Floor plan draft for a 220m² single-family house

That the staircase goes back a bit, I last understood so that the staircase on the upper floor is where the hallway is now and vice versa.

My drawing does not illustrate my suggestion, but the actual state: the partition wall hallway / living room on the ground floor does not run under the partition wall hallway / bedroom on the upper floor. The trick here is that swinging the staircase to the other hallway side upstairs would place it below on the other wall side.

That would mean the building would be one meter longer from the front door to the terrace door

That I see the staircase upstairs on the "practically less favorable" hallway side was not a criticism of the depth of the house. I meant that the hallway should become longer in the house width — mind you, not necessarily the whole house / house-garage complex — because you can extend it elsewhere. In my opinion, the staircase lacks space in front of the bottom step or behind the top step: on the one hand at both ends because people are not robots and therefore do not turn 90° on the spot but in a flowing movement; on the other hand also at the bottom step because here the hallway / living room passage crosses and the sense of openness from the clear spatial and staircase composition is crushed if one is content with a purely reasonably "sufficient" passage width there. Therefore, I see the (lower and upper) hallway in its length (that is, house width) needing at least 40 cm more each "before" and "after" the staircase run. I did not address the aspect of width (i.e., in house depth) of the upper hallway here but do consider "more" there by no means wrong. However, I see 20 cm increase (in the hallway) as sufficient there, which can be fully compensated in the overall depth without any issues. From my point of view, the house does not necessarily become bigger due to such changes.

To pick out only the aspect of length before / after the staircase: I see the staircase staying where it is; the wall hallway / kitchen then stepping back approximately 40 cm (possibly fully extending into the garage), and likewise the wall hallway / toilet. I do not worry about your bathtub upstairs because I see the laundry room at that end (accessible from the hallway next to the children's bathroom). The shorter route will also significantly help the children to bring their dirty socks there themselves.

You would consider the aspect of swapping the arrangement of staircase / corridor upstairs more important if it were my house — you might even like it as it is better. Only since you subtly signaled the consideration of changing the staircase, I brought that up incidentally.

What you cannot do — because a staircase can trigger an avalanche in the floor plan — is to curl it up like a dog in a basket into a corner. This floor plan is genetically clearly a straight-staircase house as a whole composition. The hallway has an axis, and such a changed staircase would no longer lie in it. Shifting it parallel would work — but because of the "Z" (or call it in section a "N," if you like), where the wall between bottom and top changes its position in the throne order staircase - corridor - wall - room, that would be a profound change.

If the staircase (relative to the corridor in the hallway upstairs) stays as it is, 20 cm more corridor width by correspondingly shifting the wall to the bedroom wing (only in the hallway length) would free the smoke extraction pipe, which might also look quite appealing.

My drawing illustrates...

... I had added that on the side.

...

... said the ADHD patient in #37 and finally went to rest. [emoji23]

The adjusted drafts are attached. Kitchen variant top and bottom. We are still struggling with the decision. It should be made over the weekend.

Otherwise, we are very satisfied with the adjustments! Only the area in front of the staircase on the ground floor towards the kitchen / study wall we would like to design more generously. But it is not a problem, since both rooms simply become a bit smaller and their walls can move to the left (provided that the exterior appearance is not impaired).

A second small point is still the upper floor, where we have to consider whether the left bathroom wall as well as the two walls of the dressing room should move a bit to the left, with the goal of enlarging the bathroom a bit. Otherwise, I find the upper floor great. Even partially somewhat too large in terms of the rooms.

The area has grown from 220m² to 225m² according to the architect. I am still looking for the reason why, with only 5m² more, the distance between couch and TV could suddenly reach 6.40 instead of 5.69 (and that even though I had mentioned that we were okay with the 5.69m; presumably the architect was already further ahead…). We'll have to see. In any case, we are very satisfied so far!

I think the kitchen looks better at the top of the plan. Since the pantry door still needs to be installed [emoji6], I would install it hidden within tall cabinets so that it looks uniform. I would leave out the odd rectangles on the right wall of the plan; they look tacky. The wardrobe fits the dimensions! And yes, I would give the bathroom more space. Specifically, I would highlight the bathtub more by integrating it into a platform. For that, I would give it a spot "without window contact," meaning shifting the wall about 20/30 cm to the left on the plan and then centering the bathtub. The kids’ bathroom could use a bit more daylight at the sink. If the living room were a bit smaller, I could see myself living in the house. Regards, Yvonne

I think the kitchen is better showcased at the top of the plan. Since the pantry door still needs to be installed [emoji6], I would integrate it concealed into tall cabinets so that it looks visually uniform.

We decided on the other solution tonight. In the end, my wife, I, and—to my surprise—the architect all agreed.

I would leave out the strange rectangles on the right wall of the plan; they look shabby.

Which rectangles do you mean?

The wardrobe fits the dimensions!

Still, I think the upper wall of the wardrobe to the left of the bathroom is bothersome. Even though a mirror is drawn in there. The architect didn’t respond to my idea of placing the bathroom and the wardrobe directly next to each other along the lower house wall.

And yes, I would give the bathroom more space. Specifically, I would highlight the bathtub more by installing it in a pedestal. For this, I would give it a spot “without window contact,” meaning pushing the estimated 20/30 cm wall to the left on the plan and then placing the bathtub centrally.

Do you have photos/links to such a bathtub solution? Sounds interesting.

The kids’ bathroom could use a bit more daylight at the sink.

Noted and understood. Honestly, I would have overlooked that myself!

If the living room were a bit smaller, I could see myself living in the house.

It is already quite large. Especially since the architect has actually expanded the living area upward with the couch in good faith. We can possibly revert that.


I hope that this will be the last time I need to approach him with small open change requests and that we can then move forward with a final design into the detailed planning phase.

BTW; how does such a detailed planning process usually work and how do we prepare properly for it?

BTW; how does a detailed planning actually proceed and how do we prepare ourselves properly for it?

In any case, it does not proceed finally; small changes ("tektures") are not uncommon even after the approval planning. The process is that the architect derives execution and detail drawings from the last draft; typical changes include shifted doors (if the handle would otherwise hit the cupboard somewhere), two single sinks instead of a double washbasin, positions of the sliding door to the terrace / fixed element swapped with each other. Stairs are no longer rotated. Proper preparation means "discipline," to responsibly submit the last change requests. To quote Michael Schanze: "Plopp - yes plopp, that means stop - just one more hop, then that's it."