Land use/house placement

Hello everyone,

I am planning to build a house in 2016 on a somewhat difficult plot of land.
Here is the building area, it is the 1102 sqm plot in the upper right.
Access via the small dead-end street, from the west.



I have been wondering for weeks now how and where to ideally place a house.
The plan is north-oriented, my first idea was to position the house as far north as possible.
Objective: large garden to the south, little "useless space" north of the house.
However, what bothers me here is the long driveway, assuming I would build a garage/carport west of the house and I would still lack a proper turning area or 2 visitor parking spaces.
Ok, visitors can also park in the turning area, that is manageable. But I want to be able to turn my car on my property...

Attached is a screenshot of my first idea, please don’t get upset about the quality, I only created it with Visio to get a feel for the spatial proportions. The house would have a footprint of max. 12x10 meters, living/dining/kitchen facing south, entrance from the west.



Somehow I don’t like all of this.
Lots of traffic routes, little practical use.
The house and carport would certainly have to be coordinated with each other, maybe the carport could also be attached to the house with a mono-pitched roof? Questions upon questions...

I would therefore appreciate any tips and suggestions!
Thanks in advance!

Best regards
Paule

The plan is oriented north, my first idea was to place the house as far north as possible. Objective: large garden in the south, little "useless space" north of the house.

Maybe already a wrong approach? You might come to that conclusion yourself if you look at the north area of the property. Since I recently posted something about garden design and the location of the house on a plot, here is the link:

Regards Yvonne

Maybe the wrong approach from the start? You could come to that yourself if you look at the property up north.
Since I recently posted something about garden design and the location of the house on a plot, here is the link:


Regards Yvonne

Hello Yvonne,

thanks for the feedback.

Of course, that is probably the wrong approach, I am not satisfied with it either.
I also know the mentioned thread, it gave me the idea to start my topic here.

I am trying to move away from my first approach:
"First fix the house floor plan, the rest follows afterwards" and now approach it more "holistically".

Question 1:
How do I want to use the garden? --> there should be a play area for my daughter here. So I need space for a trampoline, swing, sandbox, and a pool in summer.
I'm not a big gardener, so the garden should have relatively a lot of lawn, on the western boundary I am thinking of a hornbeam hedge, possibly also on the other boundaries, however there I border on "old stock," accordingly grown over.
Otherwise a few beds bordered with field stones, designed low-maintenance.

Question 2:
Why do I want to place the house as close as possible to the boundary? ---> I want to have as much free space as possible in front of the terrace. Why? Currently, we live in a single-family house on a 500 sqm plot, from my terrace to the fence it is now just under 1.5 m. I don't want that anymore.

Question 3:
Do I need access from the carport/garage directly to the house? ---> No, I don't have that currently either and (to be honest) the 10 times a year when you get wet, so what. I can cope with a 10 - 12 m path from the carport to the front door.

Which topics should still be considered with regard to a good overall design?

Attached a new idea. Improvement suggestions are welcome.
The house is placed on the 3m boundary.
The path between the house and the carport is about 10-12 m here, that would be the maximum walking distance for me.
What I like: I would then still have some utility area in the north (clothesline, compost...).



So: fire away

Best regards Paule

I would place the turning area directly in front of the carport. Otherwise, despite the turning area, you have to reverse 20m. And you need a wider space anyway to drive the second car into the carport. I think it also depends on how much value you place on privacy and how you want to design it. I would move the house a bit more to the south. We also have our main terrace facing west because I get more sun there in the evening after work. Possibly you would also be glad to have a small seating area on the east side. For example, we like to have breakfast outside in the summer on weekends. But that all depends on your needs and preferences. You definitely have enough space to give your daughter a play paradise.

I would like to point out that in the north there can definitely be sun all day long, especially in summer. We have a completely north-facing orientation and our garden at the back in the north gets sun all day. The terrace at the back is 4.5m deep and is still in the shade; the sun only reaches it in the afternoon/evening. But from the terrace onward it is full sun and our house is not exactly small or shallow (1.5 stories with a pitched roof). You can browse through my planning thread, where you can also see the garden and the position of the sun.

Regarding your planning: I would place the house more centrally on the plot as a whole and put the (double?) carport rather in front of the house at the west boundary, as far forward as possible so that you can turn around in front of it ormax. 1.5 car lengths or so. I would also position the house more parallel to the west boundary. Wait, I’ll try to sketch it quickly...

Here is a small sketch. The proportions are of course not correct, but roughly I think it should be clear. I would simply do without the terrace in the west. I think having a breakfast area in the east, a sun terrace in the south, and a shaded spot in the north is important, but everyone has to decide that for themselves, I think. In my planning, I would place the play area for the daughter rather at the back and possibly more of a decorative garden at the front, maybe with lawn for romping/playing ball and for the pool in summer. The space between the carport and the house can of course be extended. These would probably be my approaches...