City villa 200 sqm with gallery - optimization suggestions

really think about the gallery, as beautiful as it may be, it is A source of waste of the SQM.

The gallery is by no means a waste of sqm. It is a gain in air space. Built-up space costs. Therefore, a gallery increases the price per living sqm. This is not a problem as long as you don’t expect cheap sqm prices. Despite all the criticism the design faces, I want to give praise. It gives the impression as if you were picturing yourself already living in the house and thinking about how you would feel in the rooms. This is an important step toward truly good architecture and away from the fashion-driven “this-is-how-it’s-done-today” uniform practical construction. You can tell from the ratio of the parents’ sleep-spa area to the children’s rooms that the imagination for a life with children still has potential. Remember your own youth – what would you have wished for back then? What kind of room, what privacy? Did you feel free with friends in the house? Or: How much do you want to experience of your teenage children (need to)? You awaken from these dreams with a budget shock and a practicality fright. Not bad, you can consider which principles underlie this and how they can be achieved within the given budget and have a basis for prioritizing. A good architect helps here and is worth every cent, because he or she who makes and gets out of such thoughts is like the difference between a work of art and a hobby sculpture with the same material use. I am convinced that living on less, but well thought-out living space is better than on a lot of living space based on an addition of wishes that didn’t turn into a coherent concept. There lies saving potential and also my repeated statement that sqm prices serve at most as a first guiding value but not as a leading planning instrument. We love every sqm in our house and live very happily in a space clearly smaller than would have been possible. Some initial dreams we did not realize. Mistakes are made anyway (at least by us) – the designated room for sound work has too little light; here my wife, I, the architect, and the carpenters were not precise enough in the coordination. Don’t cling to the first sketch, it is not yet mature.

You are great, thank you for your advice and suggestions :-) I will try to implement some of them in a 3rd draft.

The gallery is by no means a waste of square meters. It is a gain in airspace. Enclosed space costs. Therefore, a gallery increases the price per living square meter. This is not a problem as long as you do not expect low square meter prices.

Despite all the criticism directed at the design, I want to give praise. It gives the impression that you are picturing yourselves already living in the house and thinking about how you would feel in the rooms. This is an important step toward truly good architecture and away from the fashion-driven "this-is-how-it's-done-today" standardized practical building. From the ratio of the parental sleep-spa area to the children’s rooms, you can see that the imagination for a life with children still has potential. Remember your youth – what would you have wished for back then? Which rooms, which privacy? Did you feel free with friends in the house? Or: How much do you want to notice your teenage children (have to)?

You wake up from these dreams with a budget shock and a practicality scare. Not bad, you can consider which principles underlie them and how these can be achieved within the given budget, and you have a basis for prioritizing. A good architect helps with this and is worth every cent, because he or she who makes and extracts something from such thoughts is like the difference between a work of art and a hobby sculpture using the same material.

I am convinced that it is better to live on less but well-thought-out living space than on a lot of living space that is based on an addition of wishes that do not fit into a conclusive concept. There is savings potential in this and also my repeated statement that square meter prices are at most suitable as an initial guideline but not as a leading planning instrument. We love every square meter in our house and live very happily much smaller than would have been possible. Some initial dreams are not implemented. Mistakes are made anyway (at least we do) – the planned room for sound work has too little light, here my wife, I, the architect, and the carpenters were not precise enough in the coordination.

Don’t stick to the first sketch, it is not yet mature.

I want to say this again in words because a like is not enough. This is a really good contribution. You have to mentally put yourself into the house and live the daily life there.

Well then, you either like a gallery or you don't; for some it is a waste, for others a gain in living quality. I definitely count myself among the others... :D. I like openness and live with the often mentioned disadvantages, which for me are not disadvantages because I want it that way and therefore accept the circumstances (no disadvantages). We will build a gallery and are looking forward to it; although there are only two of us, I would do it the same way with children. The dimensions of the floor plan are currently still generous, you may have to reduce them a bit due to the budget, especially because beautiful rooms like to be beautifully furnished/designed. But that doesn't have to detract from the living experience; you just have to invest time/thoughts in the details. We prefer to work with a pencil and have probably already made about 100 drawn plan changes... we also enjoy refining details. With the dining table it might get tight, so enter the furniture measurements. At first we also planned what felt like a glass palace and gradually removed some things from the inside out, also depending on the respective use. Light/glass is great but a wall or too few walls can be disadvantageous, I also find it nice when there are areas where no direct sunlight comes in. The bedroom area on the upper floor could be reduced a bit, I would change the bathroom with its narrow entrance area; also, you can design a nice bathroom with about 10 sqm. A child’s room of 22 sqm would definitely be too big in my opinion, the 14-15 sqm of the other room fits better there. In the living room it would be worth considering whether to actually give the TV that much importance and maybe move it to the office/children’s room, then you could furnish more freely and place the windows differently. Since you don’t have children yet, I could also imagine, for example in children’s room 2, leaving out the wall and using the area open towards the gallery (reading/carving...), a lightweight wall can be added afterwards very easily in drywall or timber frame construction. The years until then (second child) are just as livable years and who knows....... The basic idea is clear, now you should move on to the many details of the rooms, which still have potential for saving sqm.