ypg
2019-04-28 22:14:53
- #1
House Planning
You have already had bank meetings and know how much budget is available to you! You have dealt with the topic of additional construction costs! You know that there are different energy concepts! You have considered your individual space requirements! So you really want to build?!
Now think about what your future house should look like and what your home should offer you. Which costly extras should be installed, which investments can you do without?
My tip: don’t commit too much, because it always depends on the plot how the house is best planned – it may be that concessions have to be made, and the wallet also plays a role!
“A living room without a fireplace is social housing.”
“A bathroom must be at least 12 sqm.”
“When I was a child, I only had 10 sqm.”
“A plot must be at least 1000 sqm.”
Keep in mind: many of these statements are thoughtless pub talk from earlier times and hardly relate anymore to today’s house construction. If parents or even grandparents consider a cellar necessary, a house without a cellar does not have to be less valuable for you. A plot with a north-facing orientation can also offer your house a good reason, even if you always mentioned on Sunday trips that a plot with a north orientation would not be an option under any circumstances.
The Building Plot
You have found a building plot to choose from? Then engage with the infrastructure, the location, noise level, size, slope, planting, as well as the orientation of the plot. It is no use rejecting a plot because of its orientation if it is not foreseeable when the next affordable plot will be available on the market. In addition, every orientation has its advantages. Usually, at second glance, a plot has more or even better possibilities than expected, once you have dealt with it.
Read through the development plan: it contains the regulations and restrictions of the authority about the development of the plot. Here you must also deal with number of storeys and floor area ratio, eaves heights, roof pitch, façade color, building boundaries and -windows.
Furthermore, of course, the state building code applies, which, for example, regulates the boundary development of ancillary buildings.
Often the dream of a so-called city villa or a bungalow is already dashed by these regulations. Or so one thinks. Nevertheless, of course, an architect has the knowledge and task of cleverly combining, for example, setback storeys, dormers, roof shapes, and living spaces so that your own needs and wishes can be adjusted to these restrictions.
Here and also for sloped plots, I generally advise an architect who is commissioned for the technical, functional, design, and economic planning of your individual house.
Type House
If it is your wish and your plot allows it (keywords: geotechnical report, development plan) to build a house without major static requirements and individual design demands, which is offered by a house building company as a type house, you can and should now deal extensively with the plot.
The plot determines the floor plan
Draw the plot to scale 1:100 with a north arrow, building lines, existing buildings on neighboring plots, and any planting (forest at the plot boundary, trees) on a sheet of paper. It is best to use pencil and graph paper (millimeter paper). Now you can mark noise directions if applicable (e.g., from a nearby playground or motorway). You can also draw the wind coming from the west. Mark the sun position in summer: this should be a 3⁄4 pie slice from NE to NW. For the sun position in winter, mark the area between SE and SW twice.
Shade possible shadow areas. Mark areas that may be visible to strangers or neighbors. Also, a arrow for the plot access can be important. Draw in the lines of the building window. You can also mark a nice view with arrows that point to it. Be aware of how many cars drive past your house daily and make a distinction between whether only neighbors stay on the plot or strangers use the paths (cul-de-sac in residential street/main street in a community). All this can influence the interior layout of the house.
Strong winds, an ugly neighboring building, and views from third parties can be well countered by planting a dense hedge (or staggered shrubs if there is plenty of depth). Always calculate a depth of one to two meters for a hedge. One or two beautiful trees that accentuate the garden and provide natural shade and protection in summer can be drawn somewhere between north and south, not in the west, as the tree would then block the evening sun. If you dislike the evening sun, then of course a tree in the west is allowed too.
Now draw a rectangle/square in the approximate size of the house into the building window. Roughly divide the rectangle into six equal areas for kitchen, living and dining room, utility rooms, stairs, and entrance area, i.e., your space requirement. Use the sun position and arrows as help. Consider the utility connections at the street and the short routes to the technical room. Then determine the approximate positions for the terraces. By the way, a terrace in the south garden can be in the shade by 7 p.m. in midsummer if the sun in the west disappears behind the roof of a single-story neighboring house. However, it can then reappear in midsummer in the northwest and shine on the north garden. This is worth mentioning when it comes to plot orientation.
