Single-family house, gable roof 25 degrees, 2.2m knee wall

Hello everyone,

we are currently in the process of purchasing the plot of land shown in the site plan. On the plot, we want to build a single-family house with two full stories and a basement including a garage.

Attached is a floor plan draft, which was developed together with a prefab house manufacturer. However, we are still quite open. For the ground floor, we have created a second draft because we now believe that it makes more sense to separate the living area from the kitchen/dining area rather than the kitchen from the living/dining area. This would also allow the version with a kitchen island, which we find visually more appealing.

Many greetings & heartfelt thanks for your time
xyz0815

Here is the completed questionnaire:

Development plan/restrictions
Plot size: 544 sqm
Slope: no
Floor area ratio: -
Floor space index: 0.3
Building window, building line and boundary: see site plan
Edge development: only possible to the east
Number of parking spaces: 2
Number of floors: none
Roof shape: none
Style: none
Orientation: none
Maximum height/limits: 9.0 m
Further requirements: Max. wall height 6.5 m

Client requirements
Style, roof shape, building type gable roof: ~25°
Basement, basement height, upper floor knee wall: 2.2 m
Number of persons, age: 2 adults (+2 children planned)
Space requirements on ground floor, upper floor: ground floor living, kitchen, dining area, office, passage to garage, utility room (not as a mudroom to the garage), shower bathroom; upper floor 3x bedrooms, small office/playroom, bathroom
Office: family use or home office? ground floor home office, upper floor possibly family use/playroom
Guests per year: basically none
Open or closed architecture: rather closed
Conservative or modern construction method: modern
Open kitchen, kitchen island: open with kitchen island but separated from living room
Number of dining seats: 6-8
Fireplace: no
Music/stereo wall: yes including TV lowboard
Balcony, roof terrace: no
Garage, carport: double garage
Utility garden, greenhouse: no
Additional wishes/special features/daily routine, also reasons why this or that should or should not be:

House design
Who planned it:
-contractor planner: yes
-architect: no
-do-it-yourself: no
What do you particularly like? Why?
What do you not like? Why?
Price estimate according to architect/planner: still open
Personal price limit for the house, including equipment: 500k €
Preferred heating technology: underfloor heating

If you have to forgo anything, which details/extensions
-can you do without: utility room (since planned with basement)
-can you not do without: office on the ground floor

Why has the design turned out as it is now?
Because it meets the given requirements quite well and was developed in several discussions that way.

What is the most important/fundamental question about the floor plan summarized in 130 characters?
What do you think of the idea to separate living from kitchen/dining with a sliding door?

Better to have the living room separate than the kitchen.

I don’t like the staircase location, the missing coat rack at the main entrance, and the dirty vestibule. Would at least paint the door.
Paint the utility room.

Children’s rooms next to each other and the playroom as a buffer between the children’s rooms and the bedroom.

Variant 2 is a solid thing. However, it would be too boring for me. In some places space is wasted. For example, I find the bathroom uncomfortably large. The living room bend in V1 is a no-go for me. Do you really want to place the office/bedroom facing the garden to the south on the ground floor?

If it were mine, I would:
on the ground floor:
- take the bedroom out of the south. Instead, place the entire living/cooking/dining area on the terrace.
- prefer a pantry instead of a utility room
- probably a different room layout - possibly I would rotate the house and move the entrance towards the parking space/garage.

On the upper floor:
- reduce the size of the bathroom
- possibly make a dressing room or office bigger

But above all, I would consider what the highlight in my house should be. If you like to cook, for example, a tram kitchen with a large cooking island is a must. Or do you like to watch movies? Then the living room would be a large room with a home cinema system. Or a large table for board games?

Take a look at the other views as well (including those from the [Avatar], since it is so tiny there). A cross-section would also be nice. It might be quite harmonious overall, but viewed individually just as a measurement, I find such a high knee wall a bit much.

I completely agree with . V1 is the corner in the hallway, highly unwise and destroys much of the sense of space. V2 is better there. But the dirt trap is not appealing, the trapped utility room. The former is far too narrow to be enjoyable. Yes, quite unexciting, which does not mean that it is non-functional. I would place the kitchen door directly opposite the entrance, with a view of the inviting island. Close to the kitchen a pantry. Yes, living room separation is better than the other way around. I would like to know how the house works with the garage on the property. Please draw it out.

Personally, I like the separation from the living room better than separating the kitchen, but I would position the separation a bit further down the plan. However, this also depends on personal tastes: which of the two areas is more important to you?

I find the entrance area very oppressive. You practically stumble over the lowest step when coming in.
The little hallway in front of the garage will probably be more oppressive than useful given the tiny size. What is supposed to happen there?
If that were removed, the door positions (WC, office) could also be adjusted to follow a line. I think it looks very restless over these few meters of hallway with the doors staggered like this.
I would also move the kitchen door; that suggestion already came from Yvonne.

I find the bathroom simply big and uncomfortable and would completely redesign it. It can be done better.

Upstairs, I miss a utility room with a washing machine and dryer. You don’t want to run down to the basement with laundry from upstairs and back up with clean laundry like 50 years ago.

Overall, the house certainly works, but I find it boring and not really well thought out yet.