‘A house just like a holiday’

Located in Berlin, House W was designed by MNPa€™s ADLS 08.10.2007, Pott Architects, for a young family of four seeking a flexible home that would evolve with their family over time. The objective was a house ‘that would function like a living thing and would have a place for all the bits and pieces that make up everyday life…a friendly house, with special places for feeling at peace and secure’.

Alright - all that’s well and good, but let’s focus on the most interesting aspects of the house: it’s exterior, and it’s relationship to the site/ground plane. The vertical bands of windows give an interesting striping to the exterior, while their going from floor to roof creates a real sense of openness in the house - and brings in a ton of natural light.

In terms of the overall massing, the house looks as if it’s crawling over some kind ditch - maybe it has something to do with trying to create a house that ‘would function like a living thing’? You seem to enter by moving down the staircase shown above, moving inside below grade. There is then a staircase [shown below] that brings you through a hole in the underside of the creature that is the house - and into the open family/public spaces.

Strangeness aside - I think the house is pretty siiick. Its individual and distinct while being successful in providing the family with everything they wanted and needed in a home. And Pott definitely achieved their goal of creating a house that stands out in these ‘times of standard-pattern pre-assembled housing units’.

.:images, info + quotes via Pott Architects->

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