House K

Bernau - a small town north-east of Berlin – is a popular choice of residence for young families as it has a good public transport connection to the capital. The landscape is flat and agricultural: fields, wind turbines and the television tower on Alexanderplatz still faintly visible on the horizon. The plot is located in a very heterogeneous neighbourhood with small houses, old farm buildings and 1970s East German pre-fab slabs.

The two-storey building has a very unique expression thanks to its hexagonal floor plan and flat roof. The structure is characterized by a set of load-bearing walls alternating with large-format window openings. It is a highly compact and specific building, providing generous flexible living areas within a small footprint.

The central core of kitchen, storage, toilet and stair is located on the ground floor and creates unique areas around it, with framed views of the surrounding landscape. The functional orthogonal layout of the core contrasts with the more fluid spaces of the hexagonal building form.

An open staircase leads to a gallery that is used as a home office and is connected via a double-height space to the living area below. In favour of the gallery, the size of the three bedrooms and two bathrooms was minimized on the upper floor.

The choice of materials creates an interesting tension between refined and rough surfaces: anodized aluminium, smooth interior plaster and lightly lacquered built-in furniture contrast with raw concrete, textured exterior plaster and oiled natural ash wood.

Floorplates and core were made using in-situ concrete. The architects deliberately avoided high demands on the exposed concrete, not only to save costs but also to obtain exciting, unpredictable surfaces with character. In contrast, there are the perfectly smooth white plastered interior walls and sharp edges of the aluminium window frames. The joints between different materials are celebrated with shadow gaps; dimensional tolerances are not hidden but honestly exposed.