Hasta La Ideas

Following our story about Shigeru Ban’s apartments secured by rolling metal shutters, here’s a concrete house near Stuttgart that can be sealed with sliding screens.

Located in the Esslingen district, the three-storey House KW by German architects Käß Hauschildt is nestled against a sloping meadow overlooking an orchard.

A concrete staircase connects multipurpose ground floor rooms with first floor living areas and second floor bedrooms.

Concrete ceilings are exposed throughout the house.

See also: our earlier story about a house that becomes a fortress by night.

Photography is by Antje Quiram.

Here’s some more information from the architects:

Home for a family of 4, the house is located on the outskirts of the development area “Mittlere Rosselen” in Esslingen near Stuttgart, Germany.

Sloping down in east-west orientation, the hillside property is merging into the surrounding meadow orchards with their old trees.

Being three-storey facing the residential road, the building is two-storey only on the garden side.

The house is entered on ground floor level.

Stairs lead from the entrance hall to the living area on the first floor where kitchen, living and dining room are arranged as a round trip around the central staircase.

The large windows offer superb views over the surrounding meadows and allow nature into the rooms.

The second floor accommodates bedroom, children’s rooms and bathroom.

Despite the compact floor plan, vista across the complete building length create a generous impression of the rooms.

Building construction has been implemented using a minimum of trades and materials.

On the outside the building shows a rough concrete skin with precisely cut in openings.

As such a self-supporting facade it is, in comparison to alternative materials, particularly sturdy and timeless.

The interior is defined by white plaster block walls and exposed concrete ceilings and stairs.

Doors, build-in furniture and kitchen are white and blend in unobtrusively with the rooms.

See also:

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Safe House by Robert Konieczny	House in Kohgo by Yutaka Yoshida	Hiedaira House by Thomas Daniell

After hours, rolling metal shutters fasten across these New York apartments designed by Japanese architect Shigeru Ban.

Surrounded by art galleries in a West Chelsea neighbourhood, the Metal Shutter Houses rise above a gallery on the ground floor.

The eleven-storey block contains eight duplex apartments, each with balconies facing the street.

Activated by a motor, individual perforated shutters slide over each balcony to entirely conceal the glazed facades of the apartments behind.

A central elevator provides access to the apartments, which each have private lobbies before their front doors.

Early renderings of the building were published on Dezeen back in 2007 – see our earlier story to compare.

Another recently featured Shigeru Ban project was a temporary housing block made from shipping containers – see all our stories about Shigeru Ban here. The block also shares fortress-like characteristics with a Polish house featured on Dezeen last month.

Photography is by Michael Moran.

Here are some more details from the architects:

Metal Shutter Houses

Location

The Metal Shutter Houses, designed by the internationally renowned Japanese architect, Shigeru Ban, are located on the south side of West 19th Street, between 10th and 11th Avenues in West Chelsea’s art gallery district, steps away from the High Line, the Hudson River, Chelsea Piers, and the Hudson River Park. The block offers a bold display of the new New York: the Frank Gehry-designed IAC Headquarters are next door and Jean Nouvel’s 100 11th is across the street. Low-profile warehouse buildings throughout the neighborhood allow for long city views, including the Empire State building, from each floor of the Metal Shutter Houses.

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Building

This marks the first new construction condominium residences in the United States by Ban. Known for his “poetic” architectural style, Ban has tailored what could be characterized as contextual invention to this unique 11 story structure. Such highly sensitive ingenuity has been seen in some of his previous house designs, such as the Curtain Wall House (Tokyo, Japan), the Paper House (Yamanashi, Japan), and more recently, the Furniture House 5 (Sagaponac, New York). While Ban’s work is continually so inventive that one cannot generalize his “look,” the Metal Shutter Houses’ variable façade demonstrates Ban’s fascination with use of unusual materials (or use of common materials in new contexts) and mobility of parts, often inspired by the simplicity of traditional Japanese architecture as well as the modern lines of the International school.

