160m2 detached house in timber frame construction on the north slope with basement

Hello,

below you will find our (almost) final floor plan. Only the windows will still be shifted and changed a little. We would appreciate your feedback.
Development plan/restrictions
Development according to Paragraph 34 of the Federal Building Code. Neighboring buildings 1.5 to 2 stories with gable roof.

Plot size
3000m2, building window approx. 600m2 on the street side

Slope
approx. 2m along the diagonal where the house is to be placed, rising from southwest to northeast

Orientation
South (uphill)

Client requirements Style, roof shape, building type
Single-family house, gable roof (as it is the most cost-effective), rather open design

Basement, floors
Full basement + 2 floors

Number of people, age
2 + 2 children (planned)

Space requirement on ground floor, upper floor
open kitchen + dining area + living room, pantry, study, guest WC, parent area (bedroom, dressing room, bathroom), children’s area (2 children's rooms + bathroom), garage, utility room, storage room

Office: family use or home office?
Family use + "emergency" children's room

Overnight guests per year
1-2

Open or closed architecture
rather open

Conservative or modern construction style
rather modern

Open kitchen, cooking island
open kitchen, island not necessary

Number of dining seats
6

Fireplace
No

Music/stereo wall
5.1, approx. 3 meters for TV etc.

Balcony, roof terrace
No

Garage, carport
In the basement

House design
Whose planning is it from:
Floor plan from a construction company, modified according to our wishes by the planner of a prefabricated house company (civil engineer)

What do you particularly like? Why?

-The separate parent area

-The open design with the living room accessible from 2 sides

-The staircase in the north, where the street is

-Garage in the house

-Large windows in the south

-Living room + kitchen + dining area facing south

-Open ridge in the upper floor


What don't you like? Why?

-Low, small windows in the upper floor due to the 1.8m knee wall – we will probably raise it to 2.10 meters

-Boring exterior appearance

-Small study, but currently the best possible compromise for us

-Windows near the kitchen not floor-to-ceiling, still to be changed

-Possibly too few windows

Price estimate according to architect/planner:

approx. 400,000 Euros turnkey including photovoltaic system and jute insulation (ecological) fixed price offer including basement, electric garage door etc.

Click parquet flooring

External blinds in living/cooking/dining area

No controlled residential ventilation

No waterproof concrete shell (white tub)


Personal price limit for the house, including equipment:
House including all ancillary costs 470,000 Euros

Preferred heating technology:
Air-to-water heat pump + photovoltaics

If you have to do without, which details/extensions can you do without:
Basement, but due to the slope this makes little economic sense. Otherwise basically everything that was conceivable for us has already been cut.

Why is the design the way it is now?
The design appealed to us from the outset, especially the south orientation of all important rooms fits very well with the plot.

What is the most important/fundamental question about the floor plan summarized in 130 characters?
1. From what knee wall height do windows including shutters under the knee wall really make sense? At 1.8m knee wall, the windows would be at hip height, which would not be a solution for us. In the children’s room, for example, a table should fit underneath.

2. According to the soil report, we have approx. 1m soil class 4 and below soil class 5-6. What costs would have to be expected for earthworks on a slope?

3. In your opinion, is a residential ventilation system mandatory for a timber frame house? According to 2 different (reliable) prefabricated house providers, it is rather wasted money or only important for allergy sufferers in this case.

A small note on the attached files: on the Google Maps image, south is at the top and the plot is where the two yellow markings are. Unfortunately, I sketched a bit in the views.

What I don't like spontaneously: The many different window formats: At the front (garage side) there are four and at the back (garden side) three. On top of that, the windows are arranged haphazardly, it all looks very chaotic. The dressing room is far too narrow to be used effectively (one side remains unused). The rooms feel tunnel-like, partially convoluted. A lot of space is also wasted as traffic areas or for passages. Was this really designed by an architect?

Thanks for the feedback.
We are completely with you on the windows. We don't like them at all either, and our structural engineer has few constructive suggestions to offer.
In principle, the dressing room is more of a walk-in closet, but with 4m of wardrobe space that we want to accommodate, it will always be tight unless you plan a huge room for it, and at the moment we get dressed in about the same area, which basically works well. Of course, the parents' area could still be redesigned.
The draft is, in its basic features (ground floor, children's room), a standard design from a high-end prefabricated house company.
Best regards

Clearly, the slope is challenging, but the poor child coming home from school has to crawl through the entire house up to their room (with a loophole window), or is there no open space on the first floor?

What are the general heights of the window sills? A little more dimensioning would be good.
Counter question, topic ventilation system: what does the heating concept look like with the reputable providers?

We have not received a plan with more measurements so far, but that could certainly be done upon request. We were told that the windows can start about 60 cm below the knee wall, i.e. at 1.20 m, which would mean a parapet height of 55 cm with a window height of 65 cm. The heating would be an LW heat pump with underfloor heating. Edit: There is no air space on the first floor. That means there is one above.

The draft is basically (ground floor, children's room) a sample design from a high-priced prefabricated house company.

I find it sad that it was done so carelessly there.

In the basement, almost 11 sqm are wasted on the entrance area, and then another third of the utility room is lost due to the passage.

On the ground floor, the couch in the design protruded into the middle of the room, and the space at the bottom left also looks like wasted space. What is supposed to go there? Does the guest WC need a window facing north, or would east be just as good? Then the windows could be better arranged both on the north and east sides.

Overall, the entrance situation is unusual: You enter the house through the basement (okay, hillside location) and first find only a room with stairs. Once up there, you face the guest WC and the office (the cloakroom is probably planned downstairs?). Then you go around the corner and first walk through the kitchen to eventually arrive in the living room. Is that how you want it?

On the upper floor, a lot of space is wasted on circulation areas again, and a lot of space is also lost in the bathroom. For example, how do you want to use the bottom right corner of the bathroom sensibly? Nothing really fits there.

The children's rooms are also quite angular. Are wide beds supposed to stand there during teenage years?

You actually have a large house with a lot of space, but in my opinion not much usable space.

Did the seller draw this themselves, or did they actually hire an architect? It looks more like a seller's draft to me, who wasn't very concerned with attention to detail.