Projekt Wohnhaus / The Growing House | Anton Schweighofer
Germany | 1984 | soft form
| Address: | Manteuffelstrasse, Berlin |
| Work Type: | study |
| Location: | urban |
| Type of Building: | tenement / apartment house |
Description
Schweighofer's work is characterised by the aim to develop spaces that are functionally as indetermined as possible. This is either achieved through the provision of a series of rooms that are individually accessible from a central hall or corridor but can also be interconnected with one another (see the earlier Wohnhaus of 1982), or it is achieved through the provision of excess raw space that can be completed by their users. This project for a multi-storey apartment house in Berlin proposes a set of apartments that can adapt over time: the initial double height space can be filled in with an additional platform to realise an additional storey. Over a period of time a one-storey double height one-bedroom apartment can be sequentially transformed into a two-storey four room maisonette. The future upper level is implied through beams at regular intervals. Onto these beams, floors can be laid so that a range of spatial arrangements - horizontally as well as vertically - are possible. A 49 m2 apartment can therefore be changed into a space of 97 m2, which can be used as an open loft space, a tightly built in conventional apartment on two levels or as a live and work combination.
The unit would be costly initially, both because of its relatively low site usage and also because one is paying for excess space in the first instance.References
Kühn, C., ed., Anton Schweighofer: a quiet radical: buildings, projects, concepts, Wien: Springer, 2001.
Lampugnani, V. M., 'Un Immeuble Berlinois', Architecture d'aujourd'hui, 1983, pp. 33-34.
Sartoris, A., 'Anton Schweighofer: Arbeiten aus den Jahren 1984-1989', Bauforum, 22, 1989, pp. 7-40.
Schweighofer, A., 'Zentralraum als "Küchenwerkstatt"', werk, bauen + wohnen, 1984, pp. 28-35.