Floor plan new two-story single-family house 200 m²

Three-hour appointment with the architect at the general contractor, starting with a similar model house (it was a 1.5-story building with a gable roof), several iterations on tracing paper, then a week later received the digital design.
Which corresponding wishes were implemented by the architect?: Covered entrance and terrace recessed under the upper floor, bedroom with walk-in closet, 2 offices (1 ground floor, 1 upper floor).

Based on your descriptions, I suspect that the "model house" had the guest room in the dormer/ captain’s cabin, and through the variation to the alternative villa, the children's rooms next door also became huge; on the other eaves side, in the original, instead of the storage room there was only the crawl space behind the bathroom, and the master bedroom gained space for a rotation in favor of accommodating a walk-in closet due to the vertical “eaves-side” wall.
I find it unfortunate not to share the "several iterations" with the discussants—it might be easier to identify where and how the wrong turns were made.
And I will never understand how one can go to the general contractor as a signatory in this living area weight class.
Dimensions, not more or less, for just the windows, wouldn’t be bad.

I find it unwise not to share "multiple iterations" with the discussants

Unfortunately, we didn’t, the planner needed them for drawing. I can probably locate and share the design of the model house, but I’m not sure right now if it could have disadvantages for me if I "out" the general contractor here.

And I will never understand how someone in this living space weight class can go to the general contractor as a drawing servant.

In this case, he has the same completed degree as other architects, and we also knew that he can do functional designs; after all, he also drew the model houses we looked at. We mostly liked them too.

If I take another architect, I can rarely visit the houses, and I wouldn’t assume across the board that independent architects are always better qualified.

The oddities rather arose from our wishes. The mistake was surely not advising us more strongly against nonsensical excesses.

Of course, conflicts of interest between architects and the construction company play a role here. That’s why I am crowd-sourcing here for the common sense that should balance this out.

Dimensions, more or less for just the windows, wouldn’t be bad

I’ll try to find the time tomorrow to dimension the ground floor and adjust the top floor to the size and also attach it with dimensions.

Whoever sleeps on the left definitely always has to pass the partner’s head when leaving the room (nighttime bathroom visit, getting up earlier), and that is often a disturbance.

It never bothered us in the last > 10 years. If I develop a different feeling in my old age someday, I can still rearrange the bed, but for the next 20 years, we are happy with the orientation drawn.

From your descriptions, I suspect that the "model house" had the guest room in the dormer / captain’s house, and by variation to the Anstatt villa, the children’s rooms next to it also became huge

For children’s rooms, the floor area counts more than the living space. I think it’s wrong to reduce a children’s room that is calculated smaller under the pitched roof because of the slope just because many sqm are stated there in a two-story house.

I couldn’t resist and rebuilt the upper floor again and dimensioned both drawings with the essential room dimensions.

and the kitchen just doesn’t work with such a mini island.

That’s true, the little island is gone.

And thus the aisle left of the bed 60-70 cm

In the current design, it is 80 cm.

Now that the recessed entrance is gone, the bathroom upstairs could also be placed entirely in the northeast corner. That would open new possibilities regarding windows.

You could also just steal a piece from the storage room instead of swapping rooms, but I think a rectangular bathroom is generally better than one too angled.

Does anyone have ideas or comments on that?

Regarding windows... floor-to-ceiling windows 100 cm wide provide light only over 100 cm width with some scattering. When rotated 90°, so rather about 210 cm wide and usually about 120 cm high window area, they also provide light over 210 cm width with some scattering.

that more light is almost always better and our experience with floor-to-ceiling windows regarding light yield is more positive than ypg presents it.

Of course more light is better. However, I did not express an opinion on this, but attempted to illustrate the problem of light (which moves rather laterally, i.e., from left to right, from east to west) based on physical laws, which unfortunately has to pass through a vertically oriented slit here in order to then illuminate the width. A room is usually limited vertically by floor and ceiling to about ± 250 cm. There is usually more width to illuminate, but this is not achieved by a one-meter-wide slit.
It is simply a misconception by laypeople that you get more light yield from windows without sills.
If you don't believe it, you can replicate it yourself with a box, scissors, and a flashlight.

We just worry that otherwise we will have too little light.

Well... who are you telling that to? Because that also applies to bathroom windows. You just have to want to understand it!

I find any kind of turned staircase an absolute tripping hazard, especially with a child or other unwieldy things in arms. Maybe I'm just clumsy, but a staircase with a turn would be an absolute last resort for me.

Floor-to-ceiling windows are just mainstream—just like straight staircases. If you don't like turns, that's one thing, then you simply omit them and install a straight staircase in the house. It at least falls for a longer stretch and across the entire floor. Especially as a clumsy person, worth considering.

Currently we actually find this surplus of space very pleasant.

