Steimle Architekten
E20 residential living
best architects 18 in Gold
single family homes
Place
Pliezhausen / Germany
Studio
Photos
Brigida González
Description
The striking residence, a monolith designed of insulating concrete, is located on a quiet street with little traffic in the village of Pliezhausen, a good 30 km south of Stuttgart. Facing the street, the new building presents only a few openings cut deeply into the solid concrete shell. While the crystal-shaped house still relates to the existing built context due to its parallel elongated sides, it contrasts distinctly with the neighbouring buildings by virtue of the tapered ends formed by its shorter sides. It is this oblique arrangement of the façades that enables the building to open out to the surrounding outdoor spaces and to offer its inhabitants unexpectedly expansive views into the distance.
»Structural clarity, focus on the essentials, modulation of light, material addition and haptic perception are determining factors of our architecture.«
A conventional gable roof and the gently rising terrain reinforce the angular, sculptural effect of the house, which is designed on a hexagonal ground plan. Upon entering the house through its entrance cut deep into the concrete mass, you first reach the garden room. From here, a single-flight stair leads up to the residential level. The quite narrow and high entrance area morphs into a space that opens upward but is clearly bounded by the multiple folds of the roof form: as you move through the house, constriction and expansion, enclosure and openness enter into an exciting, constantly shifting dialogue. In its minimalism and robustness, the insulating concrete is a monochrome, massive shell that defines the essence of the house both inside and outside.
steimle architekten
»We do not follow a strongly worded architectural philosophy. It is this freedom of thought, that still leaves philosophizing possible to encounter the possibility of the architecture and their tasks with the necessary respect and seriousness.«
