House in the Hallertau

The site lies in an area of heterogeneous single-family housing on the edge of a small Lower Bavarian town. The garden space was enclosed by a number a discrete elements: the house itself, located at the north-east corner of the site well away from the stock of old trees, a separate garage to the south, and a wall along the road. The entrance to the house is via a projecting glass lobby, which acts as a buffer zone on the north face. The split-level ground floor with its open layout reflects the topography of the site. The different heights and proportions of the rooms and the visual links that are established create an exciting sequence of spaces, with interesting views to the outside. The house is oriented with its longitudinal axis along the slope of the site. This directional layout is stressed by the ridge line of the 35° pitched roof, the ridge glazing and central purlins, the single-flight staircase and the circulation route. Built in a conventional, solid form of construction, the house has 36.5 cm load-bearing outer walls in lightweight brickwork with insulating mortar and three-layer mineral plaster/rendering on both faces. The calm articulation of the façades – with narrow, room-height windows and small rectangular casements – accentuates the solid form of construction and creates an exciting interplay between open and closed areas. One important aim of the design was to use a modern idiom to establish a link to the traditional building forms of the area.