The assignment was to create a self-contained apartment unit in the garden of a remodeled house. It was necessary to tackle the view of the prefabricated blocks of flats opposite, avoid confrontation with the architecture of the origin house and refrain from designing the new house at the expense of garden areas.
Fragments of the remodeling of the original house served as a basis for the design: a forward-positioned concrete slab with a relocated exterior staircase, the wall by the entrance gate and parking slots defined by gabions. The existing walls from molded concrete blocks were fitted with a horizontal slab which became the main element in the spatial arrangement and the carrier of the principal motif – an avoid aperture. The slab serves as roof over and unifies a number of functions: garages and bicycle storage, access terrace with a lee side, the main living area, residential terrace, fence. The ovoid within the slab represents a focal point around which the new house revolves. The ego of the house is defined, not as an architectural space but rather the natural space of the origin garden.
The house proper is firmly defined by function blocks, a large entrance hall opens up into a study and the private zone. The private zone is divided into intimate and social areas. The intimate part is oriented towards the eastern facade with the terrace proper while the social part faces the garden atrium. A block-shaped kitchen is connected to the social area. The dining and living room are conceived as a conservatory. It also contains the symbol of home – a fireplace.
To compensate for the built-up area, a roof garden was created as a level corresponding to the apartment on the first floor of the remodeled house.