Floor plan design: Single-family house; 140 sqm; without basement; 730 sqm plot

I like it. The higher steps (19.2 cm) would also be okay for us.

What becomes difficult first is going down, every quarter centimeter of step height counts (whether knee or hip).

The ground floor does not need to be accessible for disabled people and/or planned for a senile old age.

So far I had perceived the desired location differently – maybe the architect as well?

That was the architect’s idea.

I can’t even list all the points that make me think the architect is aiming for a name among design-oriented clients.

Let’s see what the architect says to the concerns and whether he can still convince us of his concept.

As I said, first of all, he should make his concept transparent at all.

We could build the carport on the south side directly by the street. But then we would always have to walk with kids and all from the carport to the house. And we would always look at the carport from the southeast. We have already thought this through mentally but it is currently the second choice.

My hierarchy is: the prime spot for the house, the secondary spot for the cars. Children who are driven to the front door will later want to be driven to the classroom door as well.

There are building limits in the development plan that require us to build quite centrally. At least 8 m distance to the north and at least 18 m to the south. Currently we plan with about 10 m to the north and 20 m to the south.

If a plot is actually as big as two building plots like here, a lot can be achieved with the magic word "infill development" at building authorities. The years of comfortable "emergency legislation" for new development plan drafts are over.

You are saving money in the wrong place

We have already decided against a bathtub in the bathroom.

You need a tub, for example to take medical baths, to soak sensitive tissue, for certain hobbies (which you don’t need to know yet), for a future pet, or for cleaning food.

But somewhere the painful cuts have to come from, otherwise the 140 sqm goal won’t work (we’ll manage j

But the living room like a ballroom? Hmm…

My wife is fine with 2 cooking zones max and space for the Thermomix :)

When preparing with the TM, you also need chopping space, etc. Even just making pizza or Christmas cookies… I wouldn’t save space in the kitchen. Even the two of us actually had to add a countertop and a cabinet. We had room for that because we have a long wall – but it was still annoying. And we are very tidy but have more than in your plan.
And over the years, something always gets added. It only takes one person needing a different diet prescribed due to intolerance or illness, and you’re just getting frustrated having to fumble around in too small a kitchen.

You also need a tub to take, for example, medical baths, to soak sensitive tissue, for certain hobbies (which you don’t need to know about yet), for a future pet, or for food cleaning.

For everything except the medical baths, you can buy a larger plastic tub that you place in the shower when needed. There are simply people who don’t like bathing. And for things you do a few times a year, a bathtub would be wasted money.

I wouldn’t skimp on the bathtub either.

Regarding the staircase: ours accidentally has higher steps (the ceiling was raised by the structural engineer and no one thought about adding an extra step) which takes some getting used to. I would have liked one more step. It’s walkable, but at some point in old age you start to feel uncomfortable. A fixed staircase in the attic is really worth its weight in gold. It is storage space where something large can sometimes be stored. However, it gave us a few gray hairs during the planning.

I would also move the carport further forward and regenerate a little less courtyard area. Children with a car at the house don’t necessarily become school kids who need a parent taxi all the way to the classroom.

The kitchen would be too small for me.

Does the ridge direction necessarily have to be East-West?

For everything except medical baths, you can buy a larger plastic tub,

Yes, you can also do your medical baths in a plastic tub. There are people who save on everything except plastic replacements. Flowers without a green thumb, containers in cabinets instead of drawers, baskets made of plastic instead of real baskets, the good laminate, plastic garden house, plastic instead of glass, etc. I stick to:

You are saving in the wrong place

.., when you first have to go up to the attic and free the dusty plastic tub from its contents - simply wasted effort. And not everything fits in there either.