Description

The program for “The Mountain” is summarized as two thirds parking and one third living: a 10-story parking garage serves as the base for a terraced housing development draped across the top like a patchwork quilt of gardens, patios, and apartments. The approach is one of combining the comforts of suburban living with the social intensity of urban density – residents drive almost to their front door and enter their apartment which affords them an expansive panoramic view across single-family homes nestled in a verdant suburban environment. A ramp with a sloping elevator and stairs placed between the parking and apartment decks, as well as bridges spanning the cascading atrium between the two layers, connect to the access corridors that lead to the apartments. In the interior, hallways, bathrooms, and walk-in closets create a transitional zone to the living room, which has an entirely different spatial sense with generous glazing affording a view onto the urban panorama to the southeast. The basic layout of the living room is L-shaped, wrapped around the deep roof patio, connected with lane-like gardens above the apartment on the terrace below. Wood-encased planters serve as balustrades and privacy screens. More complex units – some small and others larger, some two-stories high and others with two patios – are located along the edges of the complex, where the uniform terracing merges with the shape of the parcel. On the north and west facades, the walls of the parking decks are clad in perforated aluminum plates bearing an image of Mount Everest.

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