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Architects: Titus Bernhard Architekten
- Area: 354 m²
- Year: 2021
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Photographs:Connolly Weber Photography
Text description provided by the architects. House ES was built in 2021 on a tree-lined plot of land not far from Munich. The new construction addresses the theme of simplicity/complexity. An initially simple, elongated cube is formed into a habitable sculpture solely through subtraction from the volume.
The incisions do not follow design considerations alone, but more importantly, outline the essential functional zones. Partly orthogonal, and partly oblique, they break up the otherwise closed volume. By following the complex incidence of light while taking into account the daily and seasonal variations, they impart dynamism to the once simple cube.
The most distinctive incision extends over the entire height of the house, opening the compact volume in a U-shape towards the south. The resulting light-flooded rooms on both the ground and the upper floor are connected by a longitudinal access zone that runs along the incision. Inside, the house is characterized by the generosity of its spatial sequences.
The large openings further emphasize the connection to the outside. The garden and the magnificent trees on the property become palpable indoors. In the basement, there is a separate, externally accessible granny flat.
To support the sculptural design, two different plaster textures were used. The outer shell is finished with a high-quality, white mineral plaster with a grain size of three millimeters on mineral wool insulation. In contrast, a very fine-grained Carrara marble plaster was applied to the incised wall surfaces. Thus, House ES fits seamlessly into the series of white, neo-modern villas by Titus Bernhard Architects.
Aesthetics and sustainability were merged according to the client's wishes. House ES’s primary energy supply is provided by district heating from geothermal sources and meets the KfW 55 standard. The radical minimalism, meticulously executed down to the smallest detail, required precise craftsmanship.