The building plot is located on the edge of the Meerbusch district of Lank-Latum. The clients, a married couple with two children, wanted a compact house with views of the garden and the neighboring lake. It was to be flooded with light, with large window elements that could be moved to the terraces, and designed in a modern, minimalist design language that was not too purist or artificial. One thing was clear from the outset: Corten steel - naturally weathered by a rust-red oxidation layer - was to play a special role in the design.

DDJ Döring Dahmen Joeressen Architekten from Düsseldorf, who were entrusted with the commission, developed a design for the relatively narrow, but all the more elongated plot that links the two building volumes of the house and double garage with the help of an elongated wall. The two volumes are kept compact and reduced to a clear, cubic geometry - only on the garden side does the structure of the house project slightly, forming a canopy and shading the southern glass front. The main feature of the design is the elongated connecting wall, which is accentuated by solid, floor-to-ceiling Corten steel panels. The panels continue all the way to the garage, where they can be moved via a mechanical control system to also function as a garage door. In terms of design strategy, the wall divides the interior and exterior spaces into two completely separate areas: this allows an open-air seating area to be created in the immediate vicinity of the entrance area that is cut out of the building structure and cannot be seen. The dominant wall is continued in the interior of the building - here in a dark metallic look, without the outer oxidation layer. The wall is positioned behind the central staircase, separating the cooking and dining area from the entrance and staircase area. The end of the wall is marked by the free-standing, vertical element of the fireplace: From this central point of the house, the views fan out to both sides of the wall, out into the three gardens, which are all designed differently. The greatest challenge for the architects was to integrate the required room program into a flowing floor plan and to give the rooms a spacious character. Even from the entrance, which is screened off from the street, there is a central view through the house into the garden. On the first floor, there is a small entrance hall with checkroom and guest WC as well as a central utility and technical room with the heat pump. On the upper floor, there is a study and two children's bedrooms, linked by a bathroom. On the garden side, a separate parents' wing opens up across the entire width of the building, connected to a dressing room and master bathroom. The various living areas have been deliberately differentiated in their choice of materials: The outer façade shell with light-colored clinker bricks finds its counterpart in the light-colored polished exposed screed floor. The anthracite-coloured kitchen block and the kitchen unit clad in red-brown rosewood fronts provide color accents.

www.ddj.de

Photos:

Manos Meisen
www.manosmeisen.de

(Published in CUBE Düsseldorf 02|22)