Classic detached houses are a rare category among new builds in Berlin. There is simply no space in the city for Germans' favourite dream home project. Anyone who wants to fulfil this dream must move to the countryside or be lucky enough to get hold of a plot of land on the outskirts of a large city. This is the case with this magnificent property in the Katharinensee district of Berlin. The Hamburg-based firm Beissert + Gruss Architekten has built a monolithic residential building on a spacious plot of land. In addition to the old trees that characterise the location, the unique, unobstructed view over wide fields was a key feature. This ultimately shaped the design. The result is a black, sharp-edged solitaire whose clear geometries create a striking design and functional contrast to the gently rolling landscape.

Residents have access to an open and airy living space of 450 m² spread over two floors. An open floor plan allows the rooms to flow into one another, blurring the boundaries between the individual uses assigned to each room. This fluid connection in the interior also continues across the façade. Thanks to the generously glazed and openable façade, the interior interlocks with the scenic outdoor world described above. The large, partially floor-to-ceiling windows allow for maximum connection to nature with a seamless transition between inside and outside. In parts, this transition area is covered by the cantilevered building volume, creating an ambivalent intermediate area that offers space for outdoor living without being too exposed to the weather. In order to offer users an optimised view from the ground floor, the new building rests on a slightly raised base. On one side, this connects to street level and blends inconspicuously into the landscape. On the side of the building facing away from the street and towards the landscape, it also forms a large outdoor terrace that incorporates a pool. This pool was already the protagonist of the "Deadlines" series on ZDFneo, in which one of the main characters finds her fictional main residence at this location. A striking detail of the architecture are the two deep recesses on the ground floor, which define the entrance area on the street side and the outdoor terrace at the rear. In combination with the dark, slate-clad façade and the flush-mounted, black-profiled window openings, a characteristic look with a restrained, elegant appearance has been achieved. The so-called dynamic covering using heterogeneous natural stone slabs creates a scale-like skin that, depending on the weather, is sometimes wet, sometimes dry, sometimes reflective, sometimes absorbent, resulting in a wide variety of degrees of gloss. The interior of the black house is equally high-quality. The ground floor features a flowing, continuous space comprising a living room, kitchen and dining area. This dining area forms the two-storey centre of the building, which allows for visual connections between the levels from the upper floor through solid wood slats. The contrasting design with light-coloured exposed screed floors, wood-panelled walls and the all-black kitchen emphasises the powerful, material-oriented character of the architecture. The upper floor of the new building also houses the private bedrooms and a study. Here, too, the planners placed great importance on a timeless and high-quality design.

www.beissertgruss.de

Living space: 450 m²
Plot size: 1,250 m²
Construction period: 2019–2021
Construction method: Reinforced concrete shell with slate façade
Energy concept: Hybrid concept combining fossil fuels and renewable energies

Photography Credits:

Viktor Street
www.viktorstrasse.de

(Published in CUBE Berlin 02|22)