KAWAHARA KRAUSE ARCHITECTSKKA

The new façade of the Besenbinderhof is a clearly structured element façade. Prefabricated concrete elements are hung in a grid of 3.2 metres. Compared to the existing façade, the seemingly larger grid creates a visually generous impression. In between, ceramic elements cover the 1.6 metre grid of the existing building and give the new façade depth and rhythm. The width of the concrete elements decreases on the upper floors, gently zoning the overall façade into a base and an upper area.

The intersections of the vertical and horizontal elements are articulated, their surface texture stands out from the other elements. The interplay of the elements, their dimensions and arrangement create a new tectonic clarity. The stone slabs from the existing façade are removed and directly reused as high-quality floor and wall panelling for the new entrance hall. The resulting stone chippings are added to the new concrete façade as an aggregate. The new façade is thus reminiscent of its predecessor.

The new façade derives its decorative character primarily from the surface texture of the materials. It consists of concrete blocks coloured in a light brown-beige, whose formwork creates a roughly structured surface similar to embossing. However, the pattern by the formwork, which is always the same for economic reasons, is given an always different appearance by adding the stone chippings from the existing façade. A high-strength concrete is to be used, which allows significantly lower material thicknesses and thus material savings. It does not require reinforcement, which increases future recyclability.

As part of an ideas competition for floor plans for a linear building block with a north-south orientation, a strong basic structure was proposed that is easy to build and transferable to other projects. On the one hand, it should be modular and consist of only a few elements in order to enable a high degree of economical prefabrication and, on the other hand, characterise the building in its spatial structure and character while offering as much flexibility as possible. The aim is not only to build economically, but also to create a durable building that can be adapted to shifting needs: a serial production with individuality and the ability to change.

The repetitive structure consists of columns with a square cross-section and L-shaped walls. The formation of the L-shaped walls supports the floor plan layout, which is orientated radially from the central access to all facades. On the one hand, the L-shaped walls feature a neutral uniformity across the entire floor plan, but at the same time stimulate the characteristic spatial structure. They are a space-defining element that unites the load-bearing structure, pipework and interior finishing. With just two different opening widths, the basic structure can be flexibly finished and changed into different room sequences.

The open staircase on the north side of the building forms a balcony area on the landings, alternating left and right, which can be used by all residents as an additional outdoor area. These stair balconies are accessible via the intermediate landing and are therefore at split level with the entrance balconies. The alternating left and right arrangement results in an airy and bright double-height space. Thus, a circulation system is created that is efficient, lets light through to the entrance balconies and the façades behind, and at the same time offers space for encounters.

The so-called Strandlust was a hotel and restaurant at the ferry terminal in Bremen Vegesack, regionally known for decades as a special place for celebrations and festivities. In the course of planning a new replacement building, the surrounding site was to be developed as a new residential area. Due to the direct location at the river Weser and the lack of flood protection, the area was to be designed on a terp level, while at the same time establishing good connections to the (not flood-protected) promenade in front of it.

On the level raised by the terp storey, the design for the new residential area features buildings as free-standing, slightly twisted volumes that form squares that widen and get narrow again. Thus the neighbourhood becomes open in all directions and permeable to walk through. The various views on the river between the buildings stage this special location. The design makes a clear distinction between the edge of the landscape as a retaining wall concealing the terp level, and the buildings, as such clearly reaching down to the lower level of the promenade.

The New Strandlust stands out from the neighbourhood as a prominent solitaire and will become a landmark on the Weser with its individual architectural language. Its round base storey protrudes distinctly from the retaining wall and forms a spacious terrace with a unique view above it. The building volume plays with strong geometric shapes that form another roof terrace, a cantilevering half-round volume providing shading to the terrace and a higher part of the building with inclining roof for good visibility even from a distance.

