Terrace construction/covering; ideas/suggestions regarding criteria

Hello to the community!

We are currently building our detached single-family house in a well-established residential area.
Plot 560 sqm, garden in southwest location behind the house, full (and intense) sun on the garden side all day long.

Now the points of exterior facade, terrace, and outdoor facilities are slowly approaching, and regarding the terrace, so far we only know what we do not or want less, but we simply haven't found the right idea yet for what would be right for us. Therefore, we are now turning to the forum and hoping for ideas and possibilities.

It is about how and with what the terrace should be constructed and covered.

The garden is completely level and lies at the level of the ground floor slab, which will still receive 16 cm of screed.
Outside, the excavator has already dug out about 20 cm deep in the maximum terrace size (55 sqm) and rough gravel has been compacted very thoroughly with a vibrating plate on the excavator. From this surface, it is now about 20 cm to the bottom terrace door frame outside, so this is currently the maximum height for the construction.
Could be changed again if absolutely necessary.

The following points are especially to be considered:

1. As mentioned, intense sun all day long. The surfaces will therefore be exposed to strong UV radiation and can also heat up considerably!
2. Half of the terrace should be covered by a Q-Bus (Leinert, a kind of pergola-awning-hybrid on 4 legs). This Q-Bus will then be enclosed outside with stainless steel mesh and will serve as the outdoor enclosure for our fur babies.
3. The terrace steps back by 3 m at the left edge (when looking outside) because the house projects a bit on the rest of the length.
An attempt at a sketch:

*=Terrace
_ and | = building edge
T = door
************************************
************************************
************************************
**********__________________________
**********|⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ T ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ |
**********|⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ |
__________|⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ |
| ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ |

The area is a maximum of 12 m wide and about 6.35 m deep on the deeper left side (over 3.2 m width), on the remaining area about 4 m deep. The Q-Bus is to stand on the right side and measure 6x4 m (maximum size).

What we want and do not want, i.e. criteria set so far:

1. Easy to maintain!
In the still-house we have a large oak wood terrace and we are more than tired of painting and sanding...
The new terrace should be as easy to maintain as possible.

2. Low heat absorption of the surface.
On holiday, we once had such a WPC terrace, which you could not step on barefoot in the sun because the material got so hot. We definitely do not want that! Here our wooden terrace is actually quite positive to see^^

3. Durability.
It should last as long as possible. I would rather invest a bit more now and then have peace for a long time.

4. Physiologically harmless
Since we and our fur babies will spend a lot of time on the terrace, nothing should emit anything that could be of long-term concern for health.

Those are the most important points for now.
What we have already looked at ourselves:

These wood imitation concrete planks by Godelmann (Massimo?).
Design-wise quite nice, but also not particularly beautiful in "brown" (which is rather grey) and there are partially rust-colored efflorescences that you have to accept. And they get very warm in the sun.

Paving stones
There are some great options, but almost all of them get incredibly hot and due to the usually necessary joint gravel not good for the indoor cats (who then drag a lot of that inside).

Wood like Bangkirai or similar
Also gets warm, but still okay despite the dark surface. Apart from the maintenance effort, actually not bad, but the painting is so annoying that I have basically ruled it out.

WPC and similar wood-plastic composites
They get so incredibly hot in the sun that you can get burns directly, and in the lighter colors they are unfortunately not very UV-stable in color.

So now the question to the forum members:
Are there any other alternatives? Or possible solutions for variants perhaps wrongly excluded?
Or just other suggestions on what we could look into?

Best regards,
Marc

I would still choose wood. I wonder what major maintenance you have done on your previous terrace. 1. use smooth wood 2. oil it once a year. For this, there are special application rollers/floor painting brushes that you can comfortably use while standing. (if necessary, brush the terrace and remove dirt before oiling) Then you have 1-2 hours of effort per year, a natural material, a reasonably walkable floor (in terms of warmth), and in my opinion the nicest appearance (but that is a matter of taste).

Isn't it true that with the temps that sometimes prevail now, no matter the surface, it becomes incredibly hot? We have a wooden terrace and stone walkway slabs. I can barely walk on both in summer with clenched teeth. Not my wife, and definitely not the child. It's like fine sand on the beach of Crete at 40 degrees. In fact, the WPC terrace of my in-laws isn't as hot. I also think there is no real solution.

With our old house, we decided to pour a complete concrete slab, even though it was said that nothing would give way there. For this, a type of lintel or strip foundation was built from the house to the end and connected to the concrete slab at the house using rebar. After a few years, most neighbors had to repair their paving because there were waves here and there and the ground did indeed settle. After 30 years, a cavity of up to 20 cm had formed under this large concrete slab (approx. 40 sqm). Since our concrete slab rested on this foundation, we had no problems. I would always do it that way again, although maximum compaction was also done there. In front of the house, we concreted the 1 m wide access in the same way and laid paving on it. After 5 years, the ground here also began to give way. For the surface, we settled on a simple, light gray with relatively simple material, concrete slabs with fine gravel. We found them permanently grateful and visually appealing and not so hot because they are light and have a gravel surface; for that reason, clay from the construction time remained in the joints. I fear that depending on the construction method, over time or winter/summer, the odd stone or slab will move up or down and then it no longer looks quite so nice or edges form. Perhaps this time we will lay pedestal slabs because you can simply replace a slab, no grass problems arise in the joints, and unevenness is not noticed so quickly. Otherwise, I still find wood a good option because it can be relatively easily replaced or repaired.