Deliberate limitation of the shapes, elements and materials used for an office and residential building in Berlin-Wannsee has created a variety of differentiated spaces and sensory impressions.

House on Heidestraße

The architect’s house in Berlin-Wannsee combines private family space and a studio in a carefully designed structure. The building, aligned to the street, manifests classic-modern design principles, coherence and transparency, clear form and restriction to timeless materials.

The compact polygonal structure fits snugly into the tree-lined site that narrows and slants towards the rear. The flank of the building follows the course of the acute-angled plot and allows for a generously sized open space in front of the terrace. Seen from the street, the brick-faced building appears as a straight-line, two-storey block. Here the ground floor is open to the centre of the building, behind which the architect’s office is located. On the upper floor the glass façade is set back and continued as a strip of windows. Beneath it, the façade is recessed and creates a covered entrance for the two separate living and working areas. The recessed, smooth-plastered, black-violet wall surface with floor-to-ceiling wooden doors and window reveals are an intensive counterpart to the iridescent brick façade.

Broad expanses of glass open the house to the rear garden and surrounding views, whereas the building is shielded from the nearby neighbouring house by thick masonry walls. With the same attention to detail, the outside area was designed as a visual extension of the interior space. The spatially separate garage creates an additional garden area and takes up the sloping contour of the house as a lateral boundary. Overall neutrality is thus preserved, while taking into consideration the relationship between the house and its environment.

On the inside, the living and working areas have been skilfully separated. The office embraces the ground floor and a daylight-suffused basement. The generous living space extends throughout the ground floor and is only interrupted by a wall slab with integrated fireplace. The family’s private bedrooms and living areas are located on the first floor.

Parquet floors in the office rooms, large-format natural stone surfaces in the continuous living area, natural stone and wooden fixtures in the bathrooms, ceiling-high windows and glazing strips with wooden reveals and exposed concrete stairs with fine steel balustrades on plastered walls testify to architecture with special attention to clear, timeless design.

Overall, the office and residential building in Berlin-Wannsee was constructed in a limited range of shapes, elements and materials. It exemplifies a love of simplicity with clear structural shapes that create a variety of spaces and sensory impressions.