Floor plan single-family house 147m2 - opinions, criticism, suggestions for improvement?

Yes, I suspected it. 32 cm walls are cheating. I would cautiously increase to at least 40 cm. Of course, this has an impact on the interior. The shunting area is also planned exactly as assumed. Accordingly, the parking space should be placed in the south. That's unfortunate because of the sun, but it can't be changed. The all-important question here is about the roofing. If the car is to stand dry, you would have to come to an agreement with the neighbor. Everything else is nonsense in my opinion. This also affects how much light you can get from the south and ultimately the planning. Is the property seller your builder or general contractor?

Regarding the draft: this was quickly thrown together and serves only as inspiration. Windows and doors are always exemplary and only sketched. If you want it differently, feel free to cross out wildly. Everything is allowed as long as the house doesn't collapse. Or in other words: the structural engineer has the final say anyway. With the current or the still missing information, the orientation (especially of the kitchen) would be adapted to the conditions. Possibly you mirror it or place the kitchen directly on the terrace.

Regarding the questions: The U-staircase is planned with a total width of 2.20 m. That is one of the smallest staircases – but then it is also a very small house. Still, that is a good dimension. The length is determined by the storey height. It shouldn't be much less than 2.10 m. For stair play, google: "Treppe 1x1", if you have time and inclination.

The small wall next to the kitchen island is load-bearing and is supposed to hold the wall + ceiling above. Since you don't need much more than a column for that, I put a window in it. Simply for beauty – with me, there would be flower patterns in the glass (that would be something for ;)). This way it is light and airy and still somewhat shielded from the living area. You can also plan just a column if the wall is in your way. Maybe it works without a column at all, but I fear not. I adapted the width to the island. On the plan, that's 85 cm.

The living area is about 4 m deep. That's standard and a good dimension for small houses. In your floor plan, it's more like 5 m. That's certainly nice, but it pinches heavily elsewhere. The goal is to distribute the space sensibly so that everything is pleasing. A huge living room does little good if the kitchen is ugly and cramped on the side. That is ultimately also a question of priorities and money. You would immediately have much more space if the office moves to the basement. For this, you need a light well, which should be well considered due to the lack of space on the property. But it's not impossible. I would probably even plan an external staircase to the basement, if somehow possible.

Do you know if external basement stairs would count as a subordinate component or if they might be exempt from the 3 m distance rule?

32 cm walls are cheating. I would cautiously increase to at least 40 cm. Of course, that is noticeable inside.

We thought that as long as it complies with the Building Energy Act, that would be the better alternative for us. KfW premiums are no longer available anyway, and the additional living space used solely for insulation was too much of a waste for us. According to the general contractor, the savings in heating costs between the Building Energy Act and KfW55 are negligible. What other advantages would a thicker wall have? Protection against moisture because the walls don’t get so cold?

The maneuvering zone is also planned exactly as assumed. Accordingly, the parking space should be placed in the south. That’s bitter because of the sun but can’t be changed. The crucial question here is the roofing. If the car is to be kept dry, you would have to come to an agreement with the neighbor. Everything else is nonsense in my opinion. That also affects how much light you can get from the south and ultimately the planning. Is the plot seller your developer or general contractor?

I’ve sketched here again the two possible variants. In Variant A, the carport or parking space is in the south. What I find particularly disadvantageous about this solution is the fact that quite a bit of garden area is lost and you look out from the living room or kitchen onto a parked car. I’m also still undecided whether maneuvering will be significantly easier than in Variant B (carport/parking space in the north). I’ve drawn possible driving paths in red. Either you have to drive quite far through and then reverse park, or you somehow manage to drive forward directly onto the parking space.
Variant A

Of course, in Variant B (carport in the north), driving in and out is also a bit annoying because you have to reverse, but you preserve the garden space on the south side and could still place a garden gate there. This way I also do not violate the areas designated for maneuvering. Or am I overlooking something important here? We also considered that the car does not necessarily have to be covered. That way, you would gain a bit more light in the entrance area of the house. The disadvantage, of course, is access to the bicycle/tool shed when the car is parked. With a 4 m wide driveway, there should still be enough space to get past the car on the left. What do you think? By the way, is the bicycle shed in its current location even sensible? The decision between these two variants is really not easy. There also has to be space planned somewhere for the garbage containers. I have no idea yet where they can or may stand… o_O Maybe at the lower corner of the house, on the right? So the southeast corner.
Variant B

The U-staircase is planned with a total width of 2.20 m. That is one of the smallest stairs - but it is also a very small house. Nevertheless, it is still a good dimension. The length is determined by the floor height. It shouldn’t be any less than 2.10 m deep. For stair play, google: "Treppe 1x1" if you have time and inclination.

The small wall next to the kitchen island is load-bearing and is supposed to support the wall + ceiling above. But since you don’t need much more than a column for that, I put in a window. Simply because of beauty – with me, there would be a flower pattern in the glass (that would be something for @ypg ;)). That way it is airy and light but still somewhat shielded from the living area. You can also plan just a column if the wall is in your way. Maybe you can do without a column altogether but I doubt it. I adapted the width to the island. In the plan, that’s 85 cm.

Thanks again for the dimensions . I have redrawn your design with these and partially placed our furniture.




Ground floor and upper floor
The area in the living/dining/kitchen room has become quite decent with 42.6 m² :) I don’t find the solution with that small partition wall that bad. Depending on the orientation of the sofa, you don’t look directly at the kitchen island. After all, not everything is always tidied up and put away ;) I also managed our highboard quite well (at the front side of the kitchen island).
The children’s rooms on the upper floor have now also turned out quite spacious. We think that’s great! We find the bedroom absolutely large enough. We played a bit with the placement of the room door so we can put a large wardrobe against the left room wall. The slope gets in the way along the bottom wall. I don’t know whether this is feasible with the sloped wall or if it’s a short-sighted idea. For the bathroom, we still have to think about how to arrange shower and bathtub. Maybe a corner bathtub would have advantages here.

