Floor plan - In search of tips and ideas from experts

Floor space index and plot ratio mean something different, namely the building density of the property. Basically, you have not reported any of the information from the usage template of the development plan here. Planning the office as a retirement bedroom is a popular naive nonsense. The staircase burdens the entire design; in my opinion, its step rhythm is only bearable for unmusical people. This faulty construction would have been discarded by me already in the preliminary draft. I would swap the positions of the throne and the shower. "Slope, but only garden part" is an imprecise description for sensible suggestions. I do not follow the plan to provide a basement here. Nowadays, I would no longer install a fireplace. The load-bearing walls are positioned unfavorably.

Also, thanks for your contribution!
To be honest, I think we don’t have the information yet or we are not that far along.
What do you think about the idea of moving the office completely to the basement, putting the ground floor bathroom where the office currently is, and then making the living room a bit larger? I just don’t know to what extent an office in the basement is advisable. Do you have an opinion on that?

The staircase is a clear misunderstanding; what kind of staircase would you recommend here? Also, to get more light into the hallway?

For what reason would you swap the throne and the shower?

Well, we would use the basement: technical room, additional pantry, football room, etc. Why would you build without a basement?

In what way are the load-bearing walls unfavorably positioned? What are your thoughts on that?

Thank you very much for your input!

To be honest, I believe that we don't have the information yet or are not that far along.

This information is in the development plan in the usage template, which is basically the quick selection box. Your understanding of it is absolutely essential for any planning of feasible designs. Without your architects explaining all points in it in a way understandable to laymen, one should not enter any planning process at all. This is the shoulder check before starting up!!!

Maybe I have to say that we are still at the beginning of the planning and more or less have only created the third floor plan with few changes to the initial one and in the process the staircase—which we don’t really want either—was included, which we definitely want to change.

Then show the two previous designs. The plans shown here already have a level of detail as for a design. If you are actually still in the preliminary design phase, that would unfortunately indicate unprofessional practice. Massing first, refinements come after milling. And the shape of the staircase is in a way the gender identity of a floor plan. You are talking past each other too much with your architects—where did they come from?—either change the communication or the architects!

I will definitely work from home more often in the future, which is why we are aiming for 10 m². [...] One idea would also be to move the office completely to the basement, [...] I just don’t know to what extent an office in the basement is advisable. [...] With our plot, the space is really the real highlight,

So what is it now—is the plot the highlight or do you want to enjoy the view of the light well wall from the home office?—an office is also a living space and requires a second emergency exit.

We are planning an appointment with the kitchen maker soon for the kitchen, after that I will upload the floor plan again adjusted, a lot will still change.

Precisely because the kitchen can change a lot, you should develop the floor plan already in dialogue with the kitchen studio.

For what reason would you swap the throne and the shower?

Showers and baths are closer to each other than disposing and bathing, the odors associated with using the thinking chair should not mix with the bath oils on the exhaust air path, and important business is sometimes urgent, but here there is a long walk to Canossa planned. From door to throne there should rather be a fast lane, not a Swabian stopping train wheezing past all Bohemian villages.

Well, we would use the basement: technical room, extra pantry, football room etc. For what reason would you build without a basement?

If the plot really only has a slope in the garden, the 11ant basement rule (see also "With or without basement: a rule as a decision tool" on Bauen jetzt) clearly says that a basement is a luxury. Show the plot with elevations.

In what way are the load-bearing walls unfavorably positioned? What are your thoughts on that?

First, in the upper floor they don’t stand above those of the ground floor, but are rather just next to them (shear forces!) and also inside the upper floor again skewed under the ridge purlin. My thought on that is "sloppy architectural work" :-(

Show us the property and the neighborhood. Photos and aerial view.

I suspect the architect has the development plan. Why don't we have it here?

Don't you have any height specifications? The architect should have those too.

Maybe I have to say that we are still at the very beginning of the planning

You really can't tell from the already very detailed design.

What do you think speaks against the entrance in the east?

Nothing. It was just a question because I can't find the north arrow.

We are planning an appointment with the kitchen builder soon,

I think that's way too early since the room is not yet finalized. Planning the room is quite easy if you roughly know whether you want a small island, huge island, tall cabinet block, or a two-row kitchen. So if you reserve “enough” space with a rough sketch of the furniture and are satisfied with the basic structure of the whole house design, then you can go into more detailed kitchen planning.

How would you design the hallway differently, do you have ideas for us?

that a little light floods into the corridor, what do you think?

I would do without a corridor. A corridor is like the 3-room-kitchen-bathroom style. You don’t need “hallways” in a generous house. It does not fit. Ok, if you like and love corridors, then please... you can do it that way. But here I really don’t understand the 7-meter hallway.

Why would you build without a basement?

Put differently: why build _with_ a basement on such a large plot? I think you still owe us the floor area ratio or the building envelope? Is something constraining there?

I just don't know to what extent an office in the basement is advisable.

With a great view and space, nothing stands in the way of an office, right?

Well, we would actually use the basement: machine room, additional pantry, soccer room, etc.

You can put all that nicely compact either between or combined behind the garage: soccer room (whatever that is), with terrace door and open view behind the garage next to the office... or something like that. Storage and technical rooms either in between or interior. Or something similar.

If I have such a great view to the west, opposite the entrance door, then I want to see it when I come in. The view from the entrance area/hall should make you happy about the house and garden. I also see the terrace rather by the kitchen, while the living area can rather do without a view, since you mostly lounge on the sofa when it gets darker outside. Maybe then you also watch TV more.
Enjoying the view in summer is done from the garden/terrace. View in the office is also nice-to-have. Sunlight through south windows is of course also important. That’s why I would see the entrance more centrally or further down the plan, all-purpose room oriented as it is now, but swap living room and kitchen, so that when coming home you can look through the kitchen and windows, with the stairs opposite the entrance, the office to the west opposite, etc. Hopefully the rest adapts then.

It was just an inquiry because I can't find the north arrow.

Yes, as a confirmation, a north arrow is also nice on oriented drawings.

All in all, as ypg already said, doable but a bit boring.

I have a hard time with the bathroom. It somehow feels cobbled together. A narrow cabinet half hidden behind the door, that feels more like a student dorm than a planned house. Then the washbasins get a very prominent, long place in the middle – but the toilet suffers from that and becomes a strange mini cubicle, where an L-shaped privacy screen gives a school restroom cubicle vibe, and to the left of the toilet there is a strange, free space that you really can’t use for anything (except maybe a huge magazine holder).

The kitchen was already mentioned – I would also first consider how I fundamentally want the kitchen to be, and then plan the room accordingly. Other things sometimes have to take a back seat in planning, but a kitchen is such an essential and central part of every house that it can get attention right from the start. What doesn’t work at all is this Jakobsweg between the sink and the stove. Imagine mentally how often you have to walk back and forth there while cooking/working, usually carrying things you’d rather not carry that far because they drip / are hot / or other reasons.

The upstairs hallway is reduced to the minimum. You can do that – I had that in my first rental house – but I would never build like that again afterwards. A completely empty hallway that, in the middle, offers a square dance hall is really uncomfortable. You can’t even put a dresser anywhere. You have to like that. But maybe I’m just some kind of maniac hallway freak who wants to push hallway madness on other people. We built more hallway than most people have living room. We were also criticized here for the floor plan because of that. I would like to talk more about it, but I don’t have time anymore, I have to go lie down in my oversized hallway now. ;)

Best regards, Kati