Roof design / Use of 2nd floor mandatory with 2 full floors

Hello,

Our development plan allows for 2 full floors with a gabled roof with >30° pitch. We are now considering how to best use this. It is clear to us that we want at least a knee wall of 1.8m on the upper floor, but we are also not opposed to building without a knee wall with a ceiling height of 2.5m. Since we are planning a basement, we do not need the entire attic as storage space, which raised the question: What roof pitch and upper floor height make sense? Building unnecessarily high does not make sense, nor does a large unused attic. Are there examples of how the roof could be used architecturally at least in terms of spatial feeling? Basically an open roof to create a generous sense of space?

How would you design the roof if you had the above-mentioned conditions?

We would appreciate suggestions (preferably with pictures).

Next week we are going to the architect, and we will of course ask these questions then, but the more suggestions we have by then, the better.

Best regards

Where two full stories are planned, one would usually need quite large plots if one preferred to build single-story buildings of the corresponding size there. That means: if single-story construction were also permitted where the development plan is "set" for two stories, one would mostly end up with a small house based on the floor area ratio (or would need an extra-large plot).

The regulations on what constitutes a "full story" can also be used "in reverse": instead of planning to avoid full-story construction as usual, one can dimension the knee wall so that the threshold for full-story is deliberately exceeded with a combination of the upper and attic floors "in personal union." If the critical height is 2 m, this could easily be met with a 1.8 m knee wall—30° pitch is more than enough for that.

On the other hand, this is a pitch where an open roof already brings a significant increase in room height. Therefore, I would probably use this rather selectively—if necessary, so that multiple attic spaces that are not connected to each other are created. However, this will not be entirely trivial when it comes to insulation.

Open gables can be beautiful - in my opinion, but only if the rooms are appropriately large. In smaller rooms, I find that they appear even smaller due to the distorted perspective.

Many plan galleries for the children's rooms if the height allows it. Whether the children still want to go up there at 15 and what to do with it once the children have left the house would need to be considered.

However, you could also think about planning an office, guest room, or possibly even a children's room (but that would probably only work for older children who are not afraid to be alone on one floor) in the attic from the start and then make the entire floor plan smaller accordingly.

I wouldn’t let the roof pitch limit you from the beginning but rather choose it according to the final use: as small as possible with an open gable (so that the room height at the ridge doesn’t run away) or correspondingly larger with its own floor for residential use.
Unless, of course, you look at roof pitches in [Musterhausparks] and find something really terrible and way too much or way too little. ([Musterhausparks], by the way, often also offer inspiration, and I would warmly recommend them to you ;-) )

I wouldn’t limit myself from the start by the roof pitch, but rather choose it according to the final use: as small as possible with an open gable (so that the room height at the ridge doesn’t run away) or correspondingly larger with a separate floor for residential use.

Would-could-would-have would also be my favorite, but here the development plan restricts freedom insofar as it requires at least 30°.

In my opinion, that is a good roof pitch for both options: separate upper floors OG and DG at least only start to create space here without a knee wall; for an OG with an open roof underside, I would prefer a somewhat smaller pitch (I find around 20° roof pitch comfortable for that).

The OP raised the question about the roof pitch and I simply recommended that he first consider the usage and then determine the RP. Whether everything works well with 30 degrees also depends on things like the width of the house and the shape of the staircase.

Thank you for your answers.

What worries me the most is that I will have a relatively large, unused roof if we build with a high knee wall or without a knee wall at all. I have looked at some open roofs with a gallery or similar, something like that I could definitely imagine. However, the architect would probably have to say more about that. I think we will start with the basic planning and then see how we can integrate the roof. Otherwise, it will just stay closed and serve as storage space :)