Single-family house on the south slope with a living basement

Hello everyone,

we would be interested in your assessment/opinions and suggestions regarding our planning. We want to build a turnkey single-family house for the four of us on our property with a south-facing slope (The building area in the eastern Osnabrück region is also known from other threads). General contractors we ask usually come up with a design that envisages a filled plot with a "standard single-family house" (without slope) on it. We would rather not do that. The slope is not utilized, and due to requirements such as roof pitch (max. 35°) and eaves height (max. 3.5 m), this results in roof slopes with a lot of space below the 2 m line. We then set to work ourselves and created a design that, from our perspective, takes into account the requirements for the plot as well as our own wishes. However, we are not construction professionals and are now thinking/unsure whether it is well solved or if something better can or even must be done. Therefore, we hope for your support. Or should we go directly to the architect?

Development plan/restrictions
Plot size: 676 m² (20.5 m x approx. 33 m)
Slope: South-facing slope, approx. 4 m descending from north (street) to south (garden).
Site occupancy index 0.4
Floor area ratio 0.5
Building window, building line, and boundary: 3 m boundary to the north, 20 m to the district road in the south
Perimeter development
Number of parking spaces: no specifications
Number of floors: max. 2 full floors
Roof shape: gable, hip, and shed, between 28° and 35° roof pitch
Style: -
Orientation: -
Maximum heights/limits: eaves height max. 3.50 m from upper edge of finished floor ground floor, maximum ridge height 8.50 m from upper edge of finished floor ground floor
Other specifications: noise level zone IV, soundproofing for ground-level outdoor living areas in the south

Client requirements
Style, roof shape, building type: preferably gable roof, if it fits better also hip or shed roof, ground floor + habitable basement
Basement, floors: habitable basement in the basement + ground floor, attic not developed
Number of persons, age: 4 persons (39, 37, 9, and 4)
Space requirements on ground floor, upper floor: open plan (living, dining, kitchen), 2 children's rooms, parents' bedroom, office/guest room, storage room. Originally about 150 m² living space was planned, but it has grown due to the self-planning
Office: family use or home office? Home office
Overnight guests per year: 5
Open or closed architecture: open
Conservative or modern construction: modern
Open kitchen, cooking island: absolutely
Number of dining seats: at least 6
Fireplace: no
Music/stereo wall: no
Balcony, roof terrace: balcony rather not, roof terrace currently results due to level access to outside
Garage, carport: for two cars
Useful garden, greenhouse: no
Other wishes/special features/daily routine, also reasons why this or that should not be

House design
Who is the planner:
- planner from a construction company entered the do-it-yourself design into the program

What do you particularly like? Why? Open living space to the south, living at street level (no stairs for groceries, guests), the children have a "separate" area. In old age a separation ground floor/basement would be conceivable.
What do you not like? Why? Technical room (HAR, utility room) next to children’s room, relatively large corridor areas, utility room too large, possibly missing a few windows in the design (e.g., living room east side, bathroom ground floor to the north for better outside view?)
Price estimate according to architect/planner: €337,000
Personal price limit for the house, incl. equipment: €350,000
Preferred heating technology: gas or air-water heat pump and controlled residential ventilation

If you have to do without, which details/extensions
- can you do without: tool room under terrace, possibly elevated terrace or L-stones and backfilling for terrace?
- cannot do without: cooking island

Why the design turned out as it is e.g.
Standard design from the planner?
Corresponding/which wishes were implemented by the architect?
A mix of many examples from various magazines...
What makes it particularly good or bad in your eyes?

The design was done this way because we have had balconies and terraces before and never used the balcony. An elevated terrace on the south side would darken the rooms in the basement. Therefore, the idea of a terrace on the side. A staggered building body where, for example, the roof terrace is built on the basement in the south would probably exceed the budget. In the basement, we want direct access from the utility room to the garden (hanging laundry outside etc.), therefore the corridor extends to the south, which also brings enough light into the corridor/stairwell. The children’s rooms should be as equal as possible and at least 15 m² in size.

A compliment, everything is stated in the thread opening, even the north arrow!!

And once again you can see how one can be deceived by the slope of the property. From the photo, I would never have thought that this is a 4.00m slope. Good that you indicated the height.

The design is clear and good!

Have you ever considered swapping the floors, living downstairs and sleeping upstairs? Do you have a view upstairs?

The open-plan room looks a bit squat, but it is 46m² and certainly has height up to the roof, right? The kitchen island would be too small for me, have you ever thought about rotating and enlarging the island? Also the dining table?

The sofa is now positioned by the window, have you ever placed it against the partition wall to the storage room, does it somewhat open up the open-plan room?

Do you need this big shaft, your craftsmen will surely be glad about it?

Edit, I just noticed that you also have an [DG], is there a staircase?

Do you need this big shaft,

What is it even supposed to be good for?

Have you ever considered swapping the floors, living downstairs and sleeping upstairs? Do you have a view from upstairs?

We discarded living downstairs/sleeping upstairs because then every visitor/grocery trip would always have to go down a whole floor. Even though access to the garden/terrace would be easier that way.

The open space looks a bit cramped but has 46m² and surely height up to the roof, right? The kitchen island would be too small for me, have you considered turning and enlarging the island? Also the dining table?

We do not have an open height up to the roof. So far, it was planned to install a closed wooden beam ceiling (the house is basically a bungalow with a basement). Upstairs there would be additional (unheated) storage space accessible via a pull-down attic ladder (in the area of the ground floor corridor). Yes, the arrangement of the sofa, dining table, and island is not optimal like that, but fortunately quite easy to change. Thanks for the hint!

Do you need that large shaft, your craftsmen must be glad about it?

The shaft was an idea of the general contractor’s draftsman. We had not discussed it beforehand. It is intended for pipes such as supply air, exhaust air of the controlled residential ventilation, an exhaust pipe in case of a gas boiler, connection lines for photovoltaics, etc. It is certainly not necessary in that size. But it was drawn to avoid a "kink" in the wall over the entire width. We thought perhaps also to integrate a laundry chute into the utility room.

Quickly: I notice that to get from the bedroom to the bathroom you have to pass right by the front door. Personally, I don’t like that even with our guest WC. For you, it will be a little ordeal in the Adam’s costume. The kitchen is also too small for me; the dining table has hardly any space. Try to draw your furniture to scale. I would mirror the whole house and then swap the living room with the kitchen again so that the proportions are right and the kitchen gets the terrace above the garage again. However, the terrace window will disturb the optimal kitchen layout as it does now. Too bad: it’s nice and airy downstairs and then cramped upstairs.