did they sacrifice their future view by cheaping out, building into their grade rather than up when they were allowed to build up?

does your town have zoning restrictions about building up, or in front of someone else?

honestly, while i wouldnt unnecessarily block their view by sticking a freestanding pergola in front of their window when it could be someplace else, its not your problem to configure your addition in a contortionist way to save their cheaped out building decision. they build knowing you could build in front of them, its the nature of 'views'.

but you have to know exactly what you can and cannot *legally* do before you begin.

water views are a dog eat dog world. (i have a vacation home a short distance from the ocean... neighbor's damn trees grew up, all i can do is pray for a hurricane... won't do that). polite is a wonderful attribute. don't build out of spite, but keep in mind that if someone else can build between you and your view, don't count on them not doing so. if you have choices that can lead to your keeping a view no matter what the person closer does, do that. (which might be the case, by building UP.) if you can do that and make your cheaper/thriftier neighbors happy, thats good. but don't break your own house's looks and function bending over backwards for someone 'upstream'. some things are never paid forward.

Get better design help than you did the first go round. What a waste of funds to have built something that needs to be rebuilt entirely.

How practical is a two story master bedroom? We were thinking of the bath being down and stairs leading up to MB.

I don't care how great the view is from my master. There is no way I would buy a house where I had to go downstairs to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night.

"Searched the web and YouTube for some examples around this idea but came up empty......"
You probably wouldn't, because it's not quite done.
Because in form, function, and everything else, it is a bad idea. Don't get carried away with 'innovation', eitheer do what the architect suggested or something else. Hard to suggest without seeing the existing structure, land...

"Read up a couple remarks we just discussed this?"
And?? Another person can't comment their agreement or disagreement?

It's not clear to me. Which bath are you talking about? Are you planning to take out the bath in the master suite? Is the half-bath on the same level as where you would put your bed? Behind all this is the same sentiment stated above: no stairs between the bed and the toilet!

Just from another mom of 2 (soon to be 3), I would consider turning part of the game room into a third bedroom or possibly turning that area you mentioned (master deck) into a small ensuite nursery if even allowed.

You’ll spend as much as you wasted to build the badly designed house in the first place. Better to spend it on another, better built, new house. Or an entirely different house, with better bones. Or just do a teardown and complete rebuild with a much better architect.

Have you checked your setbacks? Could you convert the garage to extra bedrooms and then add an attached garage in front of that (closer to the street). I understand your dilemma. We live on a suburban lake in a large metro. We bought a house when we moved here with three beds (2 were tiny) on the main floor and a walkout basement on a lake. When our family was growing we were trying to find solutions to stay in that house but get another bedroom on the main floor. We couldn’t build toward the lake which would have been the cheapest and easiest way to make an addition. Adding on a second story would be $$$ and we were seriously looking at gutting the existing 3 beds and two baths and pushing out toward the street to make 4 beds and two baths. It would have been a long drawn out process and cost a lot. It was cheaper for us to pack up and move to a different house on a different lake (in the same suburb/zip code) that already had 4 bedrooms on one floor. Ironically the owners previous to the guy we bought from had converted the attached 3 car garage into a great room on the main floor and amazing master suite on the second floor (originally two story house had just 3 beds upstairs) and they went bankrupt on the addition. We were so fortunate to find a house with the 4 beds on one floor. We didn’t think we wanted to move but we are so glad we did.

I understand not wanting to block your neighbors views. That is a good way to make enemies for life.

I’m confused why do you want to move the master bath downstairs? What do you propose to put in the current master bath? Are looking to do an addition? Can you turn the garage into interior space and add a garage elsewhere? Or convert the laundry/half bath into a master bath and move them elsewhere? There is no way I would add a master bath downstairs. I dont think your architect is being creative enough.