The most important aim of the design for the new visitor centre and the redesign of the surrounding area at the Memorium Nuremberg Trials was not to obstruct the view on the east wing from Fürther Straße, but at the same time to create an address-forming entrance. The new building was therefore largely placed underground, creating an open square. A green tiled building cube on Fürther Straße forms the entrance. On the one hand, it marks the location and at the same time preserves the view of the east wing as well as the historical images that have entered the collective memory.

The underground part of the building is organized around a light-giving patio planted with winter cherries. The two large seminar rooms are arranged directly next to it as courtyard-like glass cubes, so that these three volumes form the bright centre of the building. The areas of the visitor centre form an open, flowing space around them. The functional areas and the special exhibition as an enclosed space form the outer ring of the underground part of the building. From here, a stair leads up to a small entrance pavilion in front of the old building, allowing direct access to the east wing.

The redesigned square area of the Memorium mediates between the surrounding architecture and the existing building with a uniform surface of large-format sandstone slabs. In the rhythm and style of the entrance building and patio, undulating hedge structures organise the new square in such a way that pleasantly proportioned open spaces are created for people to linger and pass through. White ash and aspen trees on the square cast light shade with their beautiful structure and leaf texture. A particularly lush new planting behind the existing wall, on the other hand, is reminiscent of historical photographs and contrasts with the open square.

For this exhibition on Hamburg’s architecture competitions of the recent years, we decided to make the huge wealth of the about 200 competitions – expressed in about 1.500 ideas and 6.000 plans – all together visible, instead of showing only selected competitions or competition entries. Not only the winning design of a competition is important, but each individual competition entry has a value in itself and contributes to the discussion about the future development of the city. Each work stands in relation to all the other works and is defined by others and vice versa. Together they allow for new readings and narratives that will shape the entire city.

Most competitions are submitted as printed plans – which we used as a medium to design the exhibition. In a spacious former warehouse, 1.100 banners (3m long and 90cm wide) were hung from the roof in long rows. Together, they build a hovering spatial body that we regard as a floating archive of ideas. The competitions printed on the banners are arranged by districts and within the district by chronological order. The competition entries are not shown with the winning projects first, but alphabetically according to the offices ‘names. This neutral order is reflected in a code that was given to each competition, each entry, each plan – representing the concept of an archive of ideas.

The plan of the floating archive shows the parallel rows of the banners crossed by wide and narrow paths. Along the wide paths, so-called islands are arranged, creating separate exhibitions spaces within the floating archive. Here the major tasks of the city planning are featured: Residential, Office/Commercial, Infrastructure, Public/Green Spaces, Culture/Education/Sport, Conversion/ Re-Use, and Urban Planning. Each island showing one of these themes has a unique geometrical shape and colour. The plan of the exhibition resembling a city is to visualise the importance of this first-time show of all competitions together as the sum of all contributions to the entire city

At the end of the 1940s, Werner Kallmorgen designed the Klingenberg neighbourhood for the British military government. Two-storey terraced houses with a converted attic and pitched roofs were built, with two flats planned for each house. The houses were later sold privately, the terraced houses with separate flats were converted into single-family houses and the floor plans were adjusted accordingly. The starting point for this remodelling project therefore was a house with low ceilings and a small, nested room structure with thin walls.

The conversion of the house was characterised by the desire for more openness, light, and spaciousness. To achieve this, partition walls were removed, and the floor plan was reduced to its essential basic structure: the division into four quadrants, half along the north-south axis and slightly off-centre along the chimney flue in an east-west direction. The design formulates the boundaries between the quadrants as flowing transitions both in the storey levels and between the storeys. The relocation of the staircase from the entrance to the southern living area through a newly created ceiling opening ensures a light-flooded vertical connection through the entire house.

The house is entered on the north side via a spacious entrance area, which opens via sliding doors to the open-plan kitchen or directly to the living area. The living area is characterized by the double height space to the first floor. A wraparound gallery around the opening on the first floor provides visual connections, while the master bedroom can be separated from it via sliding doors. The south-west quadrant of the floor plan thus becomes the connecting element of the house across all levels thanks
to the double height space, the gallery, and the new, open staircase.