You can now also trace your favorite type house, which you selected before choosing the plot, at the same scale on a transparent foil with a permanent marker and place it over your plan. You have the option of rotating and mirroring the foil in all directions.
You should also draw arrows from the house area towards the garden: what would one see if there were a window here? You can use an arrangement of differently high trees and shrubs to create a stage set from your view.
Make sure that parking spaces as well as garage or carport have the standard dimensions of 3 x 6 or 6 x 6 meters. By the way, these can also be used cleverly as visual and wind protection, e.g., for a seating area. If there is a forecourt on the plot, you have the option to position the parking spaces crosswise rather than dock them only next to the house. A garden looks more spacious later if garage and house are set apart and connections created by planting, paths, privacy walls, and paving.
Be patient with yourself – good placement is not done in one day. Cut out templates and experiment. Many need a few days to dare to place the house at an angle. Yes! It usually does not have to be built parallel to the street. But keep absolutely to the regulations of the development plan and in the building window. Garages can be built on the plot boundary. Usually, however, a 5-meter deep parking space must be kept in front of the garage. Have fun – this could be how your floor plan design begins!
The house does not fit on the plot
What happens if the favorite house has to be changed or ideas don't come? ... the house just doesn’t want to fit? Talk to your house building company about architectural services. Most houses can be mirrored and rotated on request (also combined). Because this does not affect the statics, it should be offered free of charge or at least cheaply. It becomes more problematic if walls have to be moved or entire partial areas swapped or changed. Many house building companies can vary the house length in increments, others only offer the sizes of their type houses. Here, of course, the price of the house becomes noticeable: tight budgets disadvantage flexibility. No matter how patient the paper may be: statics have to be affordable. You also have to reckon with the fact that the architect employed by the house building company is not very creative or resourceful. He might be grateful if he only has to change small details according to instructions. So don’t make the mistake of pushing him a layman’s draft created by you, which he irresponsibly signs off with all its errors.
The Architect
Give him your wish list and a requirements plan, e.g., a room program, which defines the rooms you must have. Define your ideas properly. If you want a spacious living room for interactive games, don’t just write: living room at least 25 sqm, but write "spacious" with a reason. If you want to come dry-shod from the garage into the house, write exactly that and not: door from garage to utility room a must. Be open to the architect’s suggestions, which can sometimes be different from the standard.
If different suggestions than desired or expected are made, always listen to the argumentation, consider and decide later. Nobody wants to break your wishes, only sometimes clients’ wishes seem not well thought out, e.g., the straight staircase does not fit the planned 120 sqm or the desired laundry cellar with a construction budget of 20,000€. A smart architect thinks along. He is a professional who studied the subject of architecture and spatial planning.
If you have the feeling that you are not well taken care of by this architect, you should consider changing. If it is the architect of a house building company, you should look for another company or at least additionally commission an external architect.
If this option is not feasible for cost or other reasons, you must make the best of your situation. A good option is to get advice from like-minded people, e.g., here in the HouseBuildingForum. Avoid asking friends or relatives who have never dealt extensively with today’s house construction. Keep in mind that, for example, in the HouseBuildingForum, you get advice from ambitious users – they like to help with their (life) experience but are generally not structural engineers or architects, but home builders like you. They have the advantage of freedom of opinion, cannot hurt you, and see many things in the same situation as you. Grandpa who has been bricklaying for many years will view a house very differently than you as a young family.
Many now use a PC program to create floor plans. Don’t forget that this is only a tool to present a draft more quickly and clearly. The house design is still a mental and creative achievement whose artistic process is characterized by rationality, complexity, and creativity.
Therefore, do not expect a PC program to replace an architect. A program is operated, and that by you laymen. As laymen, you cannot draw on ideas and expertise as someone who deals with spatial planning daily.
I personally also work with a program, but it goes faster to implement first ideas with pencil on paper (notebook), which is often seen here.
Don’t make the mistake and lose yourselves in details when the room arrangement is still in a workflow. It is always difficult to delete a time-consuming work because the concept was not thought through. Linearity and structure should always be recognizable in a floor plan.
The biggest mistake is to glorify your own unfamiliar working process and to make any walls that grow on paper look beautiful and to rationalize errors. Unfortunately, this is a risk with 3D programs and often makes one immune to criticism. Usually, what eventually comes out from a layman is not a plan but only a practice platform for the spatial planning program.
