Preliminary design of a single-family house for discussion

Aside from the fact that I'm not really the villa type, in my eyes the ground floor is successful. Nice large living and dining area. I don’t know how anyone can find that cramped feeling in the normal S-villas appealing. Obviously, living space is expensive, but you build for yourself. The upper floor. Hmm, yes, it lacks structure. What works downstairs is completely missing upstairs. There definitely needs to be an adequate hallway where you don’t feel like you’re sitting in a box. Straighten the walls and make the rooms a bit smaller as a result. I think there’s still something to be gained from the design. But you guys are still at the beginning. Don’t get fixated on one thing. Good luck.

Hello,
the upper floor is really creepy, unfortunately. :confused: I don't want to say anything more about that.

Regarding the ground floor:

[*]Why is there a wall stub in the living area?
[*]The kitchen offers you hardly any cabinet space.
[*]Where will the technology go?
[*]Do you really want your terrace in the corner behind the garage? And always have to go through the utility room to get there?
[*]You have two sliding doors and two doors (utility room and equipment) to get to the back of the house. I would at least remove one door.
[*]The bay window could be a little wider.
[*]Is that supposed to be a floor-to-ceiling window from the garage onto the terrace?

[*]I generally like having the utility room as a buffer between the garage and the house. We have that too. But then being directly in the kitchen is not so practical. Also, with laundry, you have to go from the upper floor through the living room, through the kitchen, into the utility room. Not exactly nice with a pile of laundry.

I hope this helps you a bit :)

I, as a complete layman, would also like to have my say ;)

1. Floor plans are to some extent always a matter of taste. What others like does not have to please you and vice versa. So it is definitely useful to look at the improvement suggestions and consider them, but don’t feel destroyed because of the amount of suggestions ;)

2. Personally, it helped me to look at pictures of furnished living rooms, bathrooms (especially here!) on Pinterest and to note how my interior/fenestration etc. should look or be positioned. However, I also have a certain, almost fanatical, passion for interior design ;) The architecture had to and still has to orient itself to the quite detailed interior design for me.

3. Now some thoughts on the floor plan (which have already been mentioned here):

- You placed the terrace by the garage because of wind protection? Personally, I would extend it lengthwise so that I can enter the terrace at least through the kitchen. That would be important to me so I don’t have to go through the utility room when we want to eat outside (I like cooking a lot) and especially so that guests don’t have to go through my utility room.

- In the guest WC, you look directly at the toilet when opening the door. I don’t like that. I’d prefer the view to be of a nice sink =)

- I really like the pantry that is easy to reach. Also, for me, there is nothing against the rest of the ground floor or it corresponds to the current building standards. And not so many people can be completely wrong ;) The circulation area is also no longer that large. Everything else is individual and a matter of taste.

- It is questionable whether the utility room is sufficient for the technology - maybe you should try furnishing it completely once?!

- Regarding the floor plan of the upper floor, I unfortunately have to agree - it wouldn’t be for me. As a fan of clear structures, I have nothing against 1-2 projections or recesses, but this is too much. I don’t know what your priorities are, but

1. The bathroom would be too small for me! It lacks the wellness factor, especially since there is no additional shower in the guest WC, it will probably come down to the four of you sharing the bathroom.

2. For that reason the office (since there is already another one) is way too big for me.

3. It is also important to me that both children’s rooms are about the same size.

4. The hallway will be completely dark. However, I assume that with 5 rooms on the upper floor it will also be difficult to get a wall surface with a window there.

So much criticism, but no suggestions for solutions ;) Maybe you could try planning the upper floor yourselves with a planning tool once? I actually know that is the planner’s task, but well... there are competent and less competent professionals here as well ;)

Hello,

first of all, many thanks to all of you for the numerous suggestions for improvement. If I didn’t want any criticism regarding the floor plan, I wouldn’t have needed to post it here at all ;-)

So I’ll start by briefly explaining a few things:

Ground floor:

- The passage from the garage to the covered outdoor seating area is a separate roller door to also reach the rear garden area with the vehicle.
- The covered outdoor seating area itself is not a terrace in the classic sense; the terrace basically extends to the right next to it along the entire rear part of the house. This seating area was an idea of mine to be able to sit there occasionally during bad weather and to keep garden furniture, etc., dry.
- We don’t yet know exactly how the kitchen area will be laid out... this is an exemplary representation from our construction engineer. We will go to a kitchen studio soon and have them make suggestions. If we don’t like any of them, we may have to make some changes.
- The house connections for electricity, gas, and water will be on the ground floor; the ventilation and heating technology will be located in the insulated attic.
- I think the “wall stub” on the ground floor serves for symmetry purposes... nothing else... ;-)

Upper floor:

- I fully agree with you regarding the interlocking or straightening of the walls. This will be changed in the next meeting with the construction engineer.
- My wife and I are absolutely not fans of large corridors. It was intended to keep them as small as possible both downstairs and upstairs. To still bring light into the upper corridor, a light well was incorporated.
- Whether the bathroom is ultimately really too small... I don’t know...
- The dressing room personally doesn’t bother me at all because it’s basically just a large wardrobe where clothes are stored... it could have been circular for all I care, as long as there is enough space for all the clothes :-D
- The rooms for child 1, child 2, and the office can still be freely exchanged... we haven’t explicitly decided on this.

We will still receive a 3D interior view from our construction engineer so that we can also look at the rooms virtually from the inside... probably we will notice one thing or another there as well.

So, that’s all I have to say about this for now. In any case, I already thank you for the previous suggestions... if there are any more... bring them on. :)