Is there any legal obligation to carry out the measures agreed upon in the preliminary building inquiry/building application with an architect?
No. According to §42 (3) of the State Building Code BW, however, you will have to appoint a construction manager who must then coordinate all trades. If you have each trade carried out by a different company, the architect is naturally suitable for this.
The architect also mentioned that it would make sense to submit a building application instead of a preliminary building inquiry
I agree. A preliminary building inquiry is normally limited to the planning law permissibility. You can save the costly building documents for the building code verifications and their examination if the project is already inadmissible from an urban planning point of view. Since you are planning a non-privileged project in the outer area, IMHO you can only rely on §35 (4) 4. Building Code
the alteration or change of use of worthy of preservation buildings that shape the image of the cultural landscape, even if they are abandoned, if the project serves a purposeful use of the buildings and the preservation of the design value,
To prove this, detailed construction drawings and close coordination with the monument authority are already required. For a start, the oral, of course not legally binding, information from the building authority that the project is not fundamentally excluded would be sufficient for me.
Now I wonder, ... why such a preliminary building inquiry or building application would also require building plans for the interior design.
Because basically you are planning a complete residential house, very small but with all trades of a single-family house. Moreover, it is a listed building, which presumably makes a change of use possible in the first place here.
P.S.: IMHO the focus of your posts is too much on finances. Your project is more for the love than for making money. Keep in mind that an unmotivated (because underpaid) master bricklayer can ruin both.