Description

A weekend house on the rocky Pacific coast for a couple that wish to be near the sea with a view to settling here permanently in the future – thus the brief. The sleeping, eating, working, and bathroom areas, the tatami room, and the porch are arranged in a ramified series like the branches of a tree. With the concrete wall facing the landside and the nearly fully glazed facade overlooking the sea, one moves through the house as if on a hiking path: from the sleeping and entrance area, one has a view of the coast as if from a deep cave; from the living area the panorama unfolds expansively, while from the bathtub it is clearly framed.

The subtle deviations and branches in the floor plan enrich not only the perception; they prevent a direct sightline all the way through, thus defining the more intimate areas without them being separated by walls. The sleeping area only comes into view after several changes in direction; in this manner, the floor plan design imposes subtle rules of use without formulating them distinctly and hermetically. All functions, which would interrupt the spatial rigour and poetry of this spatial concept – such as toilets and cabinets – are discretely integrated into the wall.

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