House Construction 2.0 - First Floor Plan Draft

Development Plan/Restrictions
Plot size - approx. 1000m²
Slope - yes, about 1 full floor along the length of the house
Number of parking spaces - 4 (2 of them carport or garage)
Number of floors - no restrictions
Roof shape - anything except flat roof
Style - rural, classic

Client Requirements
Style, roof shape, building type - no Bauhaus, rather country house style
Basement, floors - 2 full floors
Number of people, age - currently 3: 37, 30, 2
Space requirements on ground floor and upper floor
Office: family use or home office? 2x full remote: home office is a permanent workplace for both
Overnight guests per year - 4-6?
Conservative or modern construction - conservative
Open kitchen, cooking island - open but L-shaped, with island
Number of dining seats - at least 8 with room for more
Fireplace - no
Music/stereo wall - no
Balcony, roof terrace - no
Garage, carport - yes
Utility garden, greenhouse - possibly, not a dominant role
Further wishes/special features/daily routine, also reasons why this or that should or should not be:
- Space for Christmas tree in living/dining area
- Nerd cave: a larger hobby room for retro games, ideally without windows -> no UV exposure
- Home gym - space for sports with at least a rack and some other sports equipment
- Cooking/eating/living open and L-shaped desired
- Pantry desired
- Cloakroom area near the door for jackets/shoes
- 2 children’s rooms + guest room
- Parents with dressing room
- Utility room/laundry on sleeping floor

House Design
Who designed it:
- Architect
What do you particularly like? Why?
- All the wishes we submitted in a 2-page text were perfectly incorporated into the design
- Large, symmetrical storage room
- Very open, large living area
- Possibility to turn fitness into a second office if professionally necessary
- All children’s rooms equally sized

What don’t you like? Why?
- It is simply very large – price-wise at the limit of what we want to afford
- Posts (presumably for statics) in living/dining area
- Office could possibly be somewhat larger, but the house is already huge

Price estimate according to architect/planner: fixed turnkey price from 2 providers so far will probably be between 490-520k
Personal price limit for the house, including equipment: 500k
Preferred heating technology: heat pump, central ventilation system, air conditioning

If you have to give up, on which details/extensions
- You can give up: maybe one room, open areas in the hallway
- You cannot give up: ventilation system, air conditioning, storage room, basically almost everything else :D

Why is the design the way it is now? For example:
Which wishes were implemented by the architect? Simply all. We had formulated our wishes in text and the design contains our complete “make a wish.”

What makes it particularly good or bad in your eyes?
It contains everything we need, it’s large, inviting, open, bright and leaves no wishes unfulfilled. Price-wise, however, it would be close to the maximum monthly burden we want to take on.

What is the most important/fundamental question concerning the floor plan summarized in 130 characters?
My husband is completely enthusiastic about this floor plan, I don't know him to be so enthusiastic. :D
I myself find it very successful as well. It is simply the fact that all our wishes are built in, which of course makes it great for us.
I would simply be interested in your opinion.
Here, - I just posted it. :)

Your budget is a bit tight for the project. Consider the high costs for the outdoor area, a buffer until the requirements of the structural engineer are priced in, the excavation, a slope retention, etc.

60 sqm corridor says it all, I think.
On the ground floor, I don't find the corridor that disturbing, especially since it separates the entrance area = public and private.
In the basement, the extremely large corridor bothers me and the all-purpose room is small in relation to the house.

I would start over and plan everything so that the circulation area is reduced.
Swap hobby and storage.

In the basement, the extremely large hallway and the relatively small all-purpose room compared to the house bother me.

I agree, but since you have already built before, I assume you can estimate your needs very well and maybe a large living area or a big kitchen is actually not important to you?
However, I would at least extend the kitchen half-island up to the support column.

Swap hobby and pantry

I definitely would not do that. You have no tall cabinets in the kitchen, if I understand correctly? Then a as short as possible route to the pantry (and presumably the storage place of most appliances) would be very important to me.

The bathroom wouldn't be good for me either... the shower directly behind the door would be much too small for me, but as said, you probably know that it's enough for you that way...

In addition to Haydee: I would omit the outside corners in the bathroom/pantry for cost reasons. That costs a lot and, in my opinion, does not provide an equivalent gain in space.

In the basement, the extremely large hallway bothers me and the relatively small multipurpose room compared to the house.

It doesn't really bother me, but considering the costs, I thought so too. However, my husband especially likes the spacious hallways. It reminds him of his brother’s house in New Zealand, which was also very open and not built as compactly as is usual here.

I would start again from scratch and plan everything so that the traffic area is reduced.

I think that’s what we will do. We have another construction company we like. We might have them make a drawing from scratch, based solely on our requirements, and limit it to about 190 sqm or so. Let’s see what their architects come up with.

Swap hobby room and pantry

That’s not an option for various reasons.

I agree, but since you have already built before, I assume you can assess your requirements very well and maybe a large living area or a large kitchen is actually not that important to you?

Exactly. Or rather—I find the living-dining area quite generous. I actually like the cozy TV corner just as it is; it doesn’t need to be bigger. We have that in our current house as well, and I find it very comfortable. Most of the time, you spend it within your immediate family or with a few friends.
I think the kitchen is big enough given the large pantry. We would only store everyday items in the main kitchen and move all the gadgets that you only use every two weeks (air fryer, bread maker, food processor, baking utensils, etc.) to the pantry. A second fridge for drinks/guests/parties is also planned for there. If you don’t need it daily, you can switch it off and save energy.

I would at least continue the kitchen half island up to the support column.

Funny, my husband suggested exactly the same. I actually find it practical that you can still walk through there.

I definitely wouldn’t do that. You have no tall cabinets in the kitchen at all, if I understand correctly? Then a short distance to the pantry (and the place where most devices probably stand) would be very important to me.

Actually, I do think we will have at least two tall cabinets in the kitchen row. For the fridge and the built-in dishwasher.

To me the bathroom wouldn’t work either… the shower right behind the door is way too small for me, but as said, you probably know that it’s enough for you…

I’m with you on the shower; I also don’t find it quite optimal. But I don’t want to make the bathroom bigger, and I really like the position of the bathtub relative to the window. So no smarter shower positioning came to mind other than this.

I would leave out the outside corners in the bathroom/pantry for cost reasons. That costs a lot and, in my opinion, does not yield equivalent space gains.

Do you really think so? I think the bathroom would become pretty cramped without this gain.

So this is the first floor plan here in the forum that I personally do not like at all.

Huge living area, but not even a second shower option for possibly having 2 children. The children's rooms are also too small in relation to the living area. The guest room is large instead. Our open plan room and bathroom are also not bigger, but they do not quite fit the total living area.

The slope is probably also not sufficiently taken into account in the budget.