On the recommendation of other builders for whom Hatzius Sarramona Architects had already worked, the firm was commissioned to build a new home for a family of four. The family wanted a house that opened generously onto the garden and had an open ground floor without doors. In addition, there were to be three bedrooms, a sauna and a fireplace.

The plot of land available in Alstertal is rather small for this area, measuring 449 m², and is also not very deep, with only 12 m to the rear boundary. To make the best use of the plot, the architects designed an L-shaped building to create a sheltered garden area. The house, with two full storeys and an attic, now stands directly on the building line in line with the surrounding detached and semi-detached houses. These largely homogeneous existing buildings date mostly from the 1920s/1930s and are characterised by red brickwork. The new house was to be based on this in terms of materials and form, but reinterpret the design and adapt it to changed needs.

The office selected the materials with great attention to detail: the main façade consists of reddish thin-format water-struck bricks as a reference to the surroundings, but in a slightly lighter shade – giving it a lighter appearance. Scandinavian spruce wood with black paint was used on the ground floor to contrast with the brickwork and the structure of the overall volume. The roof is covered in a matt red colour, based on the façade brick, to give the main structure a monolithic appearance. The gutters, coverings and chimney are made of copper and reflect the colour of the façade.

Inside, oak windows, stairs and fixtures lend warmth to the rooms, complementing the materiality of the exposed concrete walls and cement-bound flooring. The seamless finish enhances the flowing spatial continuity of the open ground floor, which forms the centre of family life with its kitchen and living and dining areas. The upper floor has two bedrooms, a bathroom and a sauna. There is another bedroom and a studio in the attic. A partial basement houses a hobby room and technical equipment. The family has a total of 176 m² of living space, which is heated by geothermal energy.

www.hatziusarramona.net

Photography Credits:

Samuel Zuder
www.samuelzuder.com
Jörn Kux

(Featured in CUBE Hamburg 02|22)