Land and floor plan design with access in the southeast

Hello dear forum members,

now we would also like to rely on your help!
We have reached the point where the decision for a developer in the field of timber prefabricated houses (small family business, ecological timber panel construction with diffusion-open wall structure) has been made and we are only waiting for the loan approval, which should happen soon.

The architectural services are included in our house price and therefore we have already received initial drafts and some revisions based on our wishes.
However, we are a bit unhappy and hope that you have some great ideas or may trigger some new thoughts.

Facts:

Development plan/Restrictions
Plot size: 651 sqm
Slope: no
Floor area ratio: 0.25 = 162.5
Floor space index: no information in development plan (BaWü)
Building window, building line and boundary: no information (BaWü); blue dashed line in the picture
Edge development: garage
Number of parking spaces: maximum 6 above-ground parking spaces – we will never need that many :)
Number of floors: 2 full floors possible, but maximum ridge height 8.50 m
Roof shape: gable, hip or pyramid roof; roof pitch 20° – 35°
Maximum heights/limits: max. ridge height max. 8.50 m



Requirements of the builders
Style, roof shape, building type: single-family house, city villa, pyramid or hip roof, timber prefabricated house
Basement, floors: no basement, 2 full floors
Number of persons, age: currently M 32 years, F 27 years, offspring desired, planned maximum 4
Space requirement on ground and upper floor: presumably about +/- 160 sqm, number resulting from previous drafts
Office: family use or home office? M has 100% home office job, room also serves as guest room
Sleeping guests per year: approx. 3-4 times
Open or closed architecture: rather open
Conservative or modern design: modern
Open kitchen, kitchen island: open kitchen with kitchen block
Number of dining seats: 6 for sure, 8 would be nice
Fireplace desired, currently one of the problems :-)
Music/stereo wall: no
Balcony, roof terrace: no
Garage, carport: wish would be a double garage attached to the house. Architect has not managed it so far.
Utility garden, greenhouse: no
Other wishes/special features/daily routine, also gladly reasons why this or that should or should not be

[*]on the ground floor: open living and dining area, technical room without utility room, additional room as office, guest WC without shower.
[*]on the upper floor: parents’ bedroom, 2 children’s rooms, bathroom with shower + bathtub, utility room for washing machine and dryer
[*]a lawn/play area for the kids later
[*]a terrace that is not directly on the street for a retreat option

House design
Who is the planner: developer’s architect
What do you especially like? Why? Open kitchen and dining room, because they are the center of life in the house. Orientation of parents' bedroom and bathroom, because window front faces undeveloped land, no settlement expansion will come there.

What do you dislike? Why?
-Pantry, because dining area might become a bit too tight. Also fireplace inside pantry, because the area is otherwise too small. Fireplace is fixed point because of upper floor, only minimal room for maneuver.
-Passage from dining room to living room is hard to imagine and should not become a useless corridor
-Garage: currently a compromise. Wish would be a directly connected garage with access to the house, e.g. through the technical room. Architect sees no possibility because otherwise the southwest side becomes too narrow – his words. If it still works, what to do with the entrance area?
Price estimate according to architect/planner: turnkey house without earthworks and kitchen €480K, already with selected materials.
Personal price limit for the house, including equipment: €500K
Preferred heating technology: air-to-water heat pump

If you have to do without something, on which details/expansions
-could you do without: -passage from living room to hallway is nice to have
-could you not do without: -pantry itself

Why is the design like it is now? E.g.
Standard draft from the planner? That was the basis, now quite far from it.
Which wishes were implemented by the architect? Large kitchen and lots of light in kitchen and dining area, living room was somewhat enlarged
What makes it particularly good or bad in your eyes? Feels like everything he implemented was what we said. No own ideas come up. And we are waiting for a "Hey – this could be done better."





I would be happy about every small idea and also about every criticism!
Wish you a nice Sunday!