Parallel zueinander angeordnet bilden die drei neuen Gebäude Zwischenräume und schaffen so ein sehr durchlässiges urbanes Wohnquartier. Entlang der Weinlagerstraße enden alle drei Volumen mit ihrer kurzen Seite auf einer Linie und geben der Quartiersstraße hier eine deutlich ablesbare Kante. Haus A - das Gebäude entlang der Elsässerstraße - ist das längste und höchste Volumen und schützt somit das Quartier vor Lärm. Zum neuen Lysbüchelplatz hin werden die Volumen sukzessive kürzer, somit weitet sich die Schulgasse zum Platz. Auch Haus C am Lysbüchelplatz ist ein höheres Volumen und rahmt zusammen mit Haus A das etwas niedrigere Haus B in der Mitte, das mit seiner speziellen Typologie ein recht tiefes Volumen aufweist. Zwischen den Gebäuden entstehen fußläufige Gassen. Öffentlich zugänglich und dennoch von privaten Wohnungen flankiert sind sie ein Ort der Begegnung. Als Schwellenraum zwischen Stadt und Haus vermitteln sie zwischen urbaner Öffentlichkeit und nachbarschaftlichem Miteinander. Um den Wohnungen im Erdgeschoss - im Wesentlichen einseitig zum Garten orientierte Maisonette- oder Cluster-Wohnungen - trotzdem Privatheit zu gewähren,
sind ihnen kleine, private Gärten als Schwelle zur Gasse vorgelagert. Dieses die Gebäudevolumen umgreifende Grün bildet an den kurzen Gebäudeseiten die Basis für eine an den Fassaden hochrankende Begrünung. Alle drei Gebäudevolumen bilden einen tiefen, zweigeschossigen Sockel. Die Geschosse darüber springen zurück, so dass aus Fußgängerperspektive vor allem der zweigeschossige Sockel den Stadtraum in den Gassen prägt. Somit wird die Wahrnehmung der großen Gebäudevolumen zugunsten eines belebten Quartiers dem menschlichen Maßstab angepasst. Die Obergeschosse sollen in Holzbauweise erstellt werden. Sie ruhen auf den tiefen, zweigeschossigen Sockeln die ebenso wie die Untergeschosse und Kerne in Stahlbeton ausgeführt werden. Diesem Konstruktionsprinzip folgen alle drei Gebäude.

A small underground museum was to be designed for the Hopfenmarkt in Hamburg, as archaeological excavations suggest that the ramparts of the former Neue Burg are almost completely preserved beneath the surface of the square. These excavations were to be shown to visitors on site in the so-called „Archaeological Window“. At the same time, the possibility of insights from the level of the square was desired. The competition was also intended to restructure the Hopfenmarkt as an urban square and integrate it into the urban fabric.

Instead of removing a surface from the rampart and showing it detached from it in an exhibition space, this design aims to make it possible to experience the Neue Burg as an actual cut through the rampart. By making the narrow section through the rampart accessible, the enormous dimensions can be experienced in relation to one‘s own body height. The view upwards through the archaeological window establishes a connection to the square and the Nikolaikirche church and thus illustrates the dense overlapping of different layers of time at this location. The museum is designed as a compact structure completely underground.

The entrance volume of the museum with its sloping roof surface visualizes the way into the depths; inside, the linear staircase stages the descent into deeper layers of time. The main elements of the redesigned square above are the Nikolai Church in its centre, the entrance building to the museum and the archaeological window in the cleared axis to the church tower. The trees in the northern area will be grouped together to form a package. The café is integrated into this green canopy as a small, solitary pavilion beneath the trees.

The remodeling of an old stone house in western France was to give the house a new order, make it more spacious inside, but at the same time preserve its unique character. Together with some lower annexes, this 1850 house forms a courtyard which serves as the entrance. To the rear of the house is the garden. The building ensemble is built in locally sourced stone, the main house has timber ceilings. Before the remodeling, the inside was divided into cellular, winding rooms with thin, non-load-bearing walls in contrast to the very thick, solid exterior walls.

