Hurst Song Architekten

Description

In the Rhine Valley beneath the Calanda Massif, the new apartment building stands in the centre of Untervaz, on the site of a former dairy. The building is intended to revitalise the village centre through a house that fits into the dense fabric of the village. Existing building lines are continued and clearly define the street space. Thanks to direct access to the underground carpark via the driveway of a neighbouring building, traffic around the house is minimised. A quiet, attractive courtyard has been created, which shapes the immediate surroundings as a green outdoor space. The loggias, conceived as a semi-public room, face the street, promoting informal social contact. Eight apartments are directly accessible from Hintergasse via a centrally lit staircase. With clearly structured floor plans and generous living spaces, the apartments are oriented in at least two directions and are divided into a day and night area. The exterior walls of single-stone masonry are designed as a perforated façade with floor-to-ceiling windows and railings of galvanised expanded metal. A homogeneous appearance is created by a very coarse-grained exterior render whose trowel application lends the surface a special optical depth. Depending on the incidence of sunlight, a strongly iridescent effect is created, additionally accentuated by the embellishing dark paint and dry brush technique. The pronounced plinth of bush-hammered in-situ concrete, together with various other in-situ concrete components, gives the house a high architectural value.