You have already had bank meetings and know how much budget is available to you! You have dealt with the topic of additional construction costs! You know that there are different energy concepts! You have considered your individual space requirements! So you really want to build?!
Now think about what your future house should look like and what your home should offer you. Which costly extras should be installed, which investments can you do without?
My tip: don’t commit too much, because it always depends on the plot how the house is best planned – it may be that concessions have to be made, and the wallet also plays a role!
“A living room without a fireplace is social housing.”
“A bathroom must be at least 12 sqm.”
“When I was a child, I only had 10 sqm.”
“A plot must be at least 1000 sqm.”
Keep in mind: many of these statements are thoughtless pub talk from earlier times and hardly relate anymore to today’s house construction. If parents or even grandparents consider a cellar necessary, a house without a cellar does not have to be less valuable for you. A plot with a north-facing orientation can also offer your house a good reason, even if you always mentioned on Sunday trips that a plot with a north orientation would not be an option under any circumstances.
The Building Plot
You have found a building plot to choose from? Then engage with the infrastructure, the location, noise level, size, slope, planting, as well as the orientation of the plot. It is no use rejecting a plot because of its orientation if it is not foreseeable when the next affordable plot will be available on the market. In addition, every orientation has its advantages. Usually, at second glance, a plot has more or even better possibilities than expected, once you have dealt with it.
Read through the development plan: it contains the regulations and restrictions of the authority about the development of the plot. Here you must also deal with number of storeys and floor area ratio, eaves heights, roof pitch, façade color, building boundaries and -windows.
Furthermore, of course, the state building code applies, which, for example, regulates the boundary development of ancillary buildings.
Often the dream of a so-called city villa or a bungalow is already dashed by these regulations. Or so one thinks. Nevertheless, of course, an architect has the knowledge and task of cleverly combining, for example, setback storeys, dormers, roof shapes, and living spaces so that your own needs and wishes can be adjusted to these restrictions.
Here and also for sloped plots, I generally advise an architect who is commissioned for the technical, functional, design, and economic planning of your individual house.
Type House
If it is your wish and your plot allows it (keywords: geotechnical report, development plan) to build a house without major static requirements and individual design demands, which is offered by a house building company as a type house, you can and should now deal extensively with the plot.
The plot determines the floor plan
Draw the plot to scale 1:100 with a north arrow, building lines, existing buildings on neighboring plots, and any planting (forest at the plot boundary, trees) on a sheet of paper. It is best to use pencil and graph paper (millimeter paper). Now you can mark noise directions if applicable (e.g., from a nearby playground or motorway). You can also draw the wind coming from the west. Mark the sun position in summer: this should be a 3⁄4 pie slice from NE to NW. For the sun position in winter, mark the area between SE and SW twice.
Shade possible shadow areas. Mark areas that may be visible to strangers or neighbors. Also, a arrow for the plot access can be important. Draw in the lines of the building window. You can also mark a nice view with arrows that point to it. Be aware of how many cars drive past your house daily and make a distinction between whether only neighbors stay on the plot or strangers use the paths (cul-de-sac in residential street/main street in a community). All this can influence the interior layout of the house.
Strong winds, an ugly neighboring building, and views from third parties can be well countered by planting a dense hedge (or staggered shrubs if there is plenty of depth). Always calculate a depth of one to two meters for a hedge. One or two beautiful trees that accentuate the garden and provide natural shade and protection in summer can be drawn somewhere between north and south, not in the west, as the tree would then block the evening sun. If you dislike the evening sun, then of course a tree in the west is allowed too.
Now draw a rectangle/square in the approximate size of the house into the building window. Roughly divide the rectangle into six equal areas for kitchen, living and dining room, utility rooms, stairs, and entrance area, i.e., your space requirement. Use the sun position and arrows as help. Consider the utility connections at the street and the short routes to the technical room. Then determine the approximate positions for the terraces. By the way, a terrace in the south garden can be in the shade by 7 p.m. in midsummer if the sun in the west disappears behind the roof of a single-story neighboring house. However, it can then reappear in midsummer in the northwest and shine on the north garden. This is worth mentioning when it comes to plot orientation.
You can now also trace your favorite type house, which you selected before choosing the plot, at the same scale on a transparent foil with a permanent marker and place it over your plan. You have the option of rotating and mirroring the foil in all directions.
