How many windows should one have?

depending on how usable it feels

Here too: Have a tape measure with you and measure everything you see - wherever you are. Door widths are also a thing: Take a laundry basket and walk through straight. Or a crate of beer. Do you have enough space between the door frame and your ankles? We have a patio door in our rental house that is 1.20m wide - I don’t want to do without it anymore. Making utility room doors narrower when the crates are supposed to stand there is something to reconsider.

I have learned to pay attention to many such seemingly trivial things here, and I am very grateful for that :)

Also here too: Carry a folding rule with you and measure everything you see - wherever you are. Door widths are also something: Take a laundry basket and walk through straight. Or a crate of beer. Here in our apartment building, we have a terrace door 1.20m wide - I wouldn’t want to miss that anymore. Making utility room doors narrower, when crates are standing there, is something you could reconsider.

I have learned to pay attention to many such seemingly minor details here, and I am very grateful for that :)

Yes, true, we’ve also run through all kinds of houses like crazy, measured rooms, looked at how a room with Xm² feels as a kitchen to get a better sense of what is "good." We position every little thing exactly everywhere and check if the drying rack doesn’t end up in the way where it’s supposed to stand :) We should do that with windows too, unfortunately, we only know a few people with new builds where we could do that, but I can think of at least one person who has something like fully glazed open galleries in a city villa, hopefully, they also have "normal" windows. I’ll add it to the list!

We still have an " " ahead of us, I can’t say yet who exactly will be talking with us, I might ask. Maybe we’ll also post the floor plans here, depending on how much we feel like dealing with the forum tone right now

The "architect" conversation with the general contractors usually means a coordination meeting with the person responsible for preparing the building application, who are sometimes actually architects, but often simply draftsmen. You regularly do not get to experience real creativity there. The criticism here has helped many questioners progress and has toughened them up regarding the tone.

We don’t want floor-to-ceiling windows upstairs and according to the development plan, we have to build 1.5 stories with a between 40-60°, so we would have to do a lot via roof windows [...] Dormer would cost around 15k, without windows.

Roof windows are especially important for rooms centered under the eaves; rooms with (also) gable-side exterior walls are more economically illuminated through these. The lower part of floor-to-ceiling windows can be fitted with frosted glass. "Dormers" (usually rather: gable dormers) can usually be realized on up to one third of the eaves length and notably provide standing height there, which makes a significant difference. I would rather choose a roof pitch closer to 40° than 60°, then the non-full-story status also allows for a small knee wall, whereas at 60° roof pitch you already have to be frugal with roof structures and are then tied to roof windows. Most catalog designs are already well engineered in this regard, while individual plans often fail because of their desire to improve.

The "architect" conversation with the general contractors usually means a coordination meeting with the person responsible for making the building application ready, who are partly actually architects, but often simply draftspersons. You regularly don’t get to experience true creativity here. The criticism here has already helped many questioners and has toughened them up concerning the tone.

We have also asked here before about other topics and received help; surely we will soon come around to the floor plan as well. It’s somehow a pity that one can expect so little from the average general contractor, but unfortunately, this became very clear to us through many conversations with some GUs on other topics. You have to try to know everything, preferably better than they do, hence this thread here.

Roof windows are especially important for rooms located in the middle of the eaves; rooms with (also) gable-side exterior walls are better lit via those. The parapet part of floor-to-ceiling windows can be equipped with frosted glass.

Maybe we’re weird, but floor-to-ceiling windows on the upper floor will probably not work. Subjectively, they are annoyingly visible (even with frosted glass, silhouettes, and the like still there), annoying to clean (you can’t imagine unless you always want to rearrange when cleaning), subjectively ugly parapets. As said, that’s just our taste; these things have many advantages, especially the price.

"Dormers" (mostly rather: cross dormers) can usually be realized on up to one-third of the eaves length and bring, not least there, a standing height that makes a significant difference. I would choose a roof pitch closer to 40° than to 60°.

I just found the price relatively steep, especially since 15k is for the "small" dormer, which only fits one "smaller" window per room (we didn’t inquire more precisely here, hence the vagueness). Do you think it would be worth it? This would apparently eliminate the two additional Velux windows, so effectively 9k more expensive without windows and shutters. We think we can live well with the standing height as small people; I’m used to 60cm clear knee wall from childhood and it bothers me little. We will have a 45° roof with 90cm clear knee wall, which I think is okay for the roof pitch. We definitely agree with you on the roof pitch.

In rural Lower Bavaria, I observed that the farmers in new houses with large windows had their blinds half down all day. I lived in a log cabin there and feared that I would feel uncomfortable behind the small windows. That was not a problem at all. I liked the house very much. I believe a farmer is happy if he doesn’t also have to constantly stare out at the landscape from inside the house. o_O

My assumption: it very much depends on your profession and the place where you spend your day - and of course on what there is to see outside.

But: no question: light is wonderful

Sorry, but... you are worried about too little window area or too little light and then want to do without floor-to-ceiling windows on the upper floor? Those are exactly what bring the most light, aren't they? For a floor-to-ceiling window, you have to install a parapet window twice as wide. But that reduces the wall space where you can place cabinets, put up shelves, or hang pictures...