Floor plan design 160 sqm living area, long semi-detached house

Hello dear community,

first of all, a big compliment to you, as we have been following posts for a while and have learned a lot.

Now the time has come for us and we have to decide on a plot of land this week.

Great location, everything fits! But somehow we are struggling with the floor plan in advance and doubt whether our ideas can be implemented, since the house is only 7.5 m wide and has to be built rather lengthwise (approx. 12.8 m) to reach a net living space of 160 sqm (2 x 80 sqm). We want to make sure that this is feasible or whether we should not commit and wait for a "better" (= wider) plot.

Here are all the details and ideas.
We hope you can give us a boost and have good ideas:

- Plot size: 10.5 m wide x 38 m long (corresponds to 450 sqm)
- Semi-detached house (right side, so the left side has no windows)
- Exterior dimensions of the house: 7.5 m wide x 12.8 m long
- Entrance from the right side
- Living area: 160 sqm net (2 x 80 sqm)
- 1.5 stories (knee wall approx. 1.55 m)
- without basement

Our ideas:

- bright, light-filled, open (as good as feasible)
- clear, modern floor plan
- Ground floor: hallway, WC, utility room with technical equipment, dining, living, open kitchen, pantry (under the stairs?) if possible small home office
- staircase (straight, solid wood) (alternatively, if space-saving: half-landing staircase)
- Upper floor: child 1, child 2, small shower bath (for children), parents’ area consisting of bedroom, dressing room, bath (incl. sauna?) connected by sliding doors
- large skylights should bring nice light into bathroom and bedroom as well as children's rooms
- maybe dormers make sense?
- if layout-wise feasible, a laundry chute from the large bathroom to the utility room would be a nice feature

Attached a quick sketch of the location and exterior dimensions of the house.

Theoretically, living/cooking/dining should be arranged in the brighter areas, so front and back at the large windows. The placement of the staircase perhaps more on the windowless wall? Although it could also function as a divider in the middle? Since we are building without a basement, the area under the stairs could be used as a pantry/wardrobe.

What tips, ideas and suggestions do you have for this?

Hoping that you can now give us a little boost to finally make a decision about the plot, we thank you in advance and wish you a nice, sunny week

Best regards
Sam & Frank

- Semi-detached house (right side, so the left side has no windows

Aha, and what directions do you have over there? That’s not unimportant... right and left don’t really exist in that way. America is also not to the right or left.

And what if with walls you only get to 158 sqm? Who sets the 160?

Do you like the plot, do you like the location? Do you have a good feeling? Or do you get offered a plot every week? Based on that I would decide. Screw 5 sqm more or less – a good design can handle that.

Tip: Timber frame construction with plaster is a bit slimmer in wall thickness than solid construction with clinker bricks.

Great location, everything fits!

How well can you read development plans?

- Exterior dimensions of the house: 7.5m wide x 12.8m long
- Entrance from the right side
- Living area: 160 sqm net (2 x 80 sqm)
- 1.5 stories (knee wall approx. 1.55m)

The stated exterior dimensions would roughly correspond to the 80 sqm, but only on the full floor, not upstairs. 7.5 m house width will not be enough for the floor plan of a semi-detached house in the sense of a "one-sided non-detached single-family house," but rather for one in the sense of an "end-terrace house." So a vertical apartment, two-and-a-half instead of one-and-a-half stories – are the given maximum heights sufficient for that?

But somehow we are not getting on with the preliminary floor plan and doubt whether our ideas can be realized,

If you hypothetically drew the desired floor plan, what exterior dimensions would it have, i.e. especially by how much width would it exceed the limits?

... and where would the journey be from? So please be straightforward! Everything else is guesswork without orientation indication. The development plan is also very important, because: The crux is: twice 80sqm cannot work with a KS of 1.55.