Transformation of a run-down historic landmark: the comprehensively renovated facades of a former farmstead in Riem, on the outskirts of Munich, conceal two separate units of about the same size – yet they are fundamentally different.
While in the southern half of the house the existing building substance – plank floors, wood walls and ceilings – with all its vestiges of the past been retained to the greatest possible extent, in the northern half, what was once the stall now holds an entirely new, surprising element: an exposed concrete cube rotated 45 degrees and set on edge has been inserted in the roof timbering.
Both apartments overlap and are affected in different ways by the concrete cube. In the southern half of the house, a great space and a minimalist bathroom – whose inclined ceiling and floor surfaces are determined by the cube’s walls – are added to the small existing living rooms. In the northern half of the house, space flows all the way from the entrance, via the different levels to the gallery and the bedrooms at the southern gable, and finally to the ridge.
While in the southern half of the house the existing building substance – plank floors, wood walls and ceilings – with all its vestiges of the past been retained to the greatest possible extent, in the northern half, what was once the stall now holds an entirely new, surprising element: an exposed concrete cube rotated 45 degrees and set on edge has been inserted in the roof timbering.
Both apartments overlap and are affected in different ways by the concrete cube. In the southern half of the house, a great space and a minimalist bathroom – whose inclined ceiling and floor surfaces are determined by the cube’s walls – are added to the small existing living rooms. In the northern half of the house, space flows all the way from the entrance, via the different levels to the gallery and the bedrooms at the southern gable, and finally to the ridge.