Floor plan evaluation single-family house 147m2 gable roof with extension

Hello everyone,

I have been quietly following along for a while. Since our project is slowly taking shape, I wanted to tap into the wisdom of the crowd and ask for feedback on our early draft. Many things have not yet been thought through in detail, but the basic structure is becoming clear.
Thank you!

Development plan/restrictions
Plot size: 381 m2
Slope: no
Floor area ratio: 0.4
Plot ratio: 0.6
Building window, building line and boundary: The current design fully occupies the building window (except for the terrace area) à 13*14 m
Edge development: max. 9 m per side (carport/storage room fills this), 15 m total
Number of parking spaces: 1
Number of floors: 2 (according to development plan)
Roof shape: gable roof 45-50 ° (the design plans with 50 !)
Style: ?? it would be nice if it looked architecturally at least appealing
Orientation: terrace faces west
Maximum heights/limits: max. eaves height 3.80 m
Other requirements: - Brick in red/brown on the main building is mandatory; 2 m distance of roof structures from the verge is mandatory

Client requirements
Style: somewhat modern/appealing
Roof shape: gable roof – no flexibility here
Building type: single-family house

Basement: no
Floors: 2 (1.5 formally?)
Number of people, age: 2 adults, one child + one planned
Space requirements on ground/floor: normal space requirements – 2 children's rooms + bedroom + office
Office: family use or home office?: office mandatory due to much home office (1 person)
Overnight guests per year: few (should be accommodated in the office)
Open or closed architecture: basically open but with certain limits (I don’t want to see the kitchen from the sofa (hearing and smelling is okay))
Conservative or modern building style: with a tendency towards modern
Open kitchen, kitchen island: both
Number of dining places: 6-8
Fireplace: would be nice but cut for budget reasons
Music/stereo wall: no
Balcony, roof terrace: no
Garage, carport: carport – possibly upgradable to garage (in the drawings it is drawn enclosed and without a partition wall to the storage room. This will probably be changed).
Utility garden, greenhouse: utility garden would be great but not relevant here due to space constraints
Other wishes/special features/daily routine, also reasons why this or that should or should not be:

[*]We would like to realize the L-shape to get a sheltered garden and it is also visually very appealing to us.
[*]The staircase should be designed open – depending on costs as an aesthetically pleasing free staircase (we both come from houses with open staircases and find noise and odors acceptable)

House design
Who is responsible for the planning:
-Architect
What do you particularly like? Why?

[*]Long and narrow design. As a result, the house will be significantly lower than the neighbors.
[*]Floor-to-ceiling windows
[*]In general, I like the distribution of the rooms

What do you not like? Why?

[*]Children's rooms are uneven in size (unfortunate but okay) and at least one is borderline small.
[*]Parent's bedroom could be a bit smaller. Overall, we did not find a sensible alternative composition.
[*]I don’t like the small utility room attached to the pantry like this. I would lower it further and merge it with the utility room. The pantry would then be somewhat higher and mirrored so that the door can remain the same.
[*]Window size and distribution are not yet final. The study should get a larger window door to access the garden, the living room possibly one large instead of two small panes. I would like the dormer windows to be wider.
[*]I am not happy with the street view yet. On the one hand, lighting is needed in the entrance area, on the other hand, the large blank surface bothers me.
[*]Guest bathroom needs natural light. Possibly from above.

Price estimate according to architect/planner: Still too early. We have thrown some rough numbers around and it seems to align with the budget.
Personal price limit for the house including equipment:
Preferred heating technology: ground source heat pump with deep drilling, possibly ventilation system with heat recovery. (I still need to study this to see which side of the discussion I end up on)

If you have to forgo, which details/extensions
-You can do without: Facade design. Currently a rather expensive brick is planned and the wooden cladding is also not exactly cheap. Windows could be replaced by fixed glazing.
-You cannot do without: Not smaller.

What is the most important/basic question about the layout summarized in 130 characters?
I would be interested in a fundamental assessment. Please point out errors/problems mercilessly. It is still early enough to counteract.

Guests sleeping per year: few (should be accommodated in the office

[*]I don't like the mini utility room attached to the pantry that way. I would pull it down further and merge it with the HAR. The pantry would then be slightly higher and mirrored so that the door can remain the same.

Doesn't really appeal to me.

If there are only a few sleeping guests – then why have the shower downstairs?
Ground floor: toilet near the entrance, then you can merge the HAR with the utility room further up. And since you save the shower, you gain 90 cm.

Is the closet in the bedroom enough for you? Even if towels and bed linen are stored in the hallway closet, it looks quite tight.

I like sitting in the living room without seeing the kitchen, but by the passageway I would soon bump my head on the side with the stairs – at least I think it would feel strange to have to duck your head to pass under the stairs.
And somehow I find the hallway to the study wasted space. No room for a shelf or an armchair in a quiet corner.

