Two Houses on a Slope

Klaus-Peter Gast

Description

The Taunus area in Germany is a heavily wooded, hilly terrain, with the possibility of building on the slope with an expansive view of the valley at this particular spot. Astrid Berndt and Heinz Lorz developed two identical dwellings for two clients that attempt to combine a gleaming white architectural artefact in the succinct lines of classical Modernism with the intense green of nature. As is usually the case with sloping sites, here too access is on one of the upper levels relating to the road. So the sections move down the slope stage by stage over three storeys, with a fourth, topmost storey arranged as a studio with a generous terrace above the entrance level. The lowest level is also accessible from outside as a separate dwelling. The spaces are allocated–appropriately to the attractive natural spaces surrounding the building–in two zones: on the entrance side are the ancillary rooms including integral garage and at the front, on the valley side, are the living rooms and bedrooms, both for the main dwelling at the top and the subsidiary dwelling below.

The terraced building faces front, which is undoubtedly a formal reminder of earlier residential building models by Le Corbusier, and clearly illustrates this separation of functions on the outside. The architects consistently chose the language of classical Modernism as a timelessly valid response to fashionable mannerisms. The strict ground plan structure of the building sections in two strips is based on the client’s desire for maximum flexibility, as a possible later conversion had to be allowed for in the planning. This meant that rooms could easily be altered and the smaller dwelling incorporated if wished. The symmetry is deliberately broken in the façade on the valley side: the block opens up with floor-high glazing asymmetrically, and the balconies of separate rooms projecting on two sides suggest a connection visually. Here the move from a closed block to a wide opening works out completely only because a second building section exists. The double structure in particular gives the shift between wall, column, aperture and projection a sense of rhythm and hence makes it a concise figure, at the top on the entrance side as well.