You should also draw arrows from the house area towards the garden: what would one see if there were a window here? You can use an arrangement of differently high trees and shrubs to create a stage set from your view.
Make sure that parking spaces as well as garage or carport have the standard dimensions of 3 x 6 or 6 x 6 meters. By the way, these can also be used cleverly as visual and wind protection, e.g., for a seating area. If there is a forecourt on the plot, you have the option to position the parking spaces crosswise rather than dock them only next to the house. A garden looks more spacious later if garage and house are set apart and connections created by planting, paths, privacy walls, and paving.
Be patient with yourself – good placement is not done in one day. Cut out templates and experiment. Many need a few days to dare to place the house at an angle. Yes! It usually does not have to be built parallel to the street. But keep absolutely to the regulations of the development plan and in the building window. Garages can be built on the plot boundary. Usually, however, a 5-meter deep parking space must be kept in front of the garage. Have fun – this could be how your floor plan design begins!
The house does not fit on the plot
What happens if the favorite house has to be changed or ideas don't come? ... the house just doesn’t want to fit? Talk to your house building company about architectural services. Most houses can be mirrored and rotated on request (also combined). Because this does not affect the statics, it should be offered free of charge or at least cheaply. It becomes more problematic if walls have to be moved or entire partial areas swapped or changed. Many house building companies can vary the house length in increments, others only offer the sizes of their type houses. Here, of course, the price of the house becomes noticeable: tight budgets disadvantage flexibility. No matter how patient the paper may be: statics have to be affordable. You also have to reckon with the fact that the architect employed by the house building company is not very creative or resourceful. He might be grateful if he only has to change small details according to instructions. So don’t make the mistake of pushing him a layman’s draft created by you, which he irresponsibly signs off with all its errors.
The Architect
Give him your wish list and a requirements plan, e.g., a room program, which defines the rooms you must have. Define your ideas properly. If you want a spacious living room for interactive games, don’t just write: living room at least 25 sqm, but write "spacious" with a reason. If you want to come dry-shod from the garage into the house, write exactly that and not: door from garage to utility room a must. Be open to the architect’s suggestions, which can sometimes be different from the standard.
If different suggestions than desired or expected are made, always listen to the argumentation, consider and decide later. Nobody wants to break your wishes, only sometimes clients’ wishes seem not well thought out, e.g., the straight staircase does not fit the planned 120 sqm or the desired laundry cellar with a construction budget of 20,000€. A smart architect thinks along. He is a professional who studied the subject of architecture and spatial planning.
If you have the feeling that you are not well taken care of by this architect, you should consider changing. If it is the architect of a house building company, you should look for another company or at least additionally commission an external architect.
If this option is not feasible for cost or other reasons, you must make the best of your situation. A good option is to get advice from like-minded people, e.g., here in the HouseBuildingForum. Avoid asking friends or relatives who have never dealt extensively with today’s house construction. Keep in mind that, for example, in the HouseBuildingForum, you get advice from ambitious users – they like to help with their (life) experience but are generally not structural engineers or architects, but home builders like you. They have the advantage of freedom of opinion, cannot hurt you, and see many things in the same situation as you. Grandpa who has been bricklaying for many years will view a house very differently than you as a young family.
Many now use a PC program to create floor plans. Don’t forget that this is only a tool to present a draft more quickly and clearly. The house design is still a mental and creative achievement whose artistic process is characterized by rationality, complexity, and creativity.
Therefore, do not expect a PC program to replace an architect. A program is operated, and that by you laymen. As laymen, you cannot draw on ideas and expertise as someone who deals with spatial planning daily.
I personally also work with a program, but it goes faster to implement first ideas with pencil on paper (notebook), which is often seen here.
Don’t make the mistake and lose yourselves in details when the room arrangement is still in a workflow. It is always difficult to delete a time-consuming work because the concept was not thought through. Linearity and structure should always be recognizable in a floor plan.
The biggest mistake is to glorify your own unfamiliar working process and to make any walls that grow on paper look beautiful and to rationalize errors. Unfortunately, this is a risk with 3D programs and often makes one immune to criticism. Usually, what eventually comes out from a layman is not a plan but only a practice platform for the spatial planning program.