A young family wanted to fulfill their dream of owning their own home - originally in an old pitched-roof house. However, this would have had to be extensively renovated. The Ratingen-based architects Lücker Beckmann came to the conclusion that a new build would be the better option and developed it in such a way that it took up the classic pitched-roof house architecture and yet modified it.

The clients wanted a modern, open-plan living concept, combined with the ability to flexibly separate individual areas and zones. At the same time, they wanted everything to feel spacious and expansive. The first preliminary building application for a single-storey building with a high kneeling storey and flat pitched roof was rejected by the building authorities - the difference to the eaves heights of the neighboring buildings was too great. In order to still create enough space for the family on the narrow plot, the architects developed a building with a gable facing the street and a first floor. This was fitted with an asymmetrically offset top floor with different roof pitch angles and two roof extensions facing south-east. This resulted in a tailor-made residential building - with around 230 m² of living space and flexibly separable functional zones. On the first floor is the flowing living and dining area with floor-to-ceiling window fronts and a view of the garden. The street-facing kitchen is also connected to this area, but can also be separated using sliding elements. The dining table is also given a special accent as the center of family life: above it, a large vertical air space opens up into the sloping roof of the top floor with three roof windows as skylights. On the upper floor, a well-lit gallery connects the parents' wing with the two children's rooms. Both areas have their own bathroom in the sloping roof - the one for the parents is somewhat more spacious and has an adjoining dressing room. Thanks to a dormer window cut into the gable, the master bedroom also has a charming view of the garden. Wood played a key role in the interior design of the house: both the parquet flooring and the staircase are made of solid oak three-layer planks. The staircase harp and the front door were also made of oak according to the architects' designs. Heat is generated by an air heat pump with underfloor heating, while the ventilation system works with heat recovery. A KNX system provides smart control of all components.

www.lbarchitekten.de

Photos:

Philip Kistner
www.philipkistner.com

(Published in CUBE Düsseldorf 04|23)