Narrow plot with narrow building window

Hello everyone,

I am currently focusing on a plot of land and hope you might be able to help me assess the feasibility of building a single-family house on it.

There are a few special features:

- Rear development, access only via neighboring property (right of way, etc.); width 3.0 m; length 40.0 m
- Building burden: to the north, the neighbor placed his house 1m from his boundary, resulting in a minimum distance of 5 m (otherwise always 3 m)
- Building window: max. 6.6 m along almost the entire length
- Plot not yet developed

In the following plan, I have marked the boundary and the area where construction would be permissible. The plan is approximately oriented to the north. Access is in the southwest.



Development plan/restrictions
Plot size: 366 m²
Floor area ratio: 0.3
Floor space index: 0.6
Edge development: No (3 m distance)
Number of parking spaces: 2
Number of storeys: 2
Roof shape: shed roof or flat roof
Maximum heights/limits: 11 m

Client requirements
Number of persons, age: 4 persons (2 adults + 2 children)
Room requirements on the ground floor:
Living room
Dining room
Kitchen
Office
Guest WC (shower)
Room requirements on the upper floor:
Bedroom
Child 1
Child 2
Bathroom
(Parents’ bathroom desirable)
Living area (total): approx. 150-160 m²
Open living/dining area and kitchen with island


I have simply created an example floor plan illustrating how I could imagine a house. The layout of the rooms is not up for discussion at this point – first is the question of buildability. An architect will be unavoidable for this project anyway.

Ground floor:

Upper floor:


At this point, I am more interested in:

1. Whether the basic position of the building on the plot makes sense?
I have tried to create a garden mainly on the south/east side since the driveway is on the west and the neighbor to the north has only 1 m distance to their plot.

2. Whether the parking spaces are feasible as designed?
The goal is to turn around to drive off the plot forwards again. That means driving straight into the southern parking space, then reversing into the northern one, and then driving forward out of the driveway. We would like to avoid driving backwards 40 m down the driveway. (It leads out to a busy street.)

3. Can anyone assess whether the plot is even buildable, i.e., whether the necessary vehicles can pass through the rather narrow driveway and maneuver sufficiently on the plot?

Does the driveway count towards the plot area?
A floor area ratio of 0.3 means, for 366 sqm, just under 109 sqm... built-up area.
For the 120 sqm driveway, an additional 36 sqm could still be built over.
May the 0.3 be exceeded by outbuildings and paving?

1. Whether the basic position of the building on the property makes sense? I tried to create a garden as much as possible on the south/east side, since the driveway is on the west and the neighbor is only 1m away from the property on the north side. 2. Whether the parking spaces are feasible? The goal is to turn around to drive forward off the property again. That means driving straight into the southern parking space, then reversing into the northern one, and then driving forward out of the driveway again. We would like to avoid reversing 40 m down the driveway. (then comes a very busy street) 3. Can someone assess whether the property is even buildable, i.e. whether the necessary vehicles can get through the rather narrow driveway and maneuver sufficiently on the property?

1. You don’t have many options to shift the position. The "prime spot" southwest currently has the staircase. I would rather suggest moving this along with the guest WC to the northwest corner, so that the living area and children's rooms can get a bit more southwest sun. Utilize the buildable corner in the northeast and move the sleeping and bathroom area there on the upper floor and shift the children’s rooms more towards the west or southwest. On the upper floor, also make use of the buildable area at the southeast corner, creating more square meters for bathroom and sleeping as well as a terrace roof extension in one go through an overhang. On the ground floor, I would then also use the northeast corner for a study accessible from the living area; the kitchen-living area itself will, through this shift, be a bit more open towards the southwest. If a car is parked in front of the kitchen window, I wouldn’t mind, as long as it’s not a bus. I am a fan of evening sun, so please consider my advice in this respect. Just try it out; if it doesn’t fit, then it wasn’t meant to be.

2. If cars are parked on both parking spaces at the same time, turning like that will be difficult; you may have to park a bit further inside the property so there is no bumping. At least build the southern parking space with gravel turf or just grass pavers; that creates a more natural look in the garden view than if the whole area is paved.

3. Trucks have external dimensions of 2.55 meters plus side mirrors. A 3-meter path can work well if there are only low hedges or fences on the right and left. But as soon as obstacles at the height of the truck mirrors appear, it can get tight. If you know a truck driver, just ask him. Or ask a local earthworks contractor and threaten with an order if it works out. Then he will surely come to take a look.

I just noticed that you left a building envelope free to the east for more lawn area. Since there is shade in the afternoon there, I would rather try to push the building eastwards and create more space from south to southwest. (Otherwise, my suggestion to build on the northeast corner would not work either.) Maybe the cars can then both park in the northwest corner and the southern garden area (with the proposed gravel lawn or grass grid stones) would only be used for turning around.

Does the driveway count towards the plot area?
Floor area ratio 0.3 means just under 109 sqm with 366 sqm... built-up ground area.
For the 120 sqm large driveway, an additional 36 sqm could still be built.
Is it allowed to exceed the 0.3 ratio through outbuildings and paving?

The driveway does not belong to me and unfortunately does not count towards the plot area.

To what extent the 0.3 may be exceeded, I have not yet found out. I did not necessarily plan to pave large areas. A garage would be nice; however, I do not yet know where to position it, maybe on the northern side.

1. You don't really have many options to move the position. The "prime corner" southwest now has the staircase. I would rather suggest moving this along with the guest toilet to the northwest corner, so that the living area and children's rooms can get a bit more southwest sunlight. Make use of the buildable corner in the northeast and move the bedroom and bathroom area there on the upper floor, and the children's rooms more towards the west or southwest.
Also utilize the buildable area at the southeast corner on the upper floor; with an overhang there, you can create more sqm for bathroom + bedroom as well as a terrace roof all in one go.
On the ground floor, I would then use the northeast corner for a study accessible from the living area, and the kitchen-living area itself becomes a bit more open towards the southwest through this shift. If a car parks in front of the kitchen window, I wouldn't mind, as long as it’s not a bus.
I am a fan of the evening sun, so please see my suggestions in that light
Just try it out, if it doesn’t fit, it didn’t work.

Thanks for this suggestion, I had not considered it that way yet. I will try moving the whole thing to the east and arrange the rooms as you suggested.
The measures will not give me much more area in the south, I actually do not want to make the house even narrower.

2. If cars are parked on both parking spaces at the same time, turning around will be difficult; you might have to park a bit deeper on the property to avoid crashes. At least I would build the southern parking area with gravel lawn or simply grass pavers; this creates a more natural look from the garden’s perspective than if everything is paved.

I had also already considered grass pavers or gravel, precisely because of the floor area ratio of 0.3. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have much leftover space for the house, and I would prefer not to pave over the already limited leftover area of the plot.

One more thing comes to mind: You could also place the [Arbetszimme] upstairs. With the option to design the [OG] with an overhang, for example, the office could also "cover" one of the parking spaces in the northwest. My approach would therefore be a narrow [EG] with only kitchen and living rooms and an [OG] that extends to the south and possibly also to the west.