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Architects: Christian Tonko
- Area: 300 m²
- Year: 2020
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Photographs:Leonhard Hilzensauer
Text description provided by the architects. The Courtyard House sits on an eastern slope of the Lower Rhine Valley. Designed for a couple who desired to live on a single level all living spaces are arranged around a courtyard including a swimming pool. The courtyard is enclosed by the building itself on three sides while the slope and vegetation provide the fourth wall. This main floor rests in part on columns and in part on a socle which comprises two additional floors including a self-contained apartment.
The lowest level contains the garage and infrastructural spaces. The intermediate level provides the main entrance for visitors besides the extra flat with its own entrance. The plan of the main floor has a U-shaped layout: kitchen on the southern side, living area on the western side, sleeping and bathrooms on the northern side creating an open and light-filled spatial continuum.
The building shows two distinctly different faces. Towards the valley, it appears as two fairly minimalist boxes clad in brushed aluminium and copper while the courtyard elevation pays homage to mid-century modernism albeit being set in a moderate climate.
This twofold orientation enables a great variety of unique views of the surroundings as well as of other parts of the building itself. The field of view reaches the horizon and nonetheless, a great sense of intimacy and privacy prevails.
