Single-family house with 250 sqm. Ideas for facade and floor plan

Hello everyone,

after having read interesting floor plans and very sensible suggestions here for some time, I would like to hear your opinion on our floor plan. Hopefully, you have some good ideas or critical points we should watch out for.

Bebauungsplan/Einschränkungen
Plot size: 825sqm
Slope: flat plot
Floor area ratio 0.4
Plot ratio 0.4
Building window, building line and boundary: no specifications
Number of parking spaces: no specifications
Number of floors: 2 full floors
Roof shape: no specifications
Style: no specifications
Orientation: no specifications
Maximum heights/limits: eaves height 6.50 m

Requirements of the builders
Style, roof shape, building type: no flat roof, preferably hip roof, but actually open here
Basement, floors: basement not possible due to soil survey, 2 full floors
Number of people, age: 2 adults (34,36) 1 child (1) + another planned
Space requirements on ground floor and upper floor 200-220 sqm
Office: family use or home office? 1 office
Guests sleeping over once in a while
Open or closed architecture open architecture
Conservative or modern construction modern construction
Open kitchen, cooking island open kitchen with cooking island
Number of dining seats 6-8
Fireplace yes
Music/stereo wall
Balcony, roof terrace balcony yes, no roof terrace
Garage, carport large garage desired
Utility garden, greenhouse
Other wishes/special features/daily routine, also reasons why this or that should not be included 2 bathrooms

House design
Planning by:
- architect

What do you particularly like? Why? sheltered terrace with south-west orientation. These are our unobstructed views
What do you dislike? Why? North side view. Very large area with few/small windows
Price estimate according to architect/planner: 800,000 EUR
Personal price limit for the house, incl. equipment: ~950,000 EUR
Preferred heating technology: air-to-water heat pump

If you have to do without, which details/extensions
- you can do without:
- you cannot do without: separate children’s bathroom, large children’s rooms, covered terrace

Why is the design the way it is now?
Design by our architect, who took our wishes into account but also contributed own ideas (e.g. L-shape)

What is the most important/fundamental question about the floor plan summarized in 130 characters?
We are already quite advanced in the planning phase and actually very satisfied with the floor plan. However, we find the outside view from the north not very attractive. Unfortunately, this is the view the “public” sees. Do you have ideas on how to improve that without completely changing the floor plan? The architect suggested placing artistic elements on the large wall area or breaking it up with color surfaces. But we are not really convinced.

Thanks in advance for your ideas.

I find the design very nice. I personally like the floor plan, even though I would like to have a utility room upstairs. But any complaining would be artificially finding faults. It is an open and spacious design with some visual axes. Great. Personally, I do not like these double windows. In my opinion, the slim shape does not fit the modern wide form. I would combine the windows of the children's rooms, bedroom, bathroom, and office and then see if the north facade changes for the better. One could also try to position the utility room door horizontally and place it as a band window on the living room north wall as a kind of repetition.

I also find the floor plans well done, but the exterior views look like an inflated, very inexpensive 150 sqm little house from a rural construction company.

inside great the floor plan is appealing. Draw your existing and desired furniture to scale - if it fits, don't change anything. from outside, it hits the mark for .

The architect proposed placing artistic elements on the large wall surface or just loosening it up with color blocks. But that doesn't really convince us.

I just had to laugh out loud, but actually it's rather sad if an architect is allowed to plan a building volume in the order of "just under a thousand" and that's her solution? And as a suggestion for improvement, nothing creative comes from her, but you are supposed to stick something pretty onto the facade? I appreciate architects, enjoy working with them, and have several examples in my circle of friends and relatives. Therefore, I rarely say anything bad about architects, but here I would rather take my money to another firm.

I guess the architect has put zero work into the facade so far... it looks awful and is certainly unacceptable in the category [house].... I would insist on something more!