Description
The experimental house, initiated by a magazine competition on housing for the future, reverses the spatial hierarchy of a conventional single-family home: the individual or private spaces on the ground floor are accessed at first. They are contained in three separate boxes surrounding a central forecourt and jointly support the shared living space above, which also connects the individual boxes with one another. Each of the three boxes has a separate entrance, additional ancillary rooms, and a private yard enclosed with box-hedges into which the personal living space extends nearly seamlessly.
All boxes can be subdivided, if needed, by means of dividing walls at the center. Stairs lead from each of these boxes on the ground level to the large common space on the second floor, divided into kitchen, dining, and living area through strategic positioning of the stairs. The roofs of the three boxes provide space for generous roof patios with wooden decking.
The core theme is individualization for all users: although the common area is generously proportioned as an interface for all inhabitants, it is essentially secondary in nature. Socializing is a conscious choice in this home, a reflection of the shift away from the single-family house designed solely for occupation by a typical nuclear family.
Drawings
Floor plan diagram, scale 1:500
Site plan
Ground floor with individual entrances, private spaces and hedge-bordered gardens, scale 1:200
Upper floor with common area and roof terraces, scale 1:200
Longitudinal section, scale 1:200
Cross section, scale 1:200
Photos
Exterior view
Interior view of common space
Originally published in: Oliver Heckmann, Friederike Schneider (eds.), Floor Plan Manual Housing, fourth revised and expanded edition, Birkhäuser, 2011.