kitchen/dining/living layout is community-friendly enough and if steps will be inconvenient in daily life
- Unsure about the size of the kitchen/dining area and the window/glass front in the dining/kitchen area
- Terrace planning: dining area on the west side planned by the architect, but rather narrow. Unsure about the 2 m (6.5 ft) terrace on the south side — what would really fit here? Will everything be covered?
- Still unsure how the extension will look visually (original house facade white, wooden-aluminum windows in black, extension in modern timber construction with vertical spruce cladding in black)
- Unsure about the hallway between cloakroom and kitchen – no door (according to architect there should be no door for visual reasons, as the view and movement direction should be toward the dining room, not the upper floor)
- Bathroom and toilet planning in upper floor – maybe combine toilet into bathroom and convert the room (which has no window) into a wardrobe – master bedroom on split level does not allow a very large wardrobe

Price estimate according to architect/planner: 600–800k
Personal maximum budget for house including fixtures: 800k
Preferred heating system: ground source heat pump

Why is the design the way it is now?
This is the second design. In the first design, there was no glass front on the south side, only windows and a comfortable bench instead. Since the view and activity focus on the main garden, we wanted access there as well, so it was changed into a full glass front. Due to heat buildup, the architect recommended a roof overhang of 1.20 m (4 ft), which we extended to 2 m (6.5 ft).

Many thanks from my side for your input! Feel free to ask any questions at any time!

1st design:

Revised design:

I am linking to the original thread
https://www.hausbau-forum.de/threads/stufen-zwischen-kueche-esszimmer-und-wohnzimmer.49629/

dbertig schrieb:

Do we need a fall protection, and if so, what kind?

I think glass would look nice in your case. That way, the kids can happily smudge it 😉
But I believe it fits the look and the desire for transparency.

I would skip the balcony.

ypg schrieb:

I’m linking to the original thread
https://www.hausbau-forum.de/threads/stufen-zwischen-kueche-esszimmer-und-wohnzimmer.49629/

I think glass would look nice for you. The kids can have fun smudging it 😉
But I think it fits the look and the desire for transparency.

I would leave out the balcony.

Thanks for the reply.
Yes, we have considered glass; you can see each other but not really communicate (maybe that’s also an advantage :-D).

The balcony was part of the original building and will be removed.

I missed the previous discussion, but from what I see, I like it. The stepped design is definitely something special. I agree with the suggestion to increase the ceiling height to 240cm (95 inches) in the extension to avoid feeling cramped.

The mentioned glass wall is probably meant as a divider between the living and kitchen areas, right? Here, I could also imagine a one-third-high wall or a fixed, wide piece of furniture (like a shelf) as a divider to really keep the space open, or a full-height open partition, for example with stylish wooden slats or a modern structure (there are no limits to creativity). However, glass would feel too "dividing" to me in this case.

For the small bathroom upstairs, I might position the shower lengthwise and place the toilet and washbasin on one side.

In the large bathroom, I would have the door open the other way or redesign it altogether. The bathtub, which is probably used less often, takes up a lot of space that could be used just for bathing. Here, too, I would try positioning the shower lengthwise and partially push the bathtub into the remaining corner to free up more space inside.

These are just rough ideas, and maybe you’ve already considered all of this.

All in all, with tasteful furnishing, this could become a house with a very special living atmosphere – I like it!

dbertig schrieb:

Yes, we considered glass, but while you can see each other, it doesn’t really allow for communication (maybe that’s an advantage :-D),

Why wouldn’t you be able to communicate? The railing is only knee-high. If someone calls out from the sofa, you would hear it in the kitchen and vice versa.
Instead of glass as the railing element, you can also use vertical wooden slats. As @Arauki11 writes.

The original poster probably meant floor-to-ceiling glass, which is how I understood it as well, so the kids can finally paint large pictures......

A glass balustrade without visible supports would also look very elegant, but then there shouldn’t be a display cabinet or similar placed in front of it. Whatever it ends up being, it can look really nice.