What are the specific things that are currently making you unhappy, and I also don’t know if you would start planning over again if necessary. Not that one necessarily must, but from experience you can’t pull on one corner without something falling down on the other side. Moreover, you apparently have must-haves that bring problems elsewhere. First of all, I would mention the so-called "Stadtvilla," which on the one hand is only called a villa and isn’t one, but because of the fancy name it is apparently often chosen again and again. This building type often brings problems that you might have less of in a rectangle, for example. Then it has to be a fireplace, which I at least consider inappropriate in connection with underfloor heating, and this thing now causes problems for the pantry but especially for the passage between living room and dining room. I think such a fireplace also needs a suitable optical space and people like to look at it from the living room or somewhere else when it’s flickering there. We like doing that very much, but without underfloor heating and in a nice, specially created place for it. If you want too much you eventually get mediocrity, probably the case here too, and maybe one should let go of some things, although I would already be at the garage topic. I would never have a garage anyway, because I would rather invest the extra costs for a carport into my house (controlled residential ventilation, air conditioning, stairs, lighting, etc.) instead of into a cover for a car. The forced, direct connection of the garage to the house probably comes from some American movies, but that would be one of the last things I would plan to be so dominant. The children’s rooms are really very large, this was discussed many times here, and the bathroom upstairs as well, with clearly too much empty space without making it nicer for that reason. On the ground floor I would definitely provide a shower, because guests also want/should be able to shower, and with four people I see a medium to long-term need for it. That’s it for now.

I generally like the design with a few reservations.

[*]I’m not a big fan of pantries, but with you, it is completely centrally located on the ground floor and, in my view, blocks your entrance situation. Personally, I wouldn’t want to look at the front door from the living room either, but I guess I’m being picky there. Try planning without a pantry or with the pantry in another location.
[*]I would also personally consider splitting the wardrobe into two areas.
[*]What is the reason for a hipped roof? A gable roof is cheaper for your building structure, offers more attic space, and better photovoltaic output (in Baden-Württemberg you need that anyway).
[*]Garage/carport: I see it differently than @Arauki, but he is right: consider what you want to use it for. With two kids and two cars that need to be used for work, I do see the sense in it. The difference compared to a carport should be around 20,000 euros.
[*]I agree on the ground floor shower for two kids.

If the plot is actually flat, you could also reconsider the house position and place the garden in the northwest with a small south terrace. That way, you don’t always have the long walk to the house, and you have natural privacy and sun protection in summer. If my plot allowed it, that would have been my choice as well.

If the plot is actually flat, one could also reconsider the house position and place the garden in the northwest with a small south terrace.

Take a look at the blue dashed lines in the original post. That should be the area where the house is allowed to stand. That’s why I also find the architect’s approach with the carport and the shed attached quite good. It already creates an area that gets western sun in the evening but is protected from the street. The house entrance is quite hidden though. I would also consider a rather flat gable roof.

I also like the floor plan, but the pantry would be better utilized if it were 1m deeper. As it is, it's an (hardly) walk-in closet. And there is a strange zigzag path from the entrance to the living room. It's quite convoluted.

This design often brings problems with it that, for example, are less present in a rectangle.

The base area here .is. a rectangle.
And from the floor plan aspect, there are now few negative characteristics that a conventional single-family villa has.

The architect sees no possibility because otherwise the southwest side becomes too narrow – his words. If it still works out, what to do with the entrance area?

What is supposed to work out?
Apart from the fact that I have no regard for this hallway duplication through a wide house entrance, you will probably also recognize the problem that the realization of such a wish entails?! You want this, you want that and the other, and in the process you forget that the plot is finite, a house, at least a townhouse, usually only has four exterior walls, and surely one pays more attention to the living rooms than to the storage of vehicles that are replaced every few years.
In this sense, I find the architect’s prioritization comprehensible.

The architectural services are included in our house price.

While reading, I actually already had a preconceived negative opinion, but I have to say:

However, we are a bit unhappy

I cannot see any reason here to be unhappy with the architect and the planning.

The design is not optimal, but also not "square, practical, good" or bad because no effort was made.
I find it quite good except for 2 or 3 minor issues that can be quickly improved.

However, I see the greatest problem in the pantry and the choice of the house style

What do you not like? Why?
– Pantry, because the dining area might become a bit too tight.

It should not become a useless corridor.

Exactly, a useless corridor has formed that causes the fireplace to actually lead a bleak existence. A hallway that separates the living room from the dining area, a pantry that does create storage space for the kitchen, but what for?

Minor things like the toilet in the wet area of the shower, etc.
There is no additional storage space through the villa look for example for suitcases and decoration stuff. Do you really want to store these things in the dressing room or in the utility room? I would actually go for a knee wall of 180 cm or similar and generate storage space under the roof above the knee wall/hip roof.
I would limit the pantry, for example by a narrow extension of the kitchen workspace under the stairs, which then serves as a partition but not as a blockade. In the kitchen, 3 tall cabinets should be enough to enlarge the work area because I simply find it too small on this kitchen. The corners are only usable as storage space and then there is only the island left. The rest will hopefully fall into place by itself.