Bungalow floor plan 160-170 sqm with basement

Insisting on exactly this design with only slight improvement suggestions – which are simply not possible with this design, as too much is amiss – already makes me feel pity for the architect.

After that, maybe studying or moving out, etc....
Then you have the entire second floor completely empty...

We never advised you to have “a second floor”!

I think it's about the fact that you can better ignore a vacant basement than an empty attic? That's how I understand the argument. Basically buried and gone. :)

Gladly. I have attached the complete plan. The TV is on the partition wall between the kitchen and living area, or rather hangs there. A small disadvantage: the sun shines on it during the day. It hardly bothers me, my husband always lowers the blind of the large window. A good TV compensates for that quite well.

We originally wanted a low roof pitch. Due to a planning error (hip roof was not allowed), we had to switch to a clipped gable roof, which required a significantly higher roof extension. Now I have to say, I think it's great. We have "headroom" up there and the house has something of the reed-thatched coastal houses that I like so much.

The terrace is only about 1/3 covered. But we also have a huge one measuring 5x9m. In front of the bedroom window, a 5x5m roof will be added in the next few years.

What helped us a lot was to see a bungalow from the inside. I still know my grandparents’ bungalow. Typical for that time with an endlessly long hallway and extremely separated private area. I always found that annoying. If you ever happen to be in NRW, you can drop by ;)

Now again very slowly... not that we all haven’t understood it ;)

We never advised you to have "a second floor"!

Define basement! Is a basement not a "floor"?
By the way, people don’t speak of floors, but of stories, and then there is the definition of the "half-story"... but let’s get to the point:

So you plan ground floor + basement, because a ground floor + converted attic is 2 stories, and ground floor + basement are two stories ?o_O

You’re bothered by a staircase leading to the attic, but not by a staircase to the basement.o_O
You put necessary rooms like laundry room, utility room, storage room in your other story (basement), even though the staircase might cause problems some day.o_O
You are giving yourself an argument that is basically untenable because you are planning two stories, so with a staircase. If you’re unlucky and have knee problems at 50, that will be an obstacle.

Furthermore, you plan in that basement "2-3 living rooms with daylight". This means: You plan in the basement an additional 2-3 living rooms, i.e. finished with electricity, bath? (there was something said about parents) (-> lift station), heating, ventilation, suitable daylight illumination and a ceiling height that turns a basement room into a living room so that it is even allowed to stay in and approved. You only get daylight with special daylight shafts into a basement level, so real windows and then a huge excavation, there are several options. But all of them have the characteristic of being on the outside wall of the house (since they are basement windows) and pose a risk of accidents for children playing in the garden (I don’t even want to start talking about burglary protection).
So they have to be secured accordingly, but so that they still offer the second emergency exit. -> fall protection, escape route from inside to outside.
All this turns a simple basement into a living basement.
Means: 180sqm basement = 180,000€
180sqm basement with living quality (I mediate maybe half, since freezing chamber and utility room don’t have to be finished, but adjusted ceiling height), so 90sqm basement + 90sqm living basement = 300,000€
The roof remains cold, but you have 180sqm of space that no one sees because it disappears in the basement. Most of the space is not needed anyway, (180 for basement is really quite a lot) and if the kids have a party down there, two rooms on the ground floor suffer.

As already said, you are not the first to come up with an idea of a bungalow.

According to your argumentation, it would be more logical to let your basement stairs go up into the attic, because it is there anyway. You simply leave out the basement.
The rooms that are still necessary in old age or with knee problems are planned on the ground floor as well (You remember: "We want everything on one level..."). Small freezing chamber, utility room next to the kitchen... all bungalow-like, and all for you.
A room that can be useful for small children close to the parents and then two rooms plus bathroom in the converted attic that the children can move into once they reach school age. A construction effort hardly worth mentioning, maybe 50,000€. Windows that also see the sky instead of the concrete look of a light shaft.

That would be a division of space (children//parents). And when the children leave the nest, the two rooms of 40sqm in the attic do not hurt if they lie fallow, are converted into a fitness room or grandchildren sometimes sleep there. In any case, you would have your level and what is up there does not bother.

Where is the catch now?
You invest 250,000€ more for less living comfort, then later have a huge basement that you might not be able to enter in the worst case for laundry and still have two empty rooms on the ground floor... and think: I should have preferred freezing chamber and utility room here...