Description

This unusual complex lies on a cliff above the sea. The site plan is based on the outline of a castle; the individual buildings, in contrast, are designed as simple cells on a 3.5 × 3.5 m grid.

The cross-shaped floor plans consist of five of these cells. Arranged around the open stairway hall in the center of the ground floor are kitchen, living room, and dining area, all equal in size; the fourth square contains a guest room/maid’s room with shower. Upper floor: three bedrooms (each a square) and two baths (in the fourth square). A narrow stairway leads into the third floor, which is occupied by a studio (one square in size) and a bath plus balcony. Three squares are left as a terrace. The spandrels between the house units are also used: as a pantry behind the kitchen on the ground floor, as small exit on the upper floor.

Tall chimneys grow out of the spandrels in the facade. The architects have successfully arranged these schematic small buildings in a configuration that has the appearance of having naturally evolved. All private open spaces face the sea, the inner court here is more a public traffic area with parking spaces in the openings between the buildings.

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Originally published in: Oliver Heckmann, Friederike Schneider (eds.), Floor Plan Manual Housing, fourth revised and expanded edition, Birkhäuser, 2011.