All interior walls were removed. After the remodeling, the ground floor consists of only one large, open space. Shelves on the outer walls provide necessary storage space and underline the character of the room. The space is now characterized above all by the symmetry of the entrance door and the four windows either side of the courtyard and garden, as well as the presence of the solid stone exterior walls. Along the existing wooden staircase, a shelving unit protrudes into the room, creating an open zoning. Upstairs, built-in wardrobes and shelves form a new room structure.

The clients‘ wish for conservatories either side of the house was further developed into a spatial sequence. The first conservatory acts as a threshold and entrance between the courtyard and the now large, open living space, while the second represents the transition to the open garden. The two conservatories are characterized by a diagonal wooden grid, the structure of which was then adopted to form a pergola framing a „green room“ in the garden - a spatial counterpart to the courtyard on the other side of the house.

Lines in space that widen, overlap, merge into volumes, open up clearings in between. The exhibition "Equivocal" at Architektur Galerie Berlin shows a spatial installation whose elements seem to come together randomly in different constellations, but is essentially formed from the repetition of a single strong geometry. In its interaction of abstract and phenomenological aspects, the installation plays with our associative memories.

The characteristics of the building with its clear order and large stage-like window openings onto Karl-Marx-Allee shape the otherwise neutral white cube of the exhibition space which can be perceived at a glance. The installation adds a permeable complexity to the space. It consists of ten equal volumes arranged and rotated to each other, thus "folding" the space fluidly into areas. It visualizes the principle that complex spatial experiences can be generated with only simple means and clear structures. The equivocal becomes a conscious moment of the design.

The volumes consist of paper ribbons which form a triangular plan on the floor and a larger one on the ceiling. They are stretched at small intervals between floor and ceiling. Originally a packaging material for wrapping chair legs for example, the materiality of the crepe ribbons oscillates between wooden structure and wafer-thin paper. Depending on the view point, the ribbons form seemingly closed surfaces or are barely perceptible and thus show the volumes as objects or dematerialize them.

The first two floors of the extension for the Bucerius Law School on plot 1 almost completely occupy the site. The floors above form a large northward rising slant and, with its clear and uniform timber grid facade, leaves space and forms a calm backdrop for the prominent greenhouses in front. In contrast, the facade facing the promenade to the north rises up straight and adapts to the building line and heights of the existing buildings.
The building is planned as a timber construction. The wooden columns are visible in a regular grid in the transparent glass facade to the north, which grants views of university life inside. The south facade however is staggered upwards storey by storey under the large slant of the timber grid construction. Terraces run in between and offer members of the university the possibility of outdoor breaks at any time. The external sun protection of the south facade runs within the slanted wooden grid construction, thus not only shielding the facades but also the terraces in front of them.
Due to the slant, the footprints of the floors become narrower and narrower towards the top. This creates a very special, long narrow space on the top floor that offers views in all directions. In this unique location with a view over Planten und Blomen and the park sits the library‘s exam study area offering a quiet place for concentrated studies.
Thus, a building is created that connects inside and outside, presents the university in a transparent and open way and takes advantage of its special location.

The new building for the extension of the Bucerius Law School on plot 2 is composed of three parts: a three-storey volume as an extension of the sequence of existing buildings, a two-storey volume that edges into the campus and a third volume as an iconic high point with a square base. It is also slightly rotated so it protrudes as little as possible into the existing trees which are part of the historic ramparts. A building is created that on the one hand fits into its immediate context, and on the other forms a prominent and new welcoming gesture to the university.
The reception area for the university and campus is located on the north-western corner of the building. The learning and study areas are accessed from here all the way up to the first floor, as well as the ample terrace on the roof of this two-storey part of the building. The office areas are located in the high part of the building. The open, square floor plan is naturally zoned through the rotation of the offset central core. The offices provide views of the ramparts; double height spaces with an open spiral staircase connect the various office areas.
A characteristic feature of the building is its timber construction. These load bearing prefabricated facade modules incorporate all layers from supporting structure to cladding. They are C-shaped and form inward facing nooks into which matching furniture elements are installed as closets, shelves or seating booths. This allows the open space to remain as open as possible without losing storage space and thus functionality. On the outside, the prefabricated modules show their depth and give the facades their characteristic rhythm.

