BV House

Klaus-Peter Gast

Description

The body of Homa Farjadi’s BV House follows the surrounding rolling hilly landscape. It is set on the highest point of an eminence and looks like a rock formation from a distance. Its polygonal, sculptural shape, reminiscent of late Hans Scharoun, completely resists the right angle both inside and outside, thus creating dynamically developing figuration that nestles into the topography. But the impression of hard rock is deceptive. Farjadi uses a very unusual façade material that matures in shades of grey but is exactly the opposite in consistency: the façades consist of densely compacted straw. The material is a common roof-covering for northern European coastal houses. Here it is deployed as a harmonious ‘overcoat’ for the walls, which develop under a folded, rising and falling roof slab.

This contrast between normally hard material qualities when modelling form and the soft reality here is highly charged. The formal dynamic continues in the interior: a driveway courtyard provides access to the living area on one side, the kitchen and dining area on the other on the upper level, or to the guest area in the basement, reached via a prestigious staircase. The oblique wall positions suggest guidance towards the parents’ bedroom area on the same level, separated by a pool of water. The children’s area, with living upstairs and sleeping downstairs, is a house in its own right, separated as a building section by a dip in the terrain, but integrated with the main building by the continuous roof slab. Farjadi’s design shows complex spatial disposition that lays the topography directly open to experience, perceiving its envelope as almost part of nature.