Pictures often tell more than words: this is also the case with the transformation process of a corner plot on which a 1980s estate house stood that could no longer be preserved and has now been rebuilt as a contemporary new build. Enlarged, rejuvenated, modern - unbelievably transformed. Architect Thomas Metzner came into contact with the owners of the property and their plans for a new building through a recommendation. It is a spacious plot, as is the case almost everywhere in the garden city-like districts on the outskirts of the city: detached houses at the front on the street and an even larger garden area behind.

The new house in Sendling stands on a corner plot in a row with a uniform design: detached or semi-detached houses with gardens - a purely residential area. The layout of the cube-shaped detached house with basement is classic: living on the first floor, sleeping on the second floor. The clients' primary wish was for light and clarity. The surface of the details had to be absolutely perfect, seamless and smooth. A flat roof was actually desired, but the design statutes for this district stipulated a pitched roof. The architect first analyzed the conditions on site: where do I come from, how does the sun shine, where are there special views? Where are the strengths, what makes the location unique? That was the matrix. Metzner then added the client's wishes, the room program, the materials to be used and the client's design ideas. Over several rounds of coordination, plans were made, discarded, rescheduled and started again from the beginning. The result is likely to even exceed some of the wishes: The façade of the house, built of brick walls and concrete ceilings, is plastered in a subtle gray as a single surface. A wall of the same color, a relic of the old building, separates the front of the property from the street. A man-high hedge to the side protects it from prying eyes. Dark, almost black metal gates form the entrance to the bicycle and tool shed and to the house. The entrance door is made of light chestnut wood, which contrasts with the gray. A rectangular "reading window" is integrated into the gable ends. You can see the wide seating area on the inside; on the outside, it is framed by a black wooden frame with a deep reveal. The other windows are smaller, some of them narrow and high or square. On the sides, the windows are set flush into the façade and also framed in black. There is still space in the garden for an elongated pool and a terrace. The structural engineers were challenged on the first floor, as the house has to manage without load-bearing interior walls or supports. As a result, the ceiling virtually hangs from the interior walls of the upper floor. In this area, the first floor becomes a glass house around the corner - floor-to-ceiling windows and sliding doors open up the otherwise rather closed building to the garden and pool. This "glass" area is where people live, eat and cook in a custom-made kitchen by Wiedemann. Another special feature is that the entire house - from the building services in the basement to the parents' area on the top floor - has a smoothed cement screed floor. And finally, the icing on the cake in the basement: a wellness area tiled with colorful Moroccan tiles, which are frequently found throughout the house.

www.thomasmetzner.eu

Photos:

Oliver Jaist
www.oliverjaist.com

(Published in CUBE Munich 02|21)