In the transition from outside to inside, from private to public, the threshold reconciles different functions or characteristics on several levels, ediating between city and house,between house and apartment, between community and individual. Commonly known reference projects from across the newer architectural history were chosen for the exhibition regardless of their typology or size, aiming to set a new focus onto the familiar to discover meaning and potential of threshold spaces. With the help of models the spatial phenomena of thresholds is explored in a playful serial examination.

Each architecture holds many thresholds and threshold spaces. They can be found in various scales. At the same time their morphology can easily be transferred into different scales. Therefore the scale does not play a role in the exhibited models. The projects were rather adjusted in their proportions and extracted area to a unitary absolute size instead of a relative one, in favour of a universal validity. Like in a test tube where substances are seen in a new light, a cube of 10x10x10cm serves as a frame of observation. In this imaginary test tube the interpretative reconstruction of the fragments is condensed to morphological diagrams of possible variations of thresholds.

Like a cabinet of wonder, the medley of objects taken out of context offers a repertoire of inspiration and curiosity. The model table with its endless rows of spatial diagrams aims to feed the imagination of how our living together in the city may be changed by threshold spaces without providing a solution to a concrete situation. How would the city, the house, our community change if the threshold spaces were to be applied more consciously?

For the new Scharnhorst neighbourhood buildings were designed that are all different yet have the same characteristics, aiming to create a diverse but coherent neighbourhood. Individual responses are given to the individual buildings according to their urban location, positioning in relation to each other and within the neighbourhood, as well as the building volumes specified in the development plan. Despite the special floor plan concepts, all the buildings have a very high degree of rationalisation and repetition of the same elements in common to enable individual but cost-effective buildings.

A long building block with access balconies and east-facing flats forms a noise buffer for the neighbourhood to the west. A 45° bend in the flat floor plans allows all rooms to be arranged around the terrace to the east.
The residential courtyard is enclosed to the east and south by two further building blocks. The southern one is given the special character of rooms opening up towards the outside by a supporting structure of walls running at right angles to the building and the oblique partition walls between them. The eastern one is a row of identical flats consisting of a solid prefabricated module with open-plan living in between.

The garden houses to the north feature the typology of the point house to open up to the garden in all directions. Despite their different designs, all four buildings are based on a uniform, square grid that allows variability and at the same time a very high repetition factor of the same modules.
The building blocks along the residential street are characterized by the two-sidedness of the garden courtyard, greenery, and river Weser towards the centre of the neighbourhood in the north on the one hand and the street, but south-facing, on the other. The floor plan concept of the three building blocks aims to provide different responses to this duality.

For a group exhibition at AIT Salon Munich on the influence of Japanese architecture on current European architecture, we were asked to contribute a small wooden installation that would express this influence on our own design work. Both the area of the exhibition space and the material to be used were set: wooden slats with given dimensions. Moreover, as the exhibition was to move on to Hamburg, the installation needed to be easy to disassemble, transport and reassemble.

From the given wooden slats, we developed a basic unit consisting of two vertical, identical slats between which a slightly shorter one is attached in a way allowing it to rotate freely. A short slat fixed to the bottom of the two verticalsserves as a spacer to keep them parallel. This basic unit was set up in a straight line, firmly planted into the gaps of a platform of parallel wooden slats. A second series of these basic units runs diagonally to the first line.

The basic units of the straight and the diagonal line are offset by one unit. On both lines the units’ middle slats are rotated upwards and fixed in between the two opposing units to shape a roof – thus, from the repetition of linear elements a hut like structure was formed. Instead of directly answering the question about Japanese influence on our work, we created an installation that triggers images where everybody can find his or her own associations.

