Log cabin with a clipped gable roof by the forest - improve planning?

Another questionable answer. Your own drafts were full of stair landings. But now it says that’s not allowed at all. Huh? And then they are only not allowed on the lower floor? Huh again? What is the man talking about? Does he mean something completely different?

My drafts were full of landings because the architect said: straight stairs are not allowed. But I also want to get a cabinet up there without bumping into everything, so I prefer a landing to a spiral staircase. In the last draft there are spirals because I didn’t see any landings when I made it.

It is usually bad to present your own ideas to an architect – especially as a layperson. This profession tends to implement these ideas one hundred percent without using their own head. That’s why you should always go without a draft and only express wishes.

It’s not as if we didn’t do that. Multiple times. That’s why I wrote the long answer.. direct quote to every architect: I don’t want to plan a house, I have no clue about that. I have ideal concepts and know what I definitely do not want. No more, no less. It’s really great if it’s different with you, but that’s not our experience, and it’s not about being egocentric thinking we can do everything better when we eventually give up and say: Let’s try it ourselves, let others advise us – it won’t get worse than with the architect. It’s really great to know and follow the theory. We bought the plot at the end of 2016, and have been planning since then. At the beginning there was nothing rushed, no big time pressure. But we never experienced really original, good proposals. I had heard stories about architects who just carry over drafts from other building projects at the first three meetings to “work off” phases 1 and 2 of the architect’s contract knowing that this is not what the clients want. I have now experienced this twice. Now we have used up all the time buffers, and I no longer rely on anyone coming up with the solution around the corner.

My drafts were full of landings because the architect said: A straight staircase is not possible.

Hahahhaahahhaa 300m² - but no straight staircase. I would have already said: "Thanks for the talk. I'll try somewhere else then."

I have ideal visions and know what I definitely do not want. No more, no less.

It's easier if you know what you want. That doesn't mean you have to have the entire plan in your head. But something like, I would like a straight staircase, a gigantic living room with a window front, a bathroom with a whirlpool or sauna, etc.

I've experienced that twice now as well. Now we've used up all our time buffers, and I no longer rely on someone coming up with a solution out of nowhere.

So basically the architects are "all gone" at your place – at least the good ones. Yes, that’s a shame. But honestly, you want to sink a million here into a design that - to be honest - looks like the childish scribbles of first graders compared to a real architect. Maybe you still have 10 million somewhere and money is no issue for a second house – but then the building plot is gone! And there aren't many of those right now.

...But much of it is exactly as it should be—for example the kitchen with the 4m (not 6m) long island, on which you can finally work properly...

You actually can’t, unless you plan a production line with 3-4 people. I was talking about a 6-meter-long kitchen with a long obstacle in it. Let that obstacle be a 4-meter island, then you have an area about one meter wide by 4 meters long, where you have to walk long distances, which ends in a corner and thereby—or because of the L-shape of the kitchen unit—becomes even longer. With two people, there may be some bumping into each other, but I don’t want to discourage you from the long design. Think about how the workflow in the kitchen looks... it actually works best when arranged in a triangle: storage, cleaning, preparation... fridge, sink, stove... not next to each other where the second person possibly always has to walk around the other. Everyday life is not like a show kitchen with chickens on a perch, where everything is cleaned around the stove, but the desire for something more efficient. Without many steps. You should be able to achieve a lot with one or two steps. In that respect, it makes sense to let the architect do their job.

P.S. Since I’m writing without Tapatalk on my phone, I can’t currently access the photos and am describing the kitchen from memory.

Edit: looked again at the first plan as an example: without the L then. But that doesn’t matter. What happens if one person unloads the site: does the other have to go around outside because of a dead end?

But honestly, you want to sink a million here into a draft that, compared to a real architect’s work – I’ll be honest – looks like the childish scribbles of first graders. Maybe you do have another 10 million somewhere and money doesn’t matter for a second house – but then the building plot is gone! And there are currently very few of those.

It would be nice if that were the case. No, we don’t have that much money and probably never will; at most, we could remove the stud walls in the existing house and create new rooms. But I don’t think it would be that bad – if you move away from the qualitative refinement of my design and just look at the layout of the rooms, I also don’t think it’s as awful as it’s being made out to be here. It may not be optimal for everyone, maybe there are big mistakes, but those are not being revealed here either – some people are bothered by large rooms with high ceilings, that’s what we want. Others are bothered by the division with all the “private” rooms upstairs and the guest/utility/play area downstairs; we can imagine it well but have still made sure to have an alternative. At first, it was said: separate children’s and parent areas. We did that; we could even add a partition wall in the hallway. After all, the children’s areas are now on the same level as the parents’ living rooms, which might simplify things a bit in winter too. The staircase isn’t optimal, but it’s no longer so cramped that it can’t be properly designed, and it remains a draft. Maybe not all good architects are gone, we just can’t find a good wooden house architect. Maybe we’ll find one at HUF, who knows. In any case, I don’t have one option: to withdraw the building application and think about it for another year, because then I won’t have any building land left. And maybe you could at least look a bit more positively at the draft and see that two laymen really made an effort with their childish scribbles and actually put some thought into it. You don’t always have to be derogatory, even if it comes easier. Or is it really so enjoyable to constantly push someone’s incompetence in their face just because the house is more expensive? I have definitely seen threads here where reactions were noticeably more positive when someone made an effort, picked up ideas, and tried to implement them. The work triangle is deliberately located at the back of the kitchen. On the short storage side there are tall cabinets housing the combi-steamer and possibly an oven; the stove will probably not be centered on the long side of the island but also installed toward the back third. Two fridge drawers will be in the island, and the sink will be on the long side along the wall. This results in very short distances with two work areas: cooking and preparing/serving. With a distance of 1.20 m, you can easily reach back and forth and still walk past each other. A distance of 1.5 m is planned on the balcony side. The dishwasher is located in the front area, as well as the dish cabinets under the island. Only cooking utensils, casserole dishes, and pots are in the back, together with the drawer for “tools.” We have already been able to “test cook” with the kitchen island, which is just under 3 meters long, along with other variants. Small changes will certainly still be made, but the only problematic thing, if anything, is the distance to the dining table. We can and want to live with that; that comes with having a large house.

With Huf you will already get very close to the million. Area, height, a lot of glass simply cost. Make sure to talk to the advisor and the one from Meisterhaus

Definitely talk to the advisor and the one from Meisterhaus

We will talk to everyone - we have nothing to lose. Anything over the budget can still be sorted out, but maybe you can still pick up one or the other clever detail solution. It doesn’t have to be glazed all around like the model house "Aussicht" by HUF either.