The house was built on a regular plot of 850m2 in a small border village in Mecklenburg (Germany). Typical rural buildings with steep roofs prevail near the main road, while in the second building line, on the outskirts of the village, landscape is more diverse and chaotic. The plot neighbours farm buildings and garages with various forms of roofs. It allowed to hide a small one-story building with a flat roof in the greenery growing at the plot border. Trees by the road marked the entrance, and those growing at the northern border provided a dense, dark background for the black low-rise building.
The house does not have a garage, but a six-meter overhang providing comfortable parking for two cars in front of the building. A small technical room allows to hide all the necessary things for the home and garden.
The masonry, reinforced concrete and steel structure was covered with black steel profiles that blends into the dark tree trunks. The rhythm of the slats beautifies the monolithic block and allows to hide two steel pillars that supports the overhanging roof.
From the very beginning, the investor consistently implemented the idea, proposed by the designer, of covering aluminum window joinery muntins for maximum lighting of the interior. Almost all window frames have been hidden behind the wooden cladding elements on the interior walls and behind the lowered ceiling. In this way, using traditional lift&slide windows with wide profiles, the maximum view without visible frames was achieved.
The design skillfully inscribed a bold, modern block into the rural landscape, without aggressive destruction of the surrounding space. Despite many controversial decisions, it was very well accepted by the investor, the local administration and community.
Author - arch. Karol Nieradka
Photo - Sylwia Gudaczewska