For the new building of a mixed used complex at Amsinckstrasse in Hamburg Hammerbook a volume was developed that strongly reacts to its urban surroundings. In its basic constellation the building follows the orthogonal grid of Hammerbrook. It consists of three long volumes that gradually rise up from five to seven to eleven stories towards the north. The shifting of the volumes adjusts the building towards Amsinckstrasse that traverses the rectangular grid in a curvy diagonal. Thus, a protected outside area is created towards the canal Sonninkanal.

Apart from its timber structure the building contributes to a sustainable development of the city with its high flexibility that ensures a long-term usage even if functions might change in the future. Therefore, neither does the building show the intended functions in its facades nor in its basic inner structure. Rather a building was designed that offers a basic structure with an economic column grid that can be flexibly used for many different functions. The open and high ground floor activates the public space and opens up the view towards the outside space at the canal and the Sonninhof behind.

Because of its exposed situation next to a highly frequented street and due to the often-rainy weather in Hamburg, the timber building does not show its materiality towards the outside but is covered by a facade of ceramic tiles. As one uniform and clearly articulated structure, the façade unifies the three staggered building volumes. It shows the load bearing structure towards the outside by featuring wider dimensions in the lower floors than in the upper floors. The diminishing upward motion of the façade grid creates a differentiated impression despite the economic unity.

Belvedere is built in Hamburg’s central park Planten un Blomen as part of the “Hamburger Architektur Sommer” (the Hamburg architecture triennial) and to mark the 30th anniversary of the city partnership between Hamburg and Osaka. Designed by KAWAHARA KRAUSE ARCHITECTS and with a colour concept by Japanese artist Nobuko Watabiki, the pavilion functions as an interaction of art and architecture and creates a quiet retreat in the fluid space of the vast park. As a public platform it invites visitors to enjoy and experience new perspectives of this popular and familiar park.

With the pavilion being a temporary structure of only four weeks, the possibility to disassemble it into its components played a big role in the design process as much as the choice of the construction materials. Developed as a reciprocal structure, the structural system consists of many small, easy to handle elements. Next to being easy to transport and assemble without the use of big machinery, this also allows for a simple construction on site. Only reversible joints (interlocking or screwing) were used in the pavilion as to guarantee the recyclability of the materials wood and paper after dismantling.

The roof structure is made of cardboard. On a single curved line, rectangular sheets were cut into two parts without wasting material: a convex and a concave part. By assembling the convex and concave parts in different directions in addition to the differing colours chosen by Nobuko Watabiki, this very rational roof structure now appears layered and multi-faceted. Depending on one’s viewpoint, the concave and convex elements seem to either align neatly, or interlock arbitrarily

The completed L-shaped pavilions of the first construction phase of the western Karl-Marx-Alle show a strong differentiation between the side facing Karl-Marx-Allee and the side facing the neighbourhood street, both in terms of their façade design and floor plan. While a spacious, two-storey room faces Karl-Marx-Allee, the other side is characterised by a small-scale room layout as a serving part. Within the existing pavilions, only the pavilion on the corner of Schillingstraße (‘Camp4’) deviates from this principle of separating the two arms of the L into serving and serviced parts.

The new L-pavilions at the beginning of Karl-Marx-Allee represent a special situation. Due to the square situation in front of each pavilion in the direction of Alexanderplatz, these two pavilions have a showcase side on both legs of the L in terms of urban space. The two L-pavilions therefore have a two-storey space over the entire length of both legs of the L, with no functional separation between the two legs. The two special L-shaped pavilions thus create a typology that clearly marks the beginning of the series of different pavilions on Karl-Marx-Allee.

The exterior appearance of the L-pavilions is based on the realised pavilions of the first construction phase. The interior, on the other hand, is characterised by a visible wooden ceiling structure. The ceiling structure arranged at a 45° angle is intended to counteract a hierarchisation of the two arms of the L. Instead, the connection of the two legs emphasises the permeability of the corner and thus the urban significance at the beginning of Karl-Marx-Allee.

