New construction planning - single-family house 160 sqm without basement - floor plan, costs, etc..

You should write down your requirements and then expect a draft from a contracting partner that takes these requirements into account. Apparently, you do not want a free architectural design, which is okay. However, uncritical copying of client drawings is always a warning sign. In your statements, there are aspects noted that simply do not fit together. On the one hand, you are happy about a close access to the garden from the living room. But from the living room, it is hardly visible. Then there is a lighting problem. You want it bright, great, but the design does not allow for that at all. And a glass door that is more than 3 meters away from the window also does not bring light into the room behind it. A bathroom as a placeholder is always as problematic as a kitchen as a placeholder, it can work out well if you are lucky. And then there is the inefficiency of the design. A bay window to make the dressing room in the attic usable is a very expensive solution. As said, write down requirements and do not overdo it with compromise readiness. WD

... I can also completely throw the draft overboard..

Yes, but why? You defend the planning mistakes, you will think about this or that, but you have thought something with these and those, so nothing really needs to be changed?

the following floor plan just crossed my fingers (see attic in the attached picture). The hallway upstairs would become a "gallery," sufficiently bright through the skylight. The room under the gable could be used as a "real" walk-in closet – no longer "trapped," since it can be accessed centrally from the gallery. The only disadvantage here would be that the children's rooms would become smaller...

I am just wondering, what do you have an architect for? Your house idea, which he traced, is a common standard house with its amateur mistakes, only with an attached garage and another hallway. Somehow it seems to me like an extension to a used property that has become too small.

From architectural work, I expect a) something more creative (without necessarily appearing creative), b) I expect from an architect more backbone and a sense of honor to steer the client away from the standard, as it is found in abundance on the web.
Two hallways in a row, without really accommodating furniture, a bay window that hardly makes an impression, little storage space, and on the ground floor a chamber as an additional room. Open space in the living area (fine with me), but the rest suffers. These are the typical DIY mistakes.
Placeholders in kitchen and bathroom: so now make something nice out of it

And I still wonder: what do children have from the east sun?

Edit: overlapped with WD

And I still wonder: what do children get from the East sun?

Yes. Every direction has its pros and cons.
Bedroom in the East: I don't want to be woken up by the sun at 5 a.m. in summer. So the shutters go down and the effect of the beautiful morning sun is gone.

Kitchen, living area in the West: It can be nice, as long as the sun isn't so low that it dazzles. We regularly sit here at the dining table with squinted eyes until someone gets up and annoyed pulls the shutters down.

South side: Depending on the situation, it can get very warm here – despite shading. But for those who like sun, it's something

: A children's bathroom has its pros and cons. The shower on the ground floor will hardly be used later because it is too inconvenient (carrying everything down and back up) and too cramped. We have one more person than you and planned our own children's bathroom, although it was already determined by our floor plan. I am thinking ahead, because later the kids won't want to go to the bathroom on the toilet because dad is showering and the sibling is currently on the ground floor toilet having a long session. You can never have enough toilets. Ideally one per person
May I ask how old your children are?

Directions are actually a matter of taste, so I think it's okay if the OP really wants it that way.

I personally also find bay windows nice, but they don't really bring you anything in the dressing room. As others have already said, it's a dead corner that isn't used and can't be used. And why a floor-to-ceiling window in the dressing room? We also have such a bay window, where the floor-to-ceiling windows belong to the children's rooms. The kids, who are still small at the moment, are happy because they can look outside on their own, the children's rooms are well-lit and you have one more wall without a slope. I wouldn't even think of putting a desk there. There are plenty of other places for that. Whether the bay window actually has a deeper meaning is questionable. If it looks good and the budget allows it, why not?

In my opinion, we don't really need to discuss the topic of the children’s bathroom at length. The OP knows it exists but does not want it. It's a matter of taste and in my opinion not necessarily essential with two children.

: you are right. Whether a children's bathroom or not is not up for discussion. It's nice to have one if the floor plan allows it, but it's certainly not a "must-have".

Hello Manu,
my children are 3 years and 7 months old. I am 30 myself, my wife 29.

First of all, thanks to the previous posters for the criticism, that was exactly what I wanted.. and where I initially wanted to defend "my" draft, I have to admit that the above-mentioned points of criticism all make perfect sense.
As I said, we are still at the very beginning. The plot is reserved and will be purchased by us as soon as the construction becomes concrete. We approached the matter by first thinking about what we want ourselves.. made a sketch and a wish list and then went to the architect with it. You can see the result. Important to us:

1. On the ground floor there should be a free room that can be used as a guest room/office etc.
2. I wanted to be able to get directly from the garage into the house, but into which room? (You/BA or guest room? No.) That’s how the vestibule came about.
3. The technical room should disappear completely into the basement – but due to the enormous additional costs, the basement was dropped,
so there is now no room left for the utility room – this was then “put together” behind the vestibule, which I found a good solution because you can have a direct exit to the outside here, to e.g. take your laundry directly out.
In the end, however, the vestibule was “devalued” as a cloakroom, because there is now no large storage space left due to the door to the utility room.
4. With the bay window, we probably put the cart before the horse. We decided on it for aesthetic reasons (exterior view), but it was not implemented optimally inside. Everyone says the bay window costs a lot more, can you roughly estimate how much extra it causes compared to a straight wall? That would probably have been money thrown away.

Of course, I would also like to get everything comfortably under the same roof and optimize the room layout, but I think it is already very difficult on 10*10. You have to know your financial limits somewhere. For example, we have visited some show houses, it’s great how there is space for everything... only that all of them stand on slabs of 13*14 upwards...

This was a first draft that basically pleased us, but still has its flaws in detail. There are more appointments coming up where new drafts will be created, but this time I’ll stay out and just give my “wish list”...

I’m attaching a photo of the plot where the house will stand. Views from 3 sides, as well as the first hand sketch (the proportions here are not correct though, it was only about the position of the buildings)

(Edit: I have also attached the photos to the original post again for better overview)