A semi-detached house is not exactly the kind of building project that architects dream of. It's not just that the cubature of the neighboring building limits the design options in principle. The often outdated development plans also impose a tight corset of restrictions that are usually difficult to escape. Nevertheless, Georg Döring Architekten from Düsseldorf took up the challenge and created a small spatial miracle in Lörick, turning a modest starting point into something big.

The manageable plot, which already bordered on an existing neighbouring house, is located in a residential area characterized by rural, small-scale old buildings. This is complemented by semi-detached houses, which were made possible by a recent amendment to the development plan. The facade and roof materials to be used were also specified, as was the arrangement of the outdoor facilities. The house meets these external specifications with its light gray clinker brick façade, wooden windows and a roof covered with concrete roof tiles. Almost all of the building materials are recyclable. More than the external appearance, however, the aim was to create spacious, exciting and highly functional interior spaces for a young family. The building comprises just under 240^m2 of usable space - divided into a basement with a guest apartment and ancillary rooms, a first floor living area that flows seamlessly into a terrace with an outdoor pool, and an attic floor with bedrooms, a study and a bathroom with a free-standing bathtub and sauna. The surprising and immediately eye-catching feature is the central air space that opens up below the ridge and connects the living level with the rooms on the upper floor. Large window openings in the façade as well as in the interior walls create an intensive relationship between the rooms and make the house appear airy and delicate from the inside. The roof terrace located on the air space, which provides a small glazed patio for enjoyable hours of sunshine in the afternoon, further reinforces this impression: the window openings on one axis also create exciting views into the depths of the house on the upper floor - from the street, through the study and bedroom into the garden. This creates a lush interior flooded with daylight, which has a high aesthetic quality enhanced by the seasonally changing light and shadow effects - a small spatial wonder that strengthens the character of the house.

www.doering-architekten.de

Photos:
Michael Reisch
www.michaelreisch.com

(Published in CUBE Düsseldorf 04|24)