The EL house is situated on an open plot on the edge of the forest and surrounded by detached houses. The ridge direction of the gabled roof runs from north to south parallel to the slightly sloping terrain, while the basic shape of the building widens towards the south. This widening is created by twisting the two corners of a square floor plan facing the forest to varying degrees.

The EL house was designed for a young family of four, who described their life together primarily as being together. Even in the previous home, everyday family life almost always took place in the kitchen, which was actually too small for this, despite the different activities of the individual family members. To enable this togetherness and the coexistence of different activities in the new house with much more space, the size of the individual rooms was reduced to a minimum, while the communal space was maximised.

To achieve this, the individual rooms were positioned as closed boxes in the four corners of a square floor plan. While there are closed rooms on the ground floor in the north-west and south-east corners, the rooms in the opposite north-east and south-west corners are located on the upper floor, creating a large communal space between, below and above these closed boxes. As a flowing, open space, the specific arrangement between, below and on top of the boxes creates different spaces for various activities. The twisting of the two western corners out of the square creates a widening of the communal space to the south.

The felling of an expansive tree in a private garden in Southern Germany left a huge gap on the site boundary overgrown densely with high bushes and trees. For this gap a structure was designed occupying the space without closing it off. In the shape of a classical garden shed the Garden Folly merges well into its dense green surroundings, creating a place to sit outside in the garden but at the same time being inside.

The volume consists of a grid structure of acrylic tubes connected by joints developed especially for the project. Two two-dimensional cross-shaped acrylic parts interlock to create the simple three-dimensional joints. While the tubes are transparent, the joints are lasered from white acrylic, accentuating the white, star-like joints depending on the lighting. The volume of the Garden Folly then turns into a seemingly hovering cloud of points in space.

If the sun light is strong, the acrylic tubes gleam in the sun and emphasize the grid's structure. Depending on the view point the impression of this rational geometric complex oscillates between clearly structured or arbitrarily arranged. Thus the Garden Folly unites contrary characteristics: the contained space of the archetype of a house and the open, flowing space, mass and lightness, outside and inside, structure and arbitrary, clearness and ambiguity, the conventional and the conceptual.

The restaurant Zipang is located on the ground floor of an old building from the end of the 19th century in Hamburg-Eppendorf. The old floor plan of its former residential use remains visible as low rising walls, trusses and columns but the rooms were opened to create a spatial continuum. While the existing colour of the restaurant walls did not change from room to room, the new colour concept aims to strengthen the spatial differences of the individual rooms while still preserving their unity.

The low and deep spaces strongly limit the amount of day light. Therefore a colour palette of light pastel was chosen. Each room and each part of the spatial continuum that is perceivable as a room was assigned one specific colour. While the colour palette is comprised of brown, yellow, pink and light blue, very light hues were chosen that appear almost white depending on the light. Thus the colour differences of the rooms are very subtle and permanantly change during the course of the day.

Two places highlighted in the flowing spatial continuum: in the biggest room, a circle covered with gold foil stretching over the ceiling and the adjacent wall reflects the day light and as an indirect light source brings a soft glow into the interior. A similiar element can also be found in the smallest room that is often used for special events: a rectangle made from gold foil on the ceiling and wall creates a glowing roof where the spatial continuum comes to a conclusion. The golden elements with their shiny and smooth surface contrast with the finishes of the coloured walls with their coarse surface derived from mixing the paint with sand.

The office complex Heidestrasse creates a border towards the railway tracks and a backdrop for the new district Heidestrasse. The design follows the basic lines of the master plan, but aims to differentiate the given building volume. A staggering of various volumes counteracts the monotony caused by the very long, repetitive buildings given by the master plan. This staggering affects both the height as well as the depth of the building, resulting in a diversified silhouette and a building edge towards the street that is broken up by the volumes protruding back and forth.