The entire furnishing is "decor" of the architect,

If you arrange the furniture sideways, the free space also makes sense again.
I would nevertheless recommend omitting the window on the south side to better furnish the terrace and instead make a floor-to-ceiling window instead of the fixed window on the west side.
Possibly it is an option for you to install a terrace door in the kitchen.
The architect's preliminary design is there so you can insert your desired furniture into the planning yourself.

Only a neighbor looks in from the west, we don't really care. As long as the views are not completely scrambled, that is enough for us, but in the west even that would be irrelevant to us.

Well, deliberately placed scrambled windows can appear more harmonious than vertically arranged stripes that make the house look tilted.

If you wanted to, you could place the storage window on the upper floor on the north side. Then you have the possibility to nicely align the windows on the north and east. Dealing with the facade costs nothing—just like sightlines, it enhances the house for free.

District of Harburg, rather in the western part.

I once saw a similar graphic drawing (red double line) from residential construction. That was a building complex in NeuWu district.
HaseUndIgel live in Buxtehude right next door.

But usually there is more to expose in width. That cannot be achieved with a one-meter wide slit.
It's simply a misconception by laypeople that you get more light yield with window sills-free windows.

You have convinced me/us. The arguments also make sense without a reconstruction in the shoebox. It's quite interesting how, despite the best intentions, one simply lets oneself be guided by opinions and trends. Many of these impressions come from the videos of the house tours of the "Hausbau Helden" on Youtube. There, the floor-to-ceiling windows always seem like a great enrichment.

The architect's preliminary draft is there so that you can place your desired furniture in the plan yourself.

That is correct and has now partly been done. Although apart from the sofa, living room table, and dining table with chairs, very little substantial furniture will move or stay permanently.

If one wanted, one could put the storage window on the north side upstairs. Then you have the opportunity to nicely match the windows on the north and east. Taking care of the façade costs nothing—it enhances the house for free, just like sightlines do.

I would still recommend leaving out the window in the south so that the terrace can be better furnished and making a floor-to-ceiling window instead of the fixed window in the west.

I will adjust the drawing again regarding the windows and also try to include the façade design. The plan for now is only windows with sills to the east and west (probably north as well); we actually like the south view very much, and we will keep the floor-to-ceiling windows there.

Regarding the south window in the living area, I am still undecided. I am currently sitting in almost the same living room (also with a recessed terrace) and find it just fine as it is, also in terms of light yield and view.

Outside there would be a bench under the sill, inside the sofa.

It might be an option for you to put a terrace door in the kitchen.

Yes, we are considering that option. To be honest, I find the kitchen planning the most difficult in terms of imagining size requirements and furnishing. You can see that in the draft with the small kitchen island.
Once the floor plan is roughly finalized, I would also like to steer the thread towards kitchen and bathroom planning later (not now, of course). Also, we will visit a kitchen studio early next year to evaluate whether it can be furnished sensibly that way.

HaseUndIgel live in Buxtehude right next door.

Caught.

I will adjust the drawing again regarding the windows

Honestly? There is one word in this sentence that doesn't fit at all. And that is "I". I'm not a floor plan analyst. Therefore, I would never presume to design a floor plan myself. And that's exactly what I recommend to you as well. Not "I", but an architect paid by you should plan.

If I take another architect, I can rarely visit the houses and I wouldn't just assume that freelance architects are always better qualified.

So here’s my brief two cents on that. What do you think, will an architect employed by a general contractor advise you? Exactly. The same thing the VW salesperson says at VW - take this model. Oh, and we can still change the equipment this way or that. And that’s exactly what the seller of the general contractor does. I intentionally say the seller of the general contractor, because he pays his salary. Not you (at least not directly). YOUR architect is paid by you and acts in your interest according to your wishes.

I like the improved design better. The kitchen makes much more sense this way. Overall, I also find the design successful, although it is absolutely wasteful and could easily work just as well with about 30 square meters less. By the way, I quite like the small corner in the living room south of the TV now. You could definitely set up a nice reading nook or something pleasant there.

What bothers me the most are the unnecessarily long corridors, which cost square meters and cause unnecessary walking routes. I also don’t find the straight staircase optimally used. Especially the cloakroom behind the staircase seems misplaced to me and would be better located near the entrance. Maybe you could swap the guest WC with the cloakroom. However, you would then need access to the WC or AZ through the living room. The advantage would be a larger bathroom and a more sensibly placed, contiguous cloakroom. The disadvantage would be that the bathroom would no longer be located under the bathroom on the upper floor.

Otherwise, I would agree with the suggestions and reconsider the windows, especially the terrace door along the dining table. Think about how you want to get to the garden in everyday life.

Personally, I am not a fan of covered terraces. The corner will be quite small and certainly not enough for a large table with many chairs around it. At 2 meters depth, the terrace will probably only provide about 1 meter of shade at midday in summer. Also, personally, I don’t see the point of the walk-in closet. I cannot understand the trend at all.