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Understanding floor plans

What makes a good floor plan

The one perfect floor plan does not exist – but there are verifiable criteria for a good room layout. These ten points help to objectively assess a plan.

Short answer

What makes a good floor plan?

A good floor plan divides the area economically, clearly divides the house into day and night zones and orients living rooms to the sun. It plans storage space and a dedicated utility room from the beginning, keeps movement areas free and protects quiet rooms from noise. Flexibility for later life stages is also important. The following ten criteria make these points verifiable.

Ten check criteria

Ten check criteria for a good room layout: what to pay attention to and the typical error.
CriterionWhat to pay attention toTypical error
Storage space from the beginningPlan pantry, storage room, utility room and dressing room as fixed areas, not as an afterthought.Ancillary rooms are omitted in favor of large living rooms and later replaced with cabinets.
Economical circulation areaBundle the access, connect rooms on short paths, avoid pass-through rooms.Long corridors and convoluted paths waste paid square meters.
Doors and swing directionDraw the swing direction of each door and coordinate with furnishing and switches.Doors hit against furniture, switches or other doors.
Clear zoningDivide floor plan into day, night, circulation and buffer zones.Loud and quiet rooms are mixed next to each other, lack of retreat area.
Sufficient sanitary facilitiesGenerous family bathroom, provide separate guest WC, bundle objects at shafts.Bathroom and WC are kept too small, bottlenecks arise in the morning.
Consider the furnishingDraw all furniture to scale and keep movement areas free.The room is considered only as area, sofa or bed do not fit.
Orientation and lightingLiving and dining area to south or west, sleeping and bathroom rather to east or north.Living rooms face north, bedrooms get the afternoon sun.
Flexibility for laterCut rooms neutrally, provide for later division or a room on the ground floor.The floor plan fits only the current life phase.
Dedicated technical and utility roomPlan utility room and technical room with bundled connections.Washing machine, dryer and house technology end up in bathroom or basement.
Sound insulation for quiet roomsMove quiet rooms away from sanitary facilities and stairs or separate with buffer zones.Bathroom, WC or stairs border directly on sleep and work rooms.

From the criterion to your own plan

These ten criteria are not a rigid set of rules, but a checklist. Whether a floor plan suits you depends on your life phase, the building plot and your habits. Go through a plan point by point and mark where it convinces and where it has weaknesses. Often individual weak points can be fixed with small adjustments, for example by shifting a non-load-bearing wall. The article on the typical floor plan errors; how you divide the house into day and night zones is explained in Zoning in the floor plan. Suitable designs for checking can be found in the floor plan catalogue.

The perfect floor plan: frequent questions

Compact answers to criteria of a good room layout.

What makes a good floor plan?
A good floor plan is one that divides the area economically, clearly divides the house into day and night zones and orients living rooms to the sun. It plans storage space and a utility room from the beginning, keeps movement areas free and protects quiet rooms from noise. Flexibility for later life phases is also important.
How much circulation area should a good floor plan have?
A good floor plan keeps the circulation area low: corridors, stairs and door swings should only make up 10 to 15 percent of the living area. Significantly more indicates long paths and wasted square meters. This is achieved through bundled access, short paths to all rooms and avoiding pass-through rooms.
How much storage space does a good floor plan need?
A good floor plan plans about 10 percent of the living area as pure storage area: pantry, storage room, utility room and dressing room as fixed rooms, not as subsequent cabinets. If storage space is omitted in favor of large living rooms, furniture will later fill up the corridors and rooms. Fixed ancillary rooms keep the living rooms free and tidy.
How do I orient rooms in the floor plan to the sun?
Rooms are oriented in the floor plan with the help of the north arrow to the sun: living and dining area to the south or west for afternoon and evening sun, sleeping and bathroom rather to the east or north. Thus each room gets the light that suits its use. Without a north arrow, the lighting cannot be assessed seriously.
Why is flexibility in floor plan planning important?
Flexibility is important in floor plan planning because the housing needs change over the years – children move out, home office is added, mobility decreases. A neutrally cut room on the ground floor, divisible rooms and wide doors keep the house usable across life phases. This way the floor plan remains suitable longer, without expensive renovation.
How do I check whether furniture fits into a floor plan?
To check whether furniture fits in a floor plan, draw beds, cupboards and sofas to scale and keep the movement areas in front of them clear. Pay attention to continuous walls for large furniture and to door swings that block nothing. In front of sanitary fixtures and kitchen units about 90 to 120 cm of movement area should be kept free.
How does a good floor plan protect quiet areas from noise?
A good floor plan protects quiet areas from noise by distancing bedrooms and work rooms from sanitary rooms, stairs and day areas and placing buffer zones such as dressing rooms or cabinet walls in between. Bathrooms, toilets or stairs should not border directly on sleeping rooms. This arrangement often works better than subsequent structural sound insulation.
Is there one perfect floor plan?
There is no one perfect floor plan because it always depends on life phase, building plot and habits. However, there are verifiable criteria for a good spatial division, such as minimal circulation areas, clear zoning, sufficient storage space and appropriate lighting. Using such ten points every plan can be assessed objectively and matched with one's own wishes.

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