Floor plan holiday home in Northern Italy

Hello everyone,
we are planning a holiday home in northern Italy for our retirement, where we can also live for longer periods and accommodate children, grandchildren, and friends. Attached is a design draft that I created based on an architect's plan using HomeByMe. I am particularly interested in opinions on the room layout and the windows.

Bebauungsplan/Einschränkungen
Size of the plot: 1500 sqm
Slope: Slightly sloping (1.50 m on the west-east axis over 30 m)
Floor area ratio: not relevant
Gross floor area ratio: not relevant
Building window, building line and boundary: distance of 5 m to neighboring plots is observed
Edge development: to the west and north. Free view into the valley to the east
Number of parking spaces: 2 (planned carport at another location)
Number of floors: 1.5 or 2


Style: divided gable roof
Orientation north-south
Maximum heights/limits: not relevant
Other requirements: none

Requirements of the builders
Style, roof shape, building type: modern villa
Basement, floors: no basement
Number of persons, age: 2, early 60s
Space requirement on ground floor, upper floor: normal
Office: family use or home office? no office
Overnight guests per year: welcome
Open or closed architecture: open architecture
Conservative or modern construction: modern
Open kitchen, cooking island: yes
Number of dining places: 6
Fireplace: no
Music/stereo wall: no
Balcony, roof terrace: maybe
Garage, carport: initially not
Utility garden, greenhouse: no

House design
Who created the planning: architect. The window planning modified.
- Architect
- Do-it-Yourself
What do you especially like? Open living-dining area, gallery
What don’t you like? No pantry
Price estimate according to architect/designer: none yet
Personal price limit for the house, including equipment: €650,000 without equipment, without land
Preferred heating technology: air-water heat pump, underfloor heating

If you have to do without, which details/expansions
- can you do without: ?
- cannot do without: actually nothing

Why is the design the way it is now? e.g.
Standard design from the planner? no
Corresponding/which wishes were implemented by the architect? yes
A mixture of many examples from various magazines... no
What makes it particularly good or bad in your eyes? modern, open building

Nice project. Even with €650,000, you can achieve quite a lot.

in which we can also live for a longer time and accommodate children, grandchildren, and friends.

I wonder what the living gallery upstairs is supposed to be good for. Who is supposed to sit there? Guests would rather sit with you. And if privacy is wanted, then the open space is not suitable because of the noise, as the sound disturbs each other. Private conversations also don’t work. I would also not plan the staircase in the line of sight of the seating area regarding the guest rooms. I would plan two decent guest rooms, each with a double bed for two, though narrower. But both rooms with a small shower bathroom each. One room possibly with a bunk bed or a small separate room. I would not make the bedroom on the ground floor a walk-through room. Bathroom next to the utility room, bedroom below it, connected by the dressing room, so that one can also reach the master bathroom within a short distance inside the house (utility room correspondingly a bit narrower).

Attached is a design draft that I created based on an architectural plan using HomeByMe.

You would have done better to simply show the architectural plan instead of copying it. I have no trouble converting 2D into 3D myself – but hallucinating dimension chains is more likely.

You would have done better to simply show the architectural plan instead of signing off on it. I have no trouble picturing 2D myself in 3D – but hallucinating dimension chains is more difficult.

Thank you, 11ant. The project is still in the design phase. I have sketches from the architect that I like, but they don’t have dimensions yet. I’m attaching the exterior views from the architect. And thanks, ypg, that is very helpful. I will try to calmly follow the suggestions. The gallery also seems quite large to me. The idea behind it was that people can avoid each other without having to hide away in rooms.

Why the airspace should be open exactly above the kitchen is beyond me - you can hear and smell everything especially well up there.

I also find the room layout only partly successful. I would mirror the kitchen L, rotate the island by 90°, and extend it.

The piano should either be placed on the gallery, or if house concerts are planned, then plan it at the top right - it should not be placed in the sunny area.