House with roof terrace in Passau

I guess it depends on the individual... although I tell my children not to do it, I often catch myself, for example, carrying drinks and food/snacks into the living room and then eating there (and then bringing the plates etc. back before going to bed). The configuration with the kitchen on the ground floor and the living area upstairs would not be suitable for that. By the way, when I work from home, I sit with my laptop in the living room - of course, for teachers, that only works to a limited extent.

Good morning!

Since our architect is currently on vacation, but I can't keep my hands off, I have started working on a completely new design.



The problem with the small WF was a constant sticking point for us – especially because of the stroller, etc. Besides, such a cramped entrance is not exactly inviting and conducive to the first impression of the house.

The utility room on the ground floor is actually intended to serve as a laundry room + pantry. Building services remain in the basement.
With the current design, a laundry chute from the top floor (OG2) (top left parents' bathroom, but the storey) via OG1 (top left children's bathroom) to the utility room would also be possible.
The advantage is that you don't constantly have to fetch the freshly washed laundry from the basement.

Your objection regarding guests who stay overnight made me think a lot. I tried to take that into account in the planning.
There are now 2 rooms (1 office + 1 guest room/wife’s office) on OG1.
The guests can then also use the children's bathroom at the same time.

Regarding the children's bathroom: In my parents' house, my sister and I had our own bathroom, so I grew up like that and found it simply incredibly practical.

The granny flat has also been completely revised. There would now also be a bathtub with a shower screen in the bathroom. The planning is just meant to show the spatial conditions.

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Attached are the plans I created. What do you think? I have almost doubled the width of the bay window on the ground and basement floors and halved it in length. For that, it is omitted on OG1 and OG2/roof terrace.

Do you think the corridor on OG1 is wide enough at 1.30 m?

I understand that the architect’s cost estimate is probably no longer accurate since the house is overall larger. But with the much larger granny flat, I don't think that will be a problem.

What do you think? I look forward to your feedback!

Have a nice weekend!

Something went wrong in the basement; the "bay window" was too long.

Corrected here.

The granny flat is now much better - if necessary, I would consider furnishing the bedroom differently or placing the door further toward the top of the plan. For your living-dining area, you need to make it plausible with a structural engineer - you now have very large spans here. Additionally, I would consider mirroring the areas - so the kitchen with an island where the living room is now - simply so the kitchen is not set back so far (long distances). I believe your staircase will be somewhat dark - especially since you have now also placed cabinets in front of the window at the very top. For the children's bathroom, I would possibly swap the toilet and sink.

On the left side of the plan, the terrace would be on the same level, on the right side of the plan is the slope, so I think the kitchen on the left side of the plan is good.

I already like the floor plan much better in itself, I just fear that you have become larger in the dimensions again. Your measurements cannot be properly assigned. The basement is definitely a suitable separate apartment.

I also played around with the ground floor, upper floor, and attic once... with the idea of the two study rooms on the ground floor and living in the attic.

This time really only large... some room doors etc. are missing.

Wow! Thank you very much for your effort!

Meanwhile, my wife can really get very excited about the parent area at the very top, which is why we will probably push for that.
In your draft, I find the ground floor particularly interesting with the 2 offices, which can also serve as a passage. However, my wife strongly opposed the idea of separating the living room from the dining/kitchen area.
Otherwise, I really liked it.
The only thing I would have swapped is the living area in the attic with the parent area, simply for the sake of coziness. When I'm in the living room and want a snack, I first have to go down to the kitchen on the ground floor.
But I think we have now found our room concept.

GF: Living/Cooking/Eating
1st Floor: Children/Work
2nd Floor: Parents

The idea of the kitchen in the east was the original thought, but rightly, because of the terrace in the west, it should now also be in the west. The architect also planned the living room above the granny flat, and through your comments, my concerns about soundproofing between the living room and the granny flat have been dispelled.



Honestly, I don’t understand your argument about the long distances. What do you mean by that? The distance from the kitchen to the dining table probably wouldn’t change, even if the kitchen was in the east, nor to the living room, as that would then be located in the west.

The only problem would be having to carry the large shopping every time through half the house. But that can easily be avoided by bringing the shopping in through the terrace door. That should have a shorter path from the carport.

Honestly, I haven’t given the spans much thought; my main concern was the possible routing of heating/plumbing, which — apart from the kitchen — are stacked.
I could imagine that the structural issue might be at least minimized by making the north wall of the large living/cooking/dining area a load-bearing wall, so that the north/south span would always be about 5m.
Then there is the very long span from west to east of almost 12m, which would have to be clarified, as I lack the structural knowledge for that...

You are absolutely right about the darkness in the stairwell. Windows will be needed there. My wife had the idea to place two small windows per floor that follow the stairs. Attached is a schematic representation of the north view.
It’s a pity in a way because until now I had done without windows on the north side entirely, but planning ahead is not a bad thing either, as it loosens up the façade a bit.

As a neighbor, I would have a bit of a problem if a 12m long, 10m high white wall were put in front of my garden... ^^