Family home on a large northwest plot

Hello everyone,

most recently we discussed our latest draft in . After a friend of ours became self-employed as an architect, we switched to her; she basically took over the old draft with only small changes, which we would now like to discuss here again.

Checklist:

Development plan/restrictions
Size of the plot including hinterland / former agriculture (greenhouses already demolished) total 2800 sqm
Slope: the 32 m wide plot at the front slopes down from left to right by a total of 1.60 m. The plot also slopes slightly downward towards the back; within the 15 m deep building window, the terrain falls by about 60-80 cm. The plot is the lowest-lying on the street.
Floor area ratio 0.4
Floor space index 0.8
Building window, building line, and boundary: visible in the edited excerpt of the development plan, approximate planned building outlines are marked in red. The entire orange area including the white-backed "path" at the right edge of the plot belongs to us. Below this path there is a public sewer line which must not be built over. We must keep a distance of 2 meters from the residential building to this path or, if a garage is placed there, 1 meter distance. Therefore, it makes little sense to attach the garage on the right. The house would then shift much further to the left and our terrace would be in the shadow of the left (southwest) neighboring building much more often. The development plan for the hinterland building was adopted at our request (for later use, intended for children or a senior bungalow). As long as we do not build at the rear, we can use the path area ourselves; it is currently intended as a parking space for cars if we want to park close to the house or for guests.

Edge development: to the left (southwest) is a bungalow which, due to its higher position, can cast wide shadows in winter. Behind this bungalow at our property boundary there is a garage and behind it a shed not listed in the development plan belonging to the neighbor, which unfortunately also causes shading of our property at low sun. To the right (northeast) is a 1.5-story building with a garage on the boundary to our path.
Number of storeys: 2 full floors
Preferred roof shape: classic shapes (a visible roof is planned above the upper floor)
Architectural style: any
Garden orientation: northwest

Requirements of the builders
Style, roof shape, building type: preferably classic "old-fashioned cozy", can also be somewhat playful and combined with modern elements
Number of persons, age: 4 persons 43 + 43 + 3 + 1 (third child/foster child unlikely, but you never know)
Office: among other things for private documents, books etc.
Overnight guests per year: so far max. 10 nights per year
Open or closed architecture: preferably open
Conservative or modern construction: both have advantages/disadvantages, preferably a mix
Open kitchen, cooking island: Due to noise from cooking, dishwasher and open air space to the bedrooms, we want to be able to close the kitchen; cooking island welcome if space allows, but not a must.
Number of dining seats: daily 4, with guests sometimes 12-18
Fireplace: no
Music/stereo wall: not necessary, a compact system with 2 small speakers should find a place somewhere
Balcony, roof terrace: omitted for cost reasons
Garage, carport: at least one double garage
Further wishes/special features/daily routine, also reasons why this or that should or should not be: see below

House design
Who made the plan:
- Architect's drawing based on own design
- Price estimate according to architect/planner: still unknown
Personal price limit for the house including equipment: 500-600 K€ including incidental costs
Preferred heating technology: geothermal heat pump, deep drilling

Why own floor plan instead of complete architect's work? Apparently it was easier for the architect and she probably knows that I'm somewhat stubborn

We have placed the house "diagonally" in the building window so that it runs parallel to the right boundary. This gives us a better view from the southwest terrace into the northwest garden and less visibility from the street and the opposite neighboring houses. The second reason is that due to the rather long shadow cast in winter by our higher-lying left neighbor, we want to build as far away from them as possible to allow a bit more sunshine into our windows and onto the terrace. For reasons of brightness as well, I planned our garage detached from the house at the left southwestern edge; it should then be built as flat and low as possible and in winter should not cause significantly more shadow than the neighboring building already does.

By the way, the air space is a long-cherished wish on which we do not want to fully give up, even if this requires, for example, doors with good sound insulation in the children's rooms.

Now to my questions:

- In the guest WC the corner urinal was drawn somewhat space-consuming; there might be more compact substructures. Still, the area is somewhat tight there. Does anyone have better suggestions for the layout including the urinal?

- In the children's bedrooms I am considering giving the side windows double width for better light incidence. Due to the visible roof truss, these will be spacious rooms; more window area could be beneficial?

- In the parents' dressing room the wardrobes are separated from the passage area by solid walls. Should I rather omit these for more freedom of movement and flexibility? Then you see the side walls of the wardrobes when entering, but as long as the wardrobes are not custom-made, this gives more variation possibilities for furnishings?

- We want to set up a family bed with a width of 270 cm in the parents' bedroom in the first years. According to the plan, only 49 cm of space would remain on both sides. Does anyone have ideas if and how this could be done better? Snatching some of the air space? Or a larger bedroom that extends beyond the ground floor walls?

- Is the kitchen sensibly furnished? To have plenty of work surfaces and storage, we mainly want to install base and wall cabinets.

- Other visible errors / improvement suggestions?

Thanks in advance for all suggestions!

Attached are the cuts that did not fit in the first post due to quantity limitations.

One more consideration: I would like the window in the living room above the couch to be a bit further to the left, so that the couch can be moved more flexibly. And because I would find it nice if the wall width to the right of the window is roughly the same as the depth of the sofa, so that you are also sitting somewhat in a protected area. There is initially just a very large private garden there, but somewhere behind that is also neighboring development with an inhabited attic, even if that is > 50m away. However, if I move the window to the left, it is no longer symmetrical with the window above in the dressing room, which cannot be moved. Should the windows be arranged symmetrically or does it not matter there?

If the path is planned anyway, I would place the garage next to the path and the entrance of the house as well. Then I wouldn’t have anything in the southwest garden and wouldn’t have to go from the garage over the public street or through the living room when I want to enter the house. I would also move the house as far north as possible within the building window. The space is more than sufficient for a later bungalow as a rear property.

.. and why don’t you place the house in the rear building window? Then you would have a nice south-facing garden and fewer neighboring buildings.

If the front part is ever built over, it will also be less of a disturbance.

First of all, I must commend the reference to the previous thread (from which, of course, I also flipped back to the thread before that). What is now visible here is largely based on a draft by you, which you had titled "Kaho 1" in the previous thread, which I interpret as a draft inspired by Katja, but which clearly deviates from a draft introduced by Katja there (which goes somewhat in the direction that is now suggesting here). Even in the previous thread, it had already developed considerably away from the Westphalian village school with a carriage house. I quite like it this way now — aside from the fact that I personally see the airspace mainly in the eighties. Overall, with the two previous threads, there is now a bit too much material for me to recap, so for the moment I will only address a small part:

If I move the window to the left, it is no longer symmetrical with the window above in the dressing room, which cannot be moved. Should the windows be arranged symmetrically, or is it rather irrelevant there?

In this specific case, I would see that rather as a welcome relaxation.