HAUS+

Status: completed 2009
Location: Hameln, Germany
Size: 124m² / 234m² living area before / after
Program: single-family house renovation and addition
Awards: Shortlisted for the Archdaily Building of the Year Award 2009

The site is located in a dense neighbourhood from the 1950s with typical “Siedlungshäuser”, very common in Germany.
The location close to the city center as well as the existing wild garden with a huge old birch tree were unbeatable qualities versus the alternative to choose a plot in a new suburb.
It all started with a wish list. For him the new house had to be modern. It should have generous openings and exterior spaces that connect to the garden. She aspired for comfort and cosiness. She envisioned her new home first of all as an interior space, as protection from the outside world. The house should look discreet and typical with a pitched roof and radiate domesticity at first glance.
We decided not to demolish the old rundown house, but to renovate it and upgrade it with an innovative addition.

The new 110m² extension is conceived as a simple volume that embraces the old. Wrapped around the old building, it generates a courtyard typology with a covered terrace, which opens up to the garden and towards the sun. A variety of spatial configurations and fluent transitions from inside to outside make the house appear open, yet not transparent. Haus+ negotiates between the opposite architectural aspirations of the clients by forming an interesting contrast between old and new with its unique, yet strangely familiar form.

The existing building with a living area of 75m² on ground level was completely gutted in favour of more ample and clear spatial proportions. The dining area was converted into a generous double-height space that catches the sunlight through two skylights. At the cost of one room on the upper floor a whole concrete ceiling panel was removed.

The living room in the new part of the house features a cabinet wall that offers storage space, while a linoleum-lined niche serves as a window seat. On the opposite site a large sliding door connects the living room to the inner courtyard.

Horizontal panels in several different widths enclose the new addition with its white plastered courtyard like a protective coil. The copper glows in warm colours, which change continuously with the weather and the years. After the renovation the old “Siedlungshaus” is barely recognizable, but it still remains an integrative part of the surrounding neighbourhood. Without its former roof overhang the plain volume of the existing house steps into the foreground. The roof edge is shaped by a folded copper strip, which is flush-mounted with the white plastered walls. This clarity is further emphasized by flush-mounted windows with slim black wood-aluminium frames.
The white plaster and the copper form a contrasting alliance, that leaves old and new as distinct equal parts of the whole. Towards the street a low exposed concrete wall and an offset natural stone wall mark the edge of the site and bind everything into one unity.

The courtyard is the biggest “room” of the whole house. Its layout allows for direct sunlight as well as shade at any time of the day. Part of the terrace is covered; two large openings frame the views into the garden, while an exposed concrete wall offers protection against too much transparency.

 

As the existing building was in its original state of 1957, we opted for a gut renovation of the building envelope and its services, in order to make it energy efficient and sustainable. The exterior walls were covered in a composite heat insulation system out of mineral fibreboards, and all openings were fitted with new high-standard wood-aluminium windows. The old roof structure was saved but the rafters were doubled-up in order to gain more space for a thick insulation layer. The old dormer was replaced by a new one; insulated and clad in copper. The ceiling of the cellar was subsequently outfitted with insulating boards. The extension has a back-ventilated facade with 14cm of mineral wool insulation and highly-insulating aluminium windows. Furthermore the extension has a green roof; the rain water is collected in a cistern and is reused
These features classify the project with primary energy requirements of 70 kWh/m²a as a low-energy house. The whole house is equipped with radiant floor heating; a geothermal heat pump supplies warm water.

Construction March 2008 - April 2009.

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