10 sqm for a children's room is quite small – especially if the study is bigger and you’re not really building a small house.
Then the child will insist on swapping rooms at age 12 and want to move down.

I like your house.
In my opinion, there is nothing existential to criticize, on the contrary. Someone put some thought into it.

10sqm for a child's room seems quite little to me – especially if the study is bigger and you are not actually building a small house.
The child will insist on swapping rooms at the age of 12 and want to move downstairs.

That is sufficient. And I would explain to the 12-year-old what I think of his wishes. It's all a question of upbringing. ;)

Besides, let's be honest, there's probably not even anything against him moving downstairs.

Floors: 2 (1.5 formal?)

1.5 does not exist. That is 2 floors.

Size of the plot: 381 m2
Slope: no
Plot ratio: 0.4
Floor area ratio: 0.6

You have almost exploited everything possible up to the last square meter. I hope that for you the plot ratio II (exceeding the plot ratio by 50% for ancillary facilities) is not excluded?!
Because then it would be too much... I just roughly added everything up.

Regarding the design
My first impression: I like it. Basically a nice idea, also the slim silhouette... Living room at the end, I once planned like that too and found out that having two entrances to the living room burns a lot of valuable space.
The wasted space you have could be well used by the kitchen.
With a light switch, you get a kitchen row of about 2.60/2.70 m. That gets tight with an eye-level oven and refrigerator. There will never be a side-by-side fridge. There is hardly any countertop space on the row for somewhat taller items, electrical appliances, or opened beverage bottles. The jam bread cutting board will be placed centrally in the house... so it will be put on the island, which, however, is too much in the way again. At least for small children and frazzled parents.

If you want to combine the utility room with the storage room, I would put the door in the extension.
NW is the large window: with that you have a pitch-dark dining room and kitchen. In summer you get a few rays into the house in the evening.
Only the additional hallway and the living room are on the sunny side of the house. And people tend to stay less in the living room during summer... so the whole orientation is not really that great.

And I notice with the roof orientation: the ridge direction should lie parallel to the street for you. The neighbors have the orientation as prescribed by the development plan.
So there is still quite a bit to do.
Nevertheless, I’m putting my objections into sketch form.
(The toilet is quite far from the entrance... that can also go wrong ;) ... and by the way you knock over bottles on the kitchen island... I don’t want to discourage them... but it is impractical for everyday routine.)

Edit? The 63e windows are really too narrow... the frame is thicker than the glass.

Only appeals to me to a limited extent.

Hello Ideensucher, thank you very much for giving feedback anyway.

If only a few guests stay overnight – then why have the shower downstairs?

Various considerations. A second shower bathroom simply doesn’t fit upstairs, but I think a second shower is sensible in the long run. Then the kids (or dad...) just have to walk downstairs – not optimal but livable. Also, this would create the possibility to actually move the bedroom downstairs and live all on one level.

Ground floor: toilet near the entrance, then you can combine the storage with the utility room upstairs. And since you save the shower you gain 90cm.

Utility room and storage are to be combined. The plan would be to swap the utility room and the pantry and combine them with the utility room. The distances from the pantry to the kitchen wouldn’t increase. Shower: see above. It should be kept if possible.

Is the walk-in closet in the bedroom enough for you? Even if towels and bed linen fit in the hallway closet, that looks rather tight.

Currently, we manage with almost 2 m of closet space (including towels and bed linen). Maybe we are a bit unusual there. One or two dressers can still be fitted in.

I like sitting in the living room without seeing the kitchen, but at the passage I would soon hit my head on the side with the stairs – at least I think I would find it weird having to duck to get past under the stairs.

That’s a good point. According to the architect, you should be able to walk through there without problems. I should take a closer look at that. I am also leaning towards shortening the wall between living room and dining area to 3 m. Then the passage would be about 1.5 m wide.

And somehow I find the hallway to the study wasted space. No room for a shelf or an armchair in a quiet corner.

True, it’s mainly a hallway at the moment. Which is actually intentional for us, since it facilitates the spatial separation between work and private life – the study is far away. Trying to get an armchair in there doesn’t fit my habits – I would never use it. Shelf space could be interesting. I’ll have to think about that.

10 sqm for a child’s room seems pretty small – especially if the study is bigger and you’re not really building a small house.
The child will insist on swapping rooms and want to move downstairs by the age of 12.

Yes, as mentioned above this is also a point we don’t like optimally. The floor area is almost 11.5 m² and thanks to the rather steep roof reasonably usable (e.g. for the bed). So the study wouldn’t offer massively more space. To be honest, I could well imagine a swap if necessary. It’s not forever anyway.

I like your house. In my opinion, there is nothing existential to criticize, on the contrary. Someone really put thought into it. That is sufficient. And I would explain to the 12-year-old what I think of his wishes. It's all a matter of upbringing. ;) Besides, let's be honest, there is probably nothing against him moving downstairs.

Thank you, I'm glad you like it. I see it the same way. With the design, we mainly tried to make the shared spaces spacious.