Ideas for single-family house design with basement

Hello everyone,

we are a family with two children (3.5 years and 7 months) and want to start building our house in the summer. We are still quite at the beginning of the design planning. We have the second draft from the architect and are quite disappointed because a lot of things don’t suit us at all.

Now we hope for help/ideas from the forum. Does it make sense to tinker with the template? Do we have to start all over again? Is it even possible to implement all our wishes or do we have to give up something?

Here are a few details:
Site plan - north is at the top of the plan, so the property faces northwest
Development plan - open construction style, building boundary is dashed blue in the site plan, floor area ratio 0.4, plot ratio 0.8, no other specifications
Neighbors - two-family houses with two full stories each plus a converted pitched roof
Plot - 21x31m. It slopes about 90cm down along the street from right to left, so the entrance should be as far right as possible to have fewer steps to the front door

Our wish list:
Ground floor
- large kitchen-living area at the back (preferably 5x6m, at least 4.50m wide)
- large living-dining room with cozy TV corner, space for a big dining table
- fireplace
- guest WC
- large entrance area with wardrobe
- study 18-20m²
- half-landing staircase (possibly another shape if the floor plan improves)
- possibly utility room with washing machine and dryer (alternatively upstairs)
- garage at least 3.50m wide

Upper floor
- "parent area" bedroom and bathroom at the back
- view of the garden from the bathtub (no freestanding tub)
- large dressing room with seating area, space for packing suitcases
- balcony is optional
- bedroom not adjoining children’s rooms
- two children’s rooms, similar size
- separate children’s bathroom (bathtub optional)
- utility room with washing machine and dryer (alternatively washing machine and dryer in the children’s bathroom)

Basement
- we will plan this only after the ground and upper floors are fixed (technical room, fitness, play/party, storage)

Criticism of the draft
- garage too narrow
- living room too small compared to the study
- study way too big
- very large balcony, making the living room too dark? Kitchen too dark?
- children’s rooms are narrow, child 2 looks onto the neighbor’s house
- sliding doors in the parent area are not necessary, we would also use the hallway

So, I think that would be the most important for now .

Does no one want to contribute anything?

So, I actually think it’s quite well solved, and I don’t find the points you criticized that bad. But I would also reduce the size of the office and instead make a storage room for brooms, vacuum cleaners, beverage crates, and such to the left of the podium stairs. I find the open-plan kitchen/living area a bit oversized, also because of the two seating options (counter and table). I would do without the counter and just make an L-shaped kitchen, and then move the living room wall a few centimeters towards the kitchen. I also always find a door from the hallway to the kitchen useful. (our open-plan kitchen/living area is 16m2, has 3 doors, and space for a table for 5 people). For child 2, I would reduce the window size and move the door further to the right. I would skip the balcony or at least make it smaller so that it is only in front of the dressing room (so centered). Making the garage a bit bigger and shifting the house to the left shouldn’t be a problem as long as the house is still within the building envelope. As I said, I like the floor plan. You can see that someone with expertise was at work here.

but... you have to let your [Raumprogramm] sink in first

Panama ... presumably not because you have already said everything

I could add that I find the parent area very large. And that square kitchens with peninsulas and separate dining areas always cause furnishing problems.

Make the parents' wing on the east side - the bedroom will then be children's room 1 and the dressing room children's room 2. You don't have to do much replanning. Whether you look at the neighboring house from the dressing room is probably irrelevant - I also find the length-to-width ratio of the children's rooms unfortunate.
The office with 30 m² is quite something - what do you need it for?
You have to weigh the washing machine on the upper floor - especially in summer you like to put stuff outside and if you then always have to carry it through the house, it's not so nice.