The Metal Shutter Houses is a dynamic building. The façade’s motorized perforated metal shutters serve as light-modulating privacy screen at the outer edge of each residence’s terrace adjacent to the double-height living rooms. This subtle “removable skin” echoes the neighboring gallery after-hours shutters, subtly contextualizing the building within its site. The building can literally become a uniform minimal cube, or it can open completely (as well as virtually unlimited permutations between). South of the loggia, twenty foot tall, upwardly pivoting open completely, thus blurring the boundary between the inside and outside – the double height living room and loggia become one. Similarly, a series of interior sliding glass doors create an open “universal floor” in each of the duplex houses – one vast and uninterrupted expanse which transitions seamlessly from inside to outside, or partition the space into private areas.

Residences

» 11 stories featuring 8 duplex houses, an art gallery and lobby on the ground floor.
» 3 three-bedroom “single-bay” duplex houses with 1,949 sq. ft. interior space (including the 80 sq. ft. double height loggia) and two 70 sq. ft. south balconies.
» 3 four-bedroom “double-bay” duplex houses with 2,700 sq. ft. interior space (including the 160 sq. ft. loggia) and two 93 sq. ft. south balconies.
» 1 five-bedroom East West house with 4,644 sq. ft. interior space with 47’ wide living room (including the 240 sq.ft. double height loggia), two 70 sq.ft and two 93 sq.ft, south balconies.
» 1 four-bedroom “triple bay” duplex penthouse with 3,319 sq. ft. interior space, 750 sq. ft.¹ north entertainment terrace, 162 sq. ft. master bedroom terrace, two 137 sq. ft.¹ south balconies and 677 sq. ft. exclusive roof deck with garden shed.

Residence features

» All units are floor through duplexes.
» Private elevator vestibule.
» Solid ¾” quarter sawn 4½” white oak flooring throughout living areas.
» North, South and West (select residences) exposures.
» Great room with double height 20’ceiling –ideal for displaying large works of art.
» Shigeru Ban designed perforated metal shutters to enclose loggia – allowing for adjustable light control and privacy.
» 20’ floor-to-ceiling upward pivoting glass walls allow for great light air, views, and a seamless transition to double height outdoor space.
» Flexible use library/bedroom 3 or 4 with balcony and sliding glass walls.
» Highly flexible lower level entertaining floor — the sliding glass walls provide seamless access from the rear library terrace all the way to the double height terrace in the front, or close for privacy.
» Study overlooking double height living room with Ban designed white lacquer desk in matte finish (select residences).
» Floor-to-ceiling white lacquer cabinetry in matte finish custom designed by Shigeru Ban provides unique and ample storage space in living areas and bedrooms.
» Shigeru Ban designed die cast Aluminum door levers by Oshima in white zincart finish.
» Radiant floor heating in double height living room.
» High performance 4 pipe fan coil heating and air conditioning (multi-zoned) for year round individual control and comfort.
» Cable/satellite television ready, CAT 6 telecommunications wiring throughout each unit.
» Miele washer and dryer.

Team

Design architects: Shigeru Ban Architects + Dean Maltz Architect
Interiors: Shigeru Ban Architects + Dean Maltz Architect
Executive Architect: Montroy DeMarco, LLP
Developers: HEEA Development LLC, a development of Spiritos Properties and Klemens Gasser
Exclusive Marketing &
Sales Agent: Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group

Address: 524 West 19th Street, New York, NY 10019

See also:

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Multi-storey temporary housing by Shigeru Ban	Dellis Cay villas by Shigeru Ban	Dezeen interviews Shigeru Ban

Both weddings and council assemblies take place beneath the double gabled-roof of this hall at the medieval centre of a German village (photography by Roland Halbe).

Designed by architects Glück+Partner, the three-storey Townhall Schefflenz is clad in grey fibre-cement on both the roof and walls.

The multipurpose hall that occupies the second floor can be partitioned to divide the wedding chamber from the council hall, or opened out to accommodate town assemblies.

Individual offices on the ground and first floors surround central lobbies.

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The building replaces a demolished 1960s structure on the site, between a church and a market square.

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Photographer Roland Halbe has photographed several buildings recently featured on Dezeen, including a hotel with an extreme cantilever – see all our projects featuring Roland Halbe’s photography here.

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Other buildings from the Dezeen archive clad in fibre cement include a house in the Dominican Republic based on Euclidean geometry and another in Bavaria enveloped by corrugated panels.

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More information is provided by the architects:

New Townhall Schefflenz Germany

The central part of Schefflenz (Mittelschefflenz) where the new townhall is located, is a densely built scattered village (Haufendorf) of medieval origin. A historically grown set of irregular houses with steep gabled roofs characterizes the appearance of the township of Schefflenz.

