The Little Dark One

Weil der Stadt, Germany

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Other Projects by f m b architekten bda - Norman Binder, Andreas-Thomas Mayer

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The Little Dark One

Weil der Stadt, Germany

Firm

f m b architekten bda - Norman Binder, Andreas-Thomas Mayer

Type

Residential › Private House

STATUS

Built

YEAR

2014

SIZE

0 sqft - 1000 sqft

BUDGET

$100K - 500K

Sited at the edge of the small town Merklingen (Weil der Stadt), the small single-family house, impresses with it’s pure form, smart typology and compact volume.
The monochrome and umbra-grey plastered building creates a smooth transition to the landscape. The slim, the outside opening and flush-mounted windows and doors enlarge the space to the inside and intensify the shape of the building. The reduction in detail serves consciously the aestheticisation of the building and the focus to the essential.
On the site there was only one main-floor allowed by the German building law, so we had to cut the volume at the upper floor by one fourth to get a permissible top floor. The emerging roof terrace delivers a fabulous panorama sight to the unobstructable protected landscape.
The building operates like a “black-box-theatre” oriented to the nature and showing the spotlighted landscape.
We also tried to design a building which was - further to the input of the site and the wishes of the client - thought as an archetypical House for a young Family with two kids and a universal chamber (for work, hobby, guests, servants, a third child, old or care-dependent family members or just for storage place).
Excellent Sustainability was primarily reached by undercutting the hard German energy-laws about 15%, using a thermal water to air heat pump and designing a surface reduced building envelope made out of vertical coring brick.
The budget for the construction was at 300.000,- € including 19% taxes and about 19% planning costs.