Werkhaus Schütze

Gerswalde, Germany

Add To Collection

Other Projects by Thomas Kröger Architekten

Add To Collection

Werkhaus Schütze

Gerswalde, Germany

Firm

Thomas Kröger Architekten

Type

Residential › Private House

YEAR

2012

SIZE

5000 sqft - 10,000 sqft

Photos

Thomas Heimann (10)

Within the calm, undulating landscape of Gerswalde in Uckermark, northeast of Berlin, a new workshop houses not only the designs of Gerhard Schütze, but also the home of their creator. It has now been partly rebuilt and reconstructed for Gerhard Schütze, transforming it into a functional and coherent balance of home, workshop, and showroom aptly named Werkhaus.

The house was originally built in 1987 at Gerswalde in the Uckermark, northeast Berlin as a metal workshop and staff facilities for the local agricultural cooperative, LPG (Landwirtschaftliche Produktionsgenossenschaft). The transformation into the "Werkhaus" brings together the three volumes: a workshop, a showroom, and a one-story living area. The workshop is the only part in the entire building that reuses the original existing construction.

The entire building is covered with a new, green corrugated metal skin that rounds off at the eaves, softly transitioning between the roof and exterior walls, whilst it gently blends the house into the flat hills of Uckermark. The windows and factory store that bring sunlight into the interior and share views towards the gently undulating glaciated landscape beyond have perforated metal sheets in front, allowing them to almost disappear to the outside, seamlessly avoiding an interruption to the skin and shape of the building. Some of these windows (including the big gates of the workshop) open via a steel constructed mechanism. The gable ends are covered with a weathered larch, characterized by the surrounding barns.

The centrally located showroom mediates in height and shape between the living area and the workshop, coherently relating the two together. Here, the generously glazed room shares the view upon the landscape. In the two-story part of the house are the offices and lounge.

The constructive truss form here frames the glazing of the showroom and the black stained plywood ceiling, forming a cavernous space together with the raw untreated mastic asphalt floor.

Large space-forming wooden trusses frame the floor to ceiling glazing and are housed within a black stained plywood ceiling. The character of the crude elements in the middle of the showroom with the sunken fireplace, as well as the rock-like steps in to the chambers upstairs create a reminiscently archaic quality to the space. It is through this considered distillation and abstraction of the necessary functional living/working space that a sense of luxury can emerge.
The contrast between raw materials and fine, hand made finishes and details is celebrated throughout the entire interior design. This is most prominent in the sleep-alcove of the bedroom, which is fully lined inside with solid pine boards secured by wooden pegs on the substructure with minimal joints. These boards are also found in the lounge, the kitchen and the workshop as well as to disguise access to other areas in the building, all the while tying the three contrasting uses for the building together.

Product Spec Sheet

Were your products used?

Join as a manufacturer to add your products.

Collaborating Firms

Was your firm involved? Add it now.

Team

Were you involved? Add yourself.

Werkhaus Schütze

Gerswalde, Germany

Other Projects by Thomas Kröger Architekten

Tenne

Haus Pinnow

Werkhaus Schütze

Gerswalde, Germany

Product Spec Sheet

Collaborating Firms

Team

Keep Exploring Architizer by Creating a Free Account or Logging in.

Werkhaus Schütze

Gerswalde, Germany

Other Projects by Thomas Kröger Architekten

Tenne

Haus Pinnow

Werkhaus Schütze

Gerswalde, Germany

Product Spec Sheet

Collaborating Firms

Team