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The new townhall in the center of Schefflenz replaces a 1960s building. It brings together administrative functions in one large building that had been previously spread over three different smaller buildings.

In order to integrate the large town hall structure into a neighbourhood made up of smaller buildings, the architects selected a building type with two narrow gables (instead of one big gable.) The new town hall is located right next to the protestant church on one side and the historic market square on the other. As a result of the arrangement of the streets – they form an oblique angle – the building takes up a slightly rhomboid-shaped area. Through its specific shape, the new building blends in well with the surrounding historic houses while at the same time it meets all the requirements of a modern office building. The uniformity of the material for both the roof and the façade gives the building a monolithic character; it attributes the traditional form an almost abstract quality. The town hall façade with its staggered windows and golden shining window frames invoke the punctuated façades of many of the surrounding houses.

The ground floor is made up of double-loaded rooms, the most important feature being a spacious central hall. The gallery on the first floor runs around the open-space. It’s design is that of a classical atrium with surrounding galleries and offices. The attic floor combines the availability of a large space – the citizens’s assembly hall (Bürgerssal) stretches across the whole floor – with the unique experience of the double gable interior. The assembly hall can be subdivided into two spaces: the council hall (Ratssaal) and a wedding chamber (Trauzimmer).

In terms of its structure, the Schefflenz town hall brings together reinforced concrete components on the inside with a highly insulated wooden frame construction and premounted elements on the exterior. As a result of its design and the materials used, the Schefflenz town hall is a “green building”: it is an efficient as well as a resource-efficient construction that will help to conserve fossil energy sources.

This goal is achieved for once by the compact design of the town hall and the use of geothermal energy. Other contributing factors include the thermal activation of building units for heating and cooling, a monitored ventilation system, and a heating system with heat recovery.

See also:

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Arribe Ataio townhall by Vaumm	Tallinn City Hall by BIG	Lalìn Townhall by Mansilla+Tuñón

Le cabinet Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill ont pensé cet impressionnant Wuhan Greenland Center. Situé dans la ville chinoise de Wuhan, cette tour de 606 mètres de haut contiendra à la fin de sa construction dans 5 ans : 119 étages de bureaux, d’appartements de luxe ainsi qu’un hôtel.

Previously on Fubiz

• Filip Dujardin Architecture
• HG House
• House in the Outskirts

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A Picasso painting inspired this cliff-top house near Sydney by architects Durbach Block Jaggers.

Above photo is by Brett Boardman

The curved forms of the kitchen and living room, which project over the sea supported by four angled stilts, are derived from the torso of Picasso’s The Bather.

Above photo is by Anthony Browell

The two-storey Holman House was completed atop the 70 metre-high cliff at Dover Heights back in 2004.

Above photo is by Brett Boardman

Stone walls surround bedrooms on the ground floor, which nestle against the rock face.

Above photo is by Brett Boardman

Terraces surrounding the house at different levels provide two patios, a top floor garden and a lower level swimming pool.

This project is the third Australian house published on Dezeen in the last week, following one residence with an oversailing glass roof and another that incorporates cantilevering concrete slabs – see all our stories about projects in Australia here.

Photography is by Peter Bennetts, apart from where otherwise stated.

Here’s some more information from the architects:

Holman House
Dover Heights, Sydney

Sited on the edge of a 70-metre high cliff, the plan of Holman House refers to Picasso’s painting The Bather.

It contains a complex series of fluid living spaces set within a meandering perimeter that arcs, folds and stretches in response to sun, landscape and views.

Above photo is by Reiner Blunck

Living and dining areas cantilever out over the ocean, allowing dramatic views up and down the coast.

Above photo is by Reiner Blunck

The lower floor forms a base that is built from rough stone walls like an extension of the cliff below.

These walls continue along the cliff edge to form a series of eccentric terraced gardens and a vase-shaped rock pool.

Above photo is by Brett Boardman

Architects: Durbach Block Architects

Above photo is by Brett Boardman

Project team: Neil Durbach, Camilla Block, David Jaggers, Lisa Le Van, Joseph Grech, Adrian Gessner

Completion: February 2004

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See also:

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Casa 11 Mujeres by Mathias Klotz	Urezkoenea House by Peña Ganchegui	D House by Panorama