ᐅ We would appreciate your feedback on our floor plan.

Hello everyone,

First of all, happy New Year to everyone in the forum. It’s really great how you can get familiar with the topic of house building as a layperson and gain some knowledge.

In spring 2016, our major construction project is scheduled, and after initial discussions with various providers, a (nearly) final design for our two-story urban villa has slowly taken shape. The window arrangement is still the least developed part at the moment, but I think that should be a minor issue. We are more interested in your opinions on the room layout and the arrangement of the rooms.

The plan was created by me, so please forgive any design shortcomings 🙂.

Exterior dimensions: 10 x 11 meters (33 x 36 feet)

We look forward to your feedback.

Thanks and best regards,
Alex

It is always helpful to provide

• Site plan
• Information on the roof shape and any knee wall height
• Location of the technical equipment for the house

Regarding the floor plan:

• A staircase with a 360 cm (12 ft) run length will be relatively steep. Since this comes up repeatedly, I have drawn 2 examples to illustrate:





• A corner window in the utility room / pantry on the ground floor is hopefully not serious ;-).
• Upper floor: I would orient the children’s rooms preferably to the south/southwest, as that is when children should get most sunlight in their rooms. I also find the number of windows somewhat low for the relatively large children’s rooms.
• Utility room on the upper floor facing south?
• A bathroom with two entrances is always problematic. Someone might forget to lock one or keeps it locked ;-).
• I find a bathroom with a corner window in the shower inconvenient as well.
• The bathroom layout with a T-shape could be a bit tight: shower with a built-up wall roughly 120 cm (47 inches), bathtub about 80 cm (31 inches), leaving 120 cm (47 inches) for vanity depth and passage.

And, as mentioned, without information on the roof etc., it is difficult to assess anything further.

EDIT:
The door from the garage into the house... isn’t that relatively unnecessary? How wide will the garage be?

... Always include window planning. Bauhaus-style houses can accommodate more individuality in window placement and sizes, while townhouses usually benefit from symmetry. Therefore, when planning, you should always visualize the exterior views as well as the property in order to evaluate the view and natural light coming through the windows.

kbt09 schrieb:

• Site plan

I will upload the site plan today or tomorrow. The plot is 536 sqm (5766 sq ft). We decided against a basement and opted for a larger garage (about 50 sqm (540 sq ft)) and more living space on the ground floor and first floor.

kbt09 schrieb:
Specification of the roof type and any knee wall

We want to build two full stories. Roof type: hipped roof (town villa style).

kbt09 schrieb:
Where the house’s technical equipment will be located

The air-to-water heat pump will be in utility room I (ground floor) – this room will also be used as a pantry.
Utility room II (first floor) is planned for the washing machine and dryer.

kbt09 schrieb:
A staircase with a 360 cm (142 inches) run length will be quite steep. I drew 2 examples to illustrate this, as it often comes up:

Thanks for the advice and the cross-section of the stairs. I will adjust it.

kbt09 schrieb:
Corner window in the utility room / pantry on the ground floor is hopefully not serious ;-)

As I said, I only sketched the windows quickly. Most changes will still be made here – including the corner window in utility room I 🙂

kbt09 schrieb:
Corner window in the shower in the bathroom isn’t ideal either.

Why do you say that?

kbt09 schrieb:
The bathroom and T-layout might be a bit tight: shower with pre-wall about 120 cm (47 inches), bathtub about 80 cm (31 inches), leaving 120 cm (47 inches) for vanity depth and passage.

Good point.

kbt09 schrieb:
Is the door from the garage into the house really necessary? How wide will the garage be?

As mentioned above, the garage will be a spacious double garage with custom dimensions. The width on the garage door side will be 6 m (20 ft).

Garage with a 6 m (20 feet) exterior dimension? Once two cars are parked inside with enough space to get out comfortably, I’m not sure how practical it is to include this connection within the thermal envelope, especially since the garage entrance is right next to the front door. It’s probably easier to unload the trunk and enter directly through the front door than to walk past the car to the side door.

Here is the site plan. Creating it with SweetHome 3D was quite tedious, but the dimensions are accurate to 99%.