Haus W Hamburg : Architecture

Kraus & Schönberg Garden elevation of upper floor with sunken in lower floor A young family wanted a house which would keep privacy and openness, precision and ambiguity in balance. The atrium / bookshelf connects the lower and upper floor The building is separated in an upper and a lower part. The upper volume consists of rooms of various heights according to their function and occupants. Bedrooms, the dressing room or bathrooms require different heights and project into the lower living areas. These so articulated spaces of the open plan lower ground floor define the public functions of the building without interrupting the flow of the space and the views into the garden. A variety of uses are imaginable. Planning stage Walking around the house takes you across a variety of rooms on the upper level, which are orientated to the garden as well as to the inner atrium. The numerous spaces and openings offer a freedom for the inhabitants to create new relationships between rooms and functions. They open up unexpected views through the building, which appears unbound and soft and feels interconnected with openings to each other. Lower ground living area with views into garden. The lower part of the house is bulit in exposed concrete, the upper volume consits of engineered timber The walls and floors of the individual upper rooms are built of CNC- cut prefabricated timber panels. The structure and the use of one material bind the building into one enveloping body emphasizing a softer type of privacy while being connected. View through upper floor. All spaces are open to each other and connected via the inner atrium