At first glance, you might think this villa is somewhere on the Mediterranean. You could almost hear the sound of the sea and feel the warm sun - but far from it. This house is located near Hamburg, where a stiff breeze likes to blow. The view here is of the dyke and the vast, fertile Elbe marshland beyond. With its clearly modernist architectural language characterized by clear lines, this building differs considerably from the surrounding, more traditional thatched-roof houses. The villa caused a stir right from the start of construction. Perched on a small hill, this building wants to be seen! The bold design was created by SKAI Siemer Kramer Architekten Ingenieure.

Access is from the west. A hidden ramp leads to the underground parking garage and offers space for around ten vehicles of the passionate car collector. Approaching on foot, two different structures are clearly visible. Like yin and yang, i.e. two polar opposites that are simultaneously related to each other, an open volume with lots of glass surfaces and a light-colored plaster façade meets a rather closed, solid-looking cube clad in dark clinker brick. There is a kind of gap between the two structures, with the wooden door extending over two storeys separating and connecting them at the same time. The different materials of the façades are continued into the interior, with the staircase being the focal point of the building. With the two cube-shaped halves of the house, the architects have also created two opposite poles for use, which satisfy both the need for peace and quiet and the desire for brightness and openness.

The largely closed façade to the north forms a supporting backdrop for the office, guest toilet, fireplace lounge and ancillary rooms on the first floor and bedrooms on the upper floor. On the south side, on the other hand, generous, ceiling-high, partly two-storey glass surfaces open up the house to the garden with a large pool and allow the inside and outside to merge. The heart of the house is the spacious living room with a ceiling height of 7.15 meters. A recessed gallery leads to further rooms on the upper floor. The open-plan kitchen with direct access to the terrace is almost secondary here. All-glass railings also give the upper rooms maximum transparency and allow an unrestricted view of the selected plants and steps in the high-quality garden. This is the perfect place for cozy barbecue evenings with friends. It's clear: even in northern Germany behind the dyke, a house can convey a feeling of vacation in sunny climes.

Living space: approx. 500 m² (plus approx. 135 m² of terraces and balconies)
Plot size: approx. 3,601 m²
Construction period: 3/2017-6/2018
Construction method: Solid construction, reinforced concrete, masonry, white rendered façade and clinker brick facing (anthracite)
Energy concept: Heating and hot water provided by gas condensing boiler

www.skaioffice.de

Photos:

Bernadette Grimmenstein
www.grimmenstein.de
Frieder Blickle for ERCO
www.friederblickle.de

(Published in CUBE Hamburg 01|20)