Wooden ceiling and partial insulation for basement with garage

If you look at it classically, certainly. However, we have also thought a lot about our living situation. By the way, the small bathroom has a window located above the vestibule. These are two different levels. You can see that in the exterior view. Honestly, we have envisioned the room as a kind of universal room.

- Care room if a parent needs it
- Guest room for overnight guests (Our parents live 80 km away and often stay overnight)
- Spare room if finances are tight (the Ulm region is touristically interesting)
- Currently, my home office would probably be housed there, who knows how long we’ll still need it
- If you yourself are not so mobile in old age, you will probably be glad that everything important can be arranged on one level.

Hope someone can still say something about the basement ceiling.

... because of course a gust of cold air will enter the house when the door is opened. ...

That also happens when the front door is opened, or is there a sophisticated airlock system in a passive house? :) Don't the garages have another door to the basement rooms? A bathroom of only 4.4 sqm in the granny flat is possibly quite small for a person in need of care. What about two parents in need of care? Do you really want that – depending on the severity of care? We have "been through that". Despite support, in the final phase we decided on a nursing home nearby. Now acquaintances of ours are in the situation with both parents. The feeling of being overwhelmed and the (almost) nervous breakdown came after a short time. I personally consider a children's room of less than 12 sqm to be unreasonable :)

I would also exclude the basement from the thermal envelope, the rush of cold air when opening the front door is nothing compared to an open garage door and the other basement rooms are not living spaces, therefore separation. I do not fear mold, there are two climate zones, thermally separated, also with a vapor barrier

Great, thank you very much! And a wooden ceiling in the basement wouldn’t have any disadvantages otherwise? We’re currently dealing with this issue in our rental apartment at the door. Warm and humid inside, right behind it is the entrance to the building which often stays open. Thus cold and dry. In winter, you can look through the gap between the door and the frame because the door warps completely.

The topic of the care room would only be for the case that one parent remains. Otherwise, they would want to stay together anyway. Whether we can and want to carry it through to the bitter end remains to be seen.

Regarding the children's rooms, you have to know that we only have one child. Based on the experience from the lockdown, I doubt a second one will be added. The separation of the two children's rooms exists only virtually and would only be installed if needed. In fact, it is a ballast. Depending on the age of child 1, the granny flat could also be moved into if we don’t need it yet. I grew up in 7m2 and had a nice childhood, missing nothing. We can also do something with the height in the rooms, since the sloping roof remains open and we reach a maximum of 3.20m.

That’s the disadvantage of this house style. We can’t make two large rooms here because you would otherwise have to walk through the front room to get to the back one. Plan B would be to close off the gallery, although that would really hurt us as it is quite literally a “highlight” of the house.

...
open garage door and the other basement rooms are not living spaces, hence separation.
...

That’s why the question whether there is no additional door between basement and garage(s) ...

I grew up in 7m2 and also had a nice childhood and didn’t miss anything.

And therefore MUST it be the same with one’s own child?

The separation of the two children’s rooms exists only virtually and would only be installed if needed.

Well, that sounds different already ... ;)

...
Based on experiences from the lockdown, I doubt that a second one will be added.

If only Merkel and Giffey knew that ... :D

The separation of the garage and house certainly requires an insulated fire door and I suspect it is also airtight, your architect surely has experience with that. What I notice is the huge glass area with an airspace, in summer it can get 40-50 degrees up there and you sleep up there inside the thermal envelope. Therefore, discuss with the architect, upstairs electric tilt windows, air conditioning, mirrored windows (neighbor’s hunting stand), sun protection. Basement apartment with as few load-bearing walls as possible, double drywall panels, the blue soundproofing boards, already consider the future doors in the studwork, then everything can be done later with little effort.