Floor Plan Optimization | Semi-Detached House on a Slope with 192m² Living Area

We have it, and also in the smaller rooms. We like it. However, we don’t have an exposed roof truss, but a wooden ceiling and the room is not completely open up to the ridge beam. But the high rooms are good that way. Especially in the gallery, but also in the relatively small rooms like my office and our bedroom, it fits.

Unfortunately, it’s not very visible in the pictures in the smaller rooms – I would have needed a wide-angle lens for that, but my phone doesn’t have one:
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The gallery:
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As you can see: the ridge beam is covered in our case. An exposed roof truss was too rustic for us, but it can certainly work well!

For our dressing room, we have a shed dormer because we had the same problem with the sloping ceilings and the wardrobe height.

Of course, it also depends on the roof slope – ours is 34° – with a very steep roof, I would probably prefer an attic and if I otherwise had no storage space, that would of course also be a possibility to create such.

We have something similar in the upstairs hallway: but also clad without exposed beams. (Offset shed roof with window in the third gable) In the bathroom and bedroom, we have it closed. Because I had it in the old terraced house: combination of 2-meter knee wall + 22-degree roof pitch. Resulted in rooms with a central height of 3.40 meters. Since the rooms were narrower than they were tall, it gave me an oppressive feeling. The rooms seemed even smaller. Open is not always the same as open: the effect with Climbee for example is quite different than with a high knee wall. In this respect: draw it out and calculate how high the room will then be.

and thank you very much for your answers and especially the pictures.

So I think an open ridge purlin is off the table. We generally want a more modern style and I don’t know if that looks too rustic.
Regarding the ceiling height, I’m still undecided. I think it can work well in the children's room if you can take advantage of the height. In the bathroom it’s rather a hindrance. In small rooms there is a risk that it looks too cramped. Maybe go for a middle ground and set the ceiling relatively high (2.80 m or even 3.00 m)?

Then there is still the hallway. Because of the semi-detached house construction, we don’t have natural light here and have therefore planned a skylight. If I close the ceiling in the hallway, that obviously rules it out. So I would have to either leave the hallway as the only open room (directly under the ridge) or work with a light shaft.

: do you also have a picture of your hallway on the upper floor? And also of the other rooms if possible. I briefly looked at your blog but didn’t find anything at first glance.

Regarding your question about the room height:
Knee wall is 1.30 m everywhere.
Roof pitch 30°

Ceiling height children's room: 3.10 m
Ceiling height bedroom: 3.45 m
Ceiling height bathroom and hallway (ridge): 4.30 m

Each is the highest point at the cross-section of room wall with ceiling.

We generally want more of a modern style and I don’t know if that looks too rustic.

It looks modern!

If I close off the ceiling in the hallway, that obviously won’t work. So I would have to either leave the hallway as the only open room (directly under the ridge) or work with a light shaft.

That doesn’t matter if you design the hallway differently. You can also make a skylight above the bathroom door, then you’ll have nice hallway light as well.

do you also have a picture of your hallway on the upper floor? And preferably also the other rooms. I briefly looked at your blog but didn’t find anything right away

The hallway won’t help you much because our roof pitch is rotated. Attached is also the bedroom with a 135 cm knee wall and roof pitch 26 or 28 degrees. Absolute ceiling height here only 235 cm

The hallway will not help you further because our roof pitch is reversed.

Is that the maintenance hatch for the boiler room at the peak?

Is that at the top the maintenance hatch for the heating room?

These are the future accommodations for my parents :P
No, these are so-called attic hatches that make the space above the "suspension" bathroom and bedroom walk... uh... crawlable.