Stairs
I still have some questions about the stairs. You placed the access to the cellar on the kitchen side, . Are there any specific rules/advantages or could it be swapped so you go down to the cellar from the hallway? Then I wanted to ask at what height (e.g. regarding the floor level on the upper floor) the additional window at the stairway landing is planned?

Cellar
In my opinion, there is not much room for design in the cellar because the layouts are determined by the walls above. We’re not sure if the technical room has become a bit too small. Actually, we wanted to dry laundry there. ;) What’s still unclear to me with the placement of the technical room is how the water connections for the kitchen would be laid? That is now on the opposite side. :D

You would immediately have much more space if the office moved to the cellar. That would require a light well, which, due to lack of space on the plot, should be considered carefully. But it’s not impossible. I would probably even plan an outdoor staircase to the cellar if somehow possible.

There is enough space in the cellar for a study, but I have no idea where to fit a light well on our tiny plot. I’m afraid the outdoor stairs would also take up quite a bit of space :( Of course, one can work with artificial lighting too. But considering the amount of time spent working, that’s not really pleasant. I agree that an office in the cellar would significantly relieve the living room/kitchen situation. A larger hallway would also be possible then.

The minimum requirements of the Energy Saving Ordinance are, as far as I know, already so high that a 32 cm wall is probably not sufficient. Only your general contractor knows exactly how the wall structure would be with your project. Just ask.
Whether you change the direction of the stairs is something only you can decide. Basically, with children, the principle applies that a separation between the living room and the children's room provides more quiet. It's less about the children's noise and more about the clattering of dishes by the parents when the kids are already in bed. With a knee wall of 1.50 m, I nearly placed the window by the stairs almost on the floor. I think at about 20 cm. But these are things you have to decide on your own. You should look at and experiment with window sizes and heights in other similarly sized houses. That is actually what your architect is there for, to advise you.
I was not so adamant about the bedroom wardrobe. I have a 2 m wardrobe up to the slope. The rest were highboards. Sloping walls are not really my thing and rather a desperate measure. In front of the bed, people like to place a highboard instead of a wardrobe to also be able to position a screen. But of course, that is also your decision.
I would always plan the basement last. It has to adapt to the rest. We can look at that again when you have gone through the other floors. I had planned a laundry chute in the bathroom. Of course, it should lead down to the laundry room.

I have marked possible routes in red.

Does the right of way apply beyond the 3 meters? If there is a neighbor's fence there, no gentle curve is possible.

Here is a suggestion with an office in the basement and a light well to the south (north is to the right on the plan):

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If you’re digging the basement anyway, then a light well like this is a piece of cake. Since the rooms in the basement have a ceiling height of 2.44m and you’re not quite sure what all should go down there anyway, I would try to put the office downstairs. Of course, it would need a heating loop and you would also have to inquire how the insulation of the office can be realized. In return, you gain a nice area in the ground floor for living space and kitchen.

The plot is small and you have to make some compromises. In the example, I put the bike shed directly next to the carport and so realized 9x4m for car and bicycles. For that, the kitchen only has windows to the north. That’s a pity, but as a compensation I additionally built in a seating window.
Furthermore, I would use the maneuvering zone, which cannot be built over anyway, to realize the entrance here. This keeps the paths short.
At first, I had the kitchen in the south and the entrance in the north, but that is simply too wasteful and impractical here. Possibly you also have to swap HAR and utility room in the basement. However, the laundry chute must remain where it is.
What is still questionable here is the statics. The walls are quite randomly distributed. Possibly, some lightweight walls (drywall) are needed at least partially on the upper floor.

Many thanks for your ideas, drafts, and especially your time. Please excuse the late response. This is definitely a very interesting proposal from you as well. With this solution, we would have to do without the dormer, is that correct? How about the light well? Does the 3m regulation to the neighbor apply there as well, or is it exempt? A separate kitchen would also have its advantages. Now we have the dilemma of choice ;)

Last Monday, we had your first draft developed by our construction engineer. I think it has already improved by leaps and bounds compared to what we had before. We now have a reasonable hallway, the kitchen is nice and spacious, and the children's rooms upstairs are also very generous. I have attached the new drawings. The carport is still shown in the views, but we are considering leaving out the carport and only keeping the bicycle/tool shed on the north side. The car does not necessarily need to be parked under a roof, and there is usually a spot free on the street there. If you still can’t find a spot or want to load the car, you can still park it in front of the entrance. The green strip on the south side could then be used entirely as a garden from the end of the maneuvering area.

A few questions about the attached floor plan remain. For example, in the living room, the small wall to the right of the kitchen island creates a relatively narrow passage between the stairs and the kitchen island. It might also be possible to build without this small support wall. For that, the living room ceiling would need to be somewhat more massive. We are still waiting for an answer from our builder regarding the additional costs that would involve. Of course, that would make the living room much more open and spacious. We still have to consider whether there might be another solution for the laundry chute to shift it slightly toward the bathtub. From my point of view, it is not ideal to have it so close to the toilet. But maybe that’s just an impression. Also, it still needs to be considered whether the door of the north-facing children’s room should be moved slightly downward. This would create a somewhat more symmetrical look in the hallway. The current solution is probably more advantageous for the room itself. It might also be possible to combine this floor plan with the light well proposed by . Well, please take a look. Maybe something else will catch your eye. We appreciate any tip that brings us a step closer to our final floor plan :)

Best regards