Modersohn & Freiesleben Architekten

Description

A single-family home in Pankow was to be extended with a pavilion. The client wanted not only a larger living area, but also a room in which to display his East Asian sculptures. Within a square floor plan with 10.85-metre sides, eight round pillars arranged in an octagon carry a flat roof with a deep overhang. It serves as a sunshade for the fully glazed structure. Foregoing walls and exhibiting a minimum of building elements and materials – exposed concrete, white terrazzo, glass and dark grey aluminium frames – the pavilion becomes a living space that occupies a sphere somewhere between inside and outside. As the pavilion has a sunken floor, its higher ceilings are nonetheless level with those of the house. Regardless of how much the architectural language of the new extension differs from that of the older building, uniform alignment and dimensions as well as a common axis of symmetry create a harmonious connection.