The differentiation of the complex’s segments generates an urban identity, enhances orientation and creates a sense of location. The elevation towards the street is differentiated, the segments show different constellations making them easy to tell apart. While this differentiation in depth creates – as opposed to the uniformity given by the master plan – public open spaces of special character, the vertical staggering generates a complex roof scape that can be accessed on various floors and therefore also enhances the interior quality of the building.

The ensemble of varying volumes is bound by a single, modular façade system. The modules are made of precast concrete with an angled face. Due to this shape, modules seem to be shifted horizontally. The higher the building the more the modules protrude towards the outside. Thus a façade is formed that despite its modularity and repetition gives a diverse impression. Light and shadow emphasize the elaborate volumes of the shifting elements. The façade system applied to the whole complex is further refined by the colour concept.

House O was designed for a couple in the open landscape of Kagawa, South Japan. The square ground figure is divided into for equal parts down the middle by a cross-shaped, load-bearing structure forming four equal rooms without any hierarchy. Each room is defined by two sides of the cross and opens up on two sides towards the outside. The cross does not touch the outer walls, therefore the four rooms are not completely separated from each other but form a ring with neither beginning nor end.

In contrast to a normal house where each room has a specific function and rooms are arranged according to their function, these four rooms are connected to each other without any evident reason or function. Instead of rooms defined by function, a continuous neutral spatial structure is created that allows for various and multiple uses. The house offers freedom and flexibility as well as the possibility of unusual use. Only the placement of the serving functions (bathroom, kitchenette, storage) within the spatial cross implies the main functions of the rooms. As they can be closed-off completely by sliding elements, the rooms maintain a neutral character.

Each of the four rooms features a unique volume derived from different geometries of the ceiling. They provide a rhythmical element to the spatial continuity and prevent simplicity becoming monotony.
The different geometries of the ceiling show on the facades, creating a complex three-dimensional volume over the simple square footprint.

The clients for this small project in a Hamburg suburb wished for a shelter for their cars. Unlike standard carports with an often massive construction and opaque enclosing walls, they had a light structure in mind that would not block the view from the house to the street. Moreover, the polygonal area to park the cars – deriving from the situation of the front garden with a huge tree next to the car entrance and a step in the ground level of the garden – put a conventional solution out of the question.

Three roofs of different sizes but similar proportions were developed. They are arranged parallel to each other with the smallest and lowest one facing the street and the biggest and highest one facing the house. Each roof consists of a main beam diagonally spanning two columns with a cantilevering triangular plane either side of the main beam. The wing-like shape of the three staggered roofs strengthens the light and minimalistic impression of the overall construction.

The carport was monolithically built in steel as to simplify the joining. Steel plates were even used for roofing, allowing for a simple construction. As the two cantilevering planes decline towards the main beam, which again slants towards one side, a simple rain drain is created on the top of each roof.

For this new hotel in Hamburg St. Pauli a building was designed that speaks a unique architectural language in response to its significant location next to the Heiligengeistfeld. The design also reacts to the immediate context of the surrounding streets. The folded street façades create an alternation, breaking up its length, especially along the Simon-von-Utrecht-Straße. On ground level, the grid of the façade widens to open the building to the public space.

The design of the façade intends to loosen up the rigid impression of the pragmatic hotel grid. The elevation was divided into t-shaped elements, which are to be constructed as three-dimensional precast modules. These elements feature a vertical crease, strengthening the height of the building and breaking up its horizontal length. Five different elements (with the crease leaning towards the right or left) of the same t-shaped façade surface can be arranged in numerous combinations, creating variations in the façade. With these few basic elements a diversified façade elevation emerges.

The requirement of a green façade was met by developing pre-cast concrete façade modules with integrated planters. Nevertheless, the façade and its sculptural expression were designed to not suffer in attractiveness even if some of the plants fail to thrive. As the elements are shifted horizontally on each floor, the planter in the upper part of these pre-cast modules is always arranged in front of the window above. This provides space for the plants and moreover makes them