Floor plan of a single-family house on a narrow plot

Dear forum,

we are currently in the floor plan planning phase with our architect and would appreciate suggestions and/or information. Our plot is quite narrow and has a field path on one side and a large, almost boundary-adjacent development by a farm on the other side. Currently, there is still an old quadrangular farm on the plot, which will be demolished as part of the new construction. On the site plan, all parts marked in yellow are to be demolished. Purple remains as a basement replacement, storage area. In red you can see the approximate position of the new building. So we are building, so to speak, in the second row, which we like and which has been approved by the building authority. Here is our questionnaire attached:

Bebauungsplan/Einschränkungen
Size of the plot: approx. 1000 sqm
Slope: no
Site coverage ratio
Floor area ratio
Building window, building line and boundary: end of the building window at the height of the neighboring house 11a
Edge development
Number of parking spaces: two in the carport
Number of floors

Style
Orientation
Maximum heights/limits
Other requirements: according to neighboring development, which mainly consists of gable roof houses with 1.5-2.5 floors

Requirements of the builders
Style, roof shape, building type: gable roof without roof overhang
Basement, floors: no basement, two full floors
Number of people, age: 2 adults, 3 children (2 of them still planned)
Space requirements on ground floor, upper floor: ground floor large open space, separate cloakroom, small office
Upper floor three children's rooms, bedroom with dressing room, family bathroom
Office: family use or home office?: home office, only a large desk without shelves etc.
Number of overnight guests per year: max. 5
Open or closed architecture: rather closed, staircase must be separated from living area
Conservative or modern construction: a mix?
Open kitchen, cooking island: row with tall cupboards and large half island
Number of dining seats: 8
Fireplace: gladly, if it fits
Music/stereo wall: no
Balcony, roof terrace: no
Garage, carport: carport preferably connected to the cloakroom
Utility garden, greenhouse: no
Other wishes/special features/daily routine, also reasons why this or that should or should not be: washing should be on the ground floor with short paths outside, large cloakroom with separate entrance

House design
Who created the plan:
- architect

What do you especially like? Why? Separate cloakroom and washing well solved, nice ground floor overall

What do you not like? Why?
Bedroom in the south! Window in the ground floor shower, children’s rooms could be somewhat larger

Price estimate according to architect/planner: pure house 500,000€
Personal price limit for the house, including equipment: 650,000€
Preferred heating technology: heat pump

If you have to do without, on which details/extensions
- you can do without: hard to say
- you cannot do without: hard to say

Why is the design the way it is now? for example
Architect implemented our requirements

Maybe you see some rough mistakes here that we have overlooked or have ideas on how the whole thing can be improved further.
Thanks and best regards
Annie

So you do not drive to your house via the dirt road, but through the demolished yard No. 9 - is there a house in front of your "cellar replacement" again in the first row by the street? The neighboring farm No. 7 remains standing - at what building heights?

Officially, access is provided via our property, i.e., in the area of the demolished four-sided farmyard. However, we do plan to use the field path, just like 11a... Initially, no house is to be built at the front. We reserve this right only in case of financial difficulties or for a family member. The residential house No. 7 (dark gray) has a wall height of 5.42 meters and a ridge height of 10.32 meters. The outbuildings (light gray) directly next to our new building have a wall height of 4.50 meters and a ridge height of 7.73 meters.

I think this is a solid thing. The only problematic part is the [Technikraum]. That is a joke. However, I think it could be solved well by swapping the wardrobe and [Technik].

With 3 children, I wonder where you want to store all the stuff that a 5-person household has and where you will do the laundry? I also don’t understand the utility room. We have 8 sqm and every craftsman is cursing, including me. You definitely won’t manage to keep the work areas free according to VDE and DIN standards in there.

You absolutely have to give up the dressing room and move the wardrobe into the master bedroom. Try to redistribute the gained space differently, but that will be difficult on the wrong side of the hallway.

The large coatroom is almost a must with 3 kids, I agree with you on that. But unfortunately, it is not in proportion to the size of the rest of the house. Since I myself work a lot from home, I can understand the study on the ground floor, but somehow with the desire for three children, in the final development stage, the study no longer seems to have a place on the wishlist. I would also try to shrink the foyer a bit (1-2 sqm). The second access through the coatroom wastes unnecessary space that you don’t have. I really wouldn’t make an access here (to the garage?). Where the coatroom is now, an office of 8-9 sqm. Expand the utility room to 10 sqm to make space for laundry there. Slightly reduce the current office and convert it into a foyer. Design the bathroom on the ground floor to be age-appropriate with a walk-in shower (I believe that is already planned) and also make it a bit larger so that a small cabinet fits for towels, toilet paper, cleaners, etc.

This is about the floor plan, isn’t it, or was there something else? :-D

The house gets my blessing. Actually. There is hardly anything to complain about. Actually. Except: lack of storage space and poorly planned usable area! Even if there is a shed 10 meters away – where is laundry dried or stored before ironing? Where do cleaning supplies, decorative stuff, and all sorts of miscellaneous things go, which you want to have handy when you need them but do not belong in a living room cabinet? Also, technical equipment—nothing fits in. Hot water tank, electrical cabinet… You probably don’t have controlled residential ventilation? Some plan 8 sqm just for technology, plus 2-3 meters of cabinets for all kinds of stuff like light bulbs, batteries, leftover paint, scrubbers, vacuum cleaners, and so on. It doesn’t fit under the stairs either. Heinz von Heiden houses have just under 6 sqm, and that is already extremely tight for one person with a second freezer and laundry tower. If you also want to temporarily store recycling waste, where does that go? Separate wardrobe and laundry well solved, nice ground floor plan Over all, not at all. Wardrobe + hallway make up 22 sqm, which could be accommodated in half that space. The direct passage from the carport to the house is silly. If you park backwards, you are practically already at the front door. Where is the built-in closet? For washing machine and dryer, that is where the wardrobe closet should be, and wardrobe/technology should share the rest as a utility/technology room. I also imagine it very difficult to sort laundry for 5 people, possibly dry damp laundry before washing or steam out after the dryer or whatever—you will need laundry baskets lying somewhere, want to handle them yourself, and then all that in a hallway that is supposed to serve as a buffer zone. I looked again: storage is somewhat bigger, but 6 sqm only “under the stairs”. Vacuum cleaner and such could go there. But then it is accessible from the open space, although there is an annex for such things at the front of the house. Another thing: in the storage room and on the east side I would still install a window in the living room, even if the view is blocked there. Daylight will still come in. It’s not as if your east side lies in darkness. The kitchen may be modern—I don't like these aircraft carriers, worse yet docked to them, which promise long distances again, and in the end, with the tall cabinets there is no counter space to put opened beverage bottles on. All the stuff (boards, knives, appliances, medicine, tablet, and so on) that you want quick access to ends up on the counter. I also find the work surface far too small. If I subtract stove and sink, in a 2-person household we have 3.70 m² of worktop, and that only because I had to add 40 cm since the ventilation shaft had no more space. What kind of technology are you getting? If without ventilation system, the children’s rooms should get a corner window.