Ground plan design single-family house 165 sqm without basement on 400 sqm plot

Funny. Nowhere did I read anything about being too dark.

I’m just wondering how one can interpret "bunker" and "shooting slits" differently, but never mind.

Assumed that anything between 15 and a little over 20% of the room area as window area would be sufficient. In almost every larger room there are also 2 windows to get light from 2 directions. It shouldn’t become a glass palace. That would have been fashionable in the 2000s here as well from time to time.

Sometimes I wonder if someone has ever looked out of a window? Just take a tape measure and hold it against the window where you currently live. Then compare it with a window in a house where you really like the light – if necessary visit model houses. Then look at the measurements on the plan. We don’t know them – maybe it’s deceptive – no idea. To me, some look very small, too low, too narrow, etc. It also always depends on the rooms, but you’re only showing the ground floor.

Yes, I already said, the heights don't fit either on the upper floor, that backfired, we need to have that revised. Better noticed on paper late than only at the construction site.

As for the size of the windows, about 20% of the room area is planned as windows in each room. In the living-dining-kitchen area, or downstairs WC even ~30%. Most of them are oriented south and west and some east. So practically nothing in the (dark) north.

What would be your "personal" requirement to make it bright enough?

Attached again is the upper floor.

I can understand the approach of planning the windows from the inside out, but still, one could create a much more harmonious image, especially for the entrance side. The facade just looks terrible to me – and that’s the first thing you see when you arrive home. In my opinion, this also has nothing to do with the "Neubausiedlungs-Standard-Satteldachhaus-Look" you want to avoid. In this case, different is simply worse. I really don’t like the upper floor windows with their varying sill heights and sizes. It hardly matters how you design the window in the study. However, I find kbt09’s suggestion clearly more beautiful than anything you prefer. Please reconsider!

How did you calculate the 20% area? Using the specified wall opening dimensions? For example, in the office 240 wide and 80 high? The glass area there is then about a maximum of 60 high.

Why is there only such a strip of windows in the study at all .. as it is now, you can't see out while standing. How about like this:

I would bring all the windows on the entrance side upstairs to the same sill height and make them all the same size (size of the right window). Then it looks harmonious.

What would be your "personal" specification to make it bright enough?

First of all, a standardization. This house also radiates a restlessness inward that drives one completely crazy as soon as one goes from one room to the next. Minimum window height 120, better 130. Width for double-wing at least 160, preferably 170, single-wing 100 – bigger is almost always possible. I personally always use 180 for double-wing in small houses and 200 for larger houses. That then also matches the patio doors. Sill height everywhere 90, apart from floor-to-ceiling of course. For bathrooms, divided windows with frosted glass in the lower part are suitable. Windows above the bathtub are difficult to operate and there is a lack of light at the sink – not to mention the shower. Office windows with a 60 rough opening floor-to-ceiling let in hardly any light. The same applies to the 80-high band facing the street. In my opinion, that’s rubbish. The living room is indeed flooded with light but every window is different. That creates a lot of unrest. With the length of the large window, doubts arise about stability. Only specialists can do such things and a standard window manufacturer gladly makes a mess and it warps in the sun. We haven’t even seen the "staircase side," have we? That is pretty random as well, if I see it correctly.