Hello everyone,
there is really a lot going on here! :) I will try to address everything again and I also have an updated floor plan with me.
Bathroom and kitchen as passage rooms: We have realized that this is not the best idea and have accordingly taken this into account in our updated floor plan.
cabinets behind doors: We were not aware of that at all, but it certainly sounds very plausible! Thanks for the hint.
sorting out construction companies because of the first draft: It really seems to us that some companies have implemented the first floor plan that way. Whether this feeling was only conveyed by the sellers and whether their architects later had to fix it, I cannot say. However, we found out yesterday during an appointment with a regional construction company that it can also be done differently. Our first draft also failed with this company for the same reasons as with you (kitchen and bathroom as passage rooms) and we were given an alternative proposal. This is exactly the updated floor plan that I am attaching below.
Maximum house height: We are talking about the eaves height and not the maximum house height. Therefore, I do not understand why the roof on the upper floor should be opened. The regional construction company would also manage two full floors (town villa) if we keep a little more distance from the border. This would mean that our house could be a maximum of 9.25 m wide. That would still be acceptable for us.
Pantry too narrow/unnecessary: We have realized that. Instead, as already pointed out by borxx, the space under the stairs can be used optimally for this.
Shift house entrance: We would actually like to avoid that. We are aware that an entrance on the gable side complicates the floor plan additionally, but otherwise we would always have to walk halfway around the house first and the house would also look strange from the street (gable side).
Daylight in the hallway on the upper floor: We do not have this in our updated floor plan yet either, but of course it is an important point of criticism. Our idea here would be to help ourselves with a (frosted) glass door to the office. This is not quite optimal yet, but better than nothing...
If you want to make the kitchen the center, it needs the quality of a room where you like to spend time and where more life happens than just preparing meals and occasionally having breakfast at a counter. The question of what family life is about is a determining factor for the architecture. Just think that through further and for the time being detach yourself from the house plan. These are simple questions like where do I do crafts with the children (if they are ever there), where do they do homework as elementary school students, at secondary school, who outside the family walks through the house, where can that person go, where rather not, also think about visits by children and teenagers, what does sociability mean for us today and tomorrow, what form do we particularly like (from this arise requirements for the communal areas living, dining, cooking, garden ...).
This is where planning starts, then you look at how to translate what is really important for life in the house into architecture under the given conditions. Taking a floor plan and distributing the rooms inside for purely optical reasons is not even the second-best approach.
Therefore, I will not write about the specific disadvantages of the plan (others are already doing that with very good judgment), because the planning approach itself is not coherent - especially for a future family.
Thanks for these thoughts! We will definitely give them some thought.
That would also not be a decision in that respect, as you can also build prefabricated solid houses. If that is supposed to mean not being "religiously" preconditioned regarding wall construction, then it remains that way (see my stone mantra).
In my reading, these are two reasons to look for an independent architect. At this house size, I definitely see that as advisable.
Exactly, we are not prejudiced. However, we also see the advantages of a regional company and then it would end up being a solid house.
We have already spoken with a friend who is an (interior) architect and also asked her for a design. However, we do not want to build completely with an architect. Implementing an architect's design through the general contractor seems like a pretty good idea to us.
Google Petershaus Family Plus. It’s very similar to your floor plan. Children’s shower bathroom and bathroom would then have to be made into bathroom and utility room. Bathroom and dressing room would then be passage rooms to the utility room, which personally I don’t find bad. In the past, for most people, the washing machine was in the bathroom ;)
If you stick to your floor plan, I would make kitchen and dining one room and separate living. Or open everything. Then the kitchen at least does not feel like a passage room anymore because it is part of the open space. This is common with many floor plans with a straight staircase where you walk directly past the kitchen.
If everything should/can be new, I would experiment with a different stair shape and location and/or entrance from the north.
Thanks for the tip! That does look suspiciously similar, true. A few things we do not like so much, but we will definitely take inspiration from it.
Topic 2 home offices - there are employees who share an office. Could work at home as well, right?
Of course that could work. However, we currently also have separate offices at home and are quite happy with that. It would bother us otherwise during video conferences and phone calls.
Regarding the two home offices: We both work for large companies that already offer at least 2 days of home office per week in the future. We would like to use this and also remain flexible regarding the days. For this reason and because we cannot magically create the offices if we end up missing them later, we want two offices. If we do not need one, we can use the room for something else (gym, hobby room, ...). We prefer to have one room more rather than end up missing one - especially since we are planning without a basement.
I briefly used the time and straightened your plan a bit and corrected some errors.
However, I feel that the area could be reduced. Children's rooms are now 16 sqm. I haven’t checked the bedroom yet, but it is obviously quite large.
I would shorten or narrow the house by half a meter to one meter and e.g. slightly reduce the dressing room, bedroom... Storage room could go or be added to the bathroom.
The living area downstairs is also quite generous and many dream of a TV room over 10 sqm. Then it looks more relaxed budget-wise.
This is really just a quick edit... Edit: I would make the bedroom door lead to the hallway for a shorter toilet way... But you could also shorten the hallway. Yes, quite large.
[ATTACH alt="Screenshot 2021-07-05 at 16.59.44.png"]63377[/ATTACH][ATTACH alt="Screenshot 2021-07-05 at 16.59.54.png"]63378[/ATTACH]
Great, thank you very much! That also looks quite interesting. We would close the kitchen, but that would be no problem. Only the problem with the utility room on the upper floor remains. Especially if the bedroom entrance were from the hallway.
Unfortunately, I have not addressed every single point. But we have read everything and tried to consider the points raised as well as possible.
Below you will find the updated floor plan. What do you think? What would you do differently?
Thank you very much!
Raphael
