Description

A first glance at another home in the new ‘Am Horn’ estate shows that it is clearly different from its neighbours. Its perforated, structured façade, which is still homogeneous and smooth, breaks with the rendering and colours of the Bauhaus reminiscences that are otherwise dominant here. Exposed concrete in carefully rhythmic and proportioned prefabricated sections determines the outward appearance and ‘moves’ the block, which is otherwise a rigid rectangle.

So Modernism is interpreted in an up-to-date way without detaching itself from the scale and general formal vocabulary prescribed by the location. A fine network of lines–with floor-to-ceiling apertures for terraces built into it, following the rhythm of the façade sections–covers the cube, articulates the storeys and underlines a system that is thoroughly considered, balancing surfaces and apertures. Thus the building acquires an ordering structure to which the ground plan relates, as well as the façade. As the house is on the central square, a space similar to a village green, access from there is on the ground floor via passage-like steps that remain within the outline of the building. This means that occupants can actually experience the slight slope on the site, and it creates an entrance as a transition for outdoors to indoors.

Cooking and dining on one side and living on the other face a terrace courtyard, while the parents’ bedroom area is accommodated in the rear section of the building. On the top floor, two bedroom areas alternate with large terrace balconies on both sides. These break down the volume and render the mass of the building transparent with a concrete curtain. Thus the impression swings excitingly between a heavy, down-bearing volume with its feet firmly on the ground and a fragile attitude that is struck at the same time.

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Originally published in: Klaus-Peter Gast, Living Plans: New Concepts for Advanced Housing, Birkhäuser, 2005.