House Construction 2.0 - First Floor Plan Draft

Hello,
don’t be mad at me, a lot has already been said.

But I have to say it clearly again:

Nothing fits together at all! When I add up the areas, I get 280 sqm (120 upstairs and 160 downstairs) plus the garage parking area! How does the architect come up with 220 sqm?

And with 280 sqm there is only a measly 39 sqm living room and an 8 sqm kitchen area? Sorry, the kitchen in my last single apartment was bigger! And a 10 sqm bathroom? You usually have that in a 120 sqm terraced house. Yes, it’s enough, but not in a 280 sqm palace?!
11 sqm office, for two people working from home permanently? How can you work there?
The room layout and orientation would absolutely not be my thing, extremely inefficient. Basically the house consists only of hallway and garage with a few additional rooms.

Then a technical question about the extension/garage:
According to the drawing, it is completely within the thermal envelope. That means you will largely have the same building requirements there as in the "main building". Also, due to the connection to the main building, you will have the same ceiling heights and floor levels. (Side question: can you park a car on floating screed?!?!? Because you need that at all to have any thermal separation between living area and garage)
I would therefore seriously doubt your massively different cost calculations for main building and extension. On the contrary, the garage will be technically tricky and thus expensive.
Furthermore: are you aware that your design revives the good 70s tradition of the heated garage? What kind of door do you want to install there to even get it approved (keyword KFW 55)??
So completely independent of the room layout: I have serious doubts whether the design is even technically feasible to implement. And then you still have to get your heated garage approved.

Don’t be mad, but please go back to the drawing board once again and start completely over...

Best regards,

Andreas

I'm sorry, but I don't know which post you are referring to.

Not this floor plan draft; only mentioned now having a neighbor like the Makitaradio junkie from [USER=51345]@kati1337's previous neighborhood.

(Side question: can you park a car on floating screed?!?!? Because you need that to have any thermal separation between living space and garage at all)

I also consider the garage being within the thermal envelope an exaggeration (but that doesn't have to survive into the execution plans), for the separation I could imagine that Schöck has something like that in their catalog.

At first glance, I found the floor plan quite good (although huge), but then I thought again about how I would rate it if it were for me.... I then realized that personally, it’s simply too many rooms for me; I’m more into multifunctional rooms.

If I consider the following rooms (as “daytime living spaces”):
* living room
* office
* fitness room
* hobby room
* guest room

then presumably no more than two are in use simultaneously, right? I personally sometimes need my retreat, but usually I don’t need five of them :S You can certainly designate separate rooms for individual activities, but mostly I find it quite nice that we can talk to each other even if we are doing different things :) So one person puzzles while the other cooks or something like that. I would rather find it a shame if all that happens at the other end of the house behind closed doors. (The kids also still have their own kids’ rooms, which I didn’t even count here, but in many families they probably fall into that category as well.)

From my own experience in our last apartment, I would also fear that many rooms quickly become “dead” and turn into storage rooms because activities are mostly confined to 1-2 rooms (the classic example is the guest room, but here I also see potential for that in other rooms). But I know that needs can vary here, and of course it very much depends on hobbies etc. I just wanted to give a basic impetus to think about how and whether you would actually use the rooms or if you want to revise your list of requirements.

The storage rooms also seem enormous to me at first:
* utility room
* storage downstairs
* storage upstairs
* pantry
Plus a larger dressing room.

That seems a bit much to me? Do you need all that? Well, the storage rooms in the garage are probably more for bicycles and garden tools. I don’t know if maybe the rooms are just a bit too expensive for me, but if that’s not a problem o_O

Unfortunately, no more editing possible :D

I just remembered, I think you meant the garden is more to the north (I can't find the post right now). I don't know if Nerdcave in the south on the upper floor is really that cool. (I really don't have any ideas for rearranging either, but I just imagine it would be more uncomfortable? Also kind of a shame to have a windowless room there)

If you say Nerdcave and fitness room are important to you, then for me the guest room would probably be quite high on the list to cut (maybe provide an extra sofa in another room) and rearrange there to give the kids more space and then probably the pantry? Then check where you could possibly put one or two other larger cabinets (I definitely also see simple possibilities now, but I'm also not sure if the architect wouldn't just start rearranging even more).

Hi again,

Just as a thought: I would possibly choose a completely different approach. You don't seem to be limited to two floors.
So why this elaborate extension?
Why not plan the main building with 3 floors? The footprint remains about 10*10m or maybe even slightly smaller.

And then a classic height division with the difference that from the basement (=UG) you can even go directly out to the garden.

So

Top floor: bedroom, dressing room, 2 children's rooms, possibly 1 office, main bathroom,
Ground floor (= garage level): main entrance, hallway, kitchen, pantry, living room (with raised terrace in front, super cool!) guest room, guest bathroom with shower (so guests don't have to go to the top floor, which always remains the private area)
Basement: building services, laundry room, storage room, 2nd office, fitness room with fitness area outside under the raised terrace, nerd cave.

Then you also avoid the whole hassle of always having to carry groceries down a floor.

You can still build a garage or carport next to the house.

You easily save 40% of the slab area and the roof area. Also, there will be much less exterior walls and you need to move much less earth. Since the shape becomes more compact, the circulation areas become much smaller. Without having an exact design or calculation in front of me, I still postulate that such a concept would be easily 25% cheaper than this design while offering more space.

I professionally design large industrial plants and I know the feeling of having fallen in love with a layout/design and how it often makes it hard to judge it objectively. Here I would really say, for that much money, something much better is definitely possible!

Best regards,

Andreas

I think the design is great. I myself also have a house with a lot of "wasted" space in the hallway. When you enter my house, it feels huge. And everyone, truly everyone, who enters the house initially stands amazed and then expresses their enthusiasm. Even some pizza delivery drivers hesitate briefly when looking over my shoulder and then say "wow, cool house!". From me, therefore, a clear "go!" for the design! The spaciousness is what defines the design! Personally, I would swap the fitness room with the guest room. On the one hand, I would then put the second desk in the guest room; on the other hand, I would find it better to have a short way from the fitness room to the shower and not have to walk through the whole house first. But that is a personal preference.