Floor plan single-family house 150 m² 448 m² 1.5 stories

If the basement is not living space, probably no emergency exit is planned either? How small are the children? I think I would rather put the sleeping area on the ground floor if it cannot be helped. If the financing is tight, I don't know if I would plan for further elevations.

If the basement is not living space, is probably no escape route planned either? How small are the children?

No... There would have to be a light well, right? Or does it have to be a basement door with an outside staircase? The children are preschool age.

Take the west side, then you win

You mean additional larger/wider windows don’t matter then, because more heat comes in through solar radiation?

As far as I know, yes.

If I understand VGH Baden-Württemberg, ruling of 08/23/2012 - 3 S 1274/12 correctly, a light well can be built very close to the neighboring property if the correct distance between the house wall and neighbor’s property (setback depth, under 3 m in my case) is maintained. What would your sources be?

Your current drawing has the living room in the west. If swapped, it would be in the south.

So something like the variant of our house in the attachment, thinking of the guest room as removed and the living/TV room basically shortened?

I think I would rather put the sleeping area on the ground floor if it can’t be helped. If the financing is tight, I don’t know if I would plan for further upgrades.

You might notice smoke gases faster at work than while sleeping. With the contractor’s standard house, I would rather only make modifications instead of upgrades, otherwise the additional costs become stumbling blocks on the way to homeownership (or to enjoying life in it).

So something like the version of our house in the attachment, imagining the dining room removed and the living/TV room basically shortened?

When I say exchange, I do not mean another design.

What would be your sources?

After almost 10 years of the forum and constantly googling afterwards, you no longer know your sources. Ultimately, the municipality decides.

I actually find the ground floor from the first post really beautiful, L-shaped living room, great beautiful sliding door in the seating area... What might bother me a bit is that the couch has its back to the dining table, I always find that a little unfortunate, but it’s certainly a matter of taste.

I also think the floor plan is quite good for your requirements. However, I don't like that you walk directly into the kitchen and generally the area is quite tight for a family of five. You are wasting space in front of the guest WC and with the small storage room. You have a basement, right? I would integrate these areas as a dressing room into the parents' area and reduce the size of the bedroom. Then the kitchen can be moved further downwards according to the plan. That would also give more privacy with the bathroom, and guests won't mind having to go through a (tidy ;) ) dressing room.

I would put the office in Basement 1, add a fairly large window (or two) and then create the space itself. It really results in a lot of brightness in the south. For that, remove other basement windows. The storage room doesn't need a window thanks to the ventilation system. For sleeping, it would be too far away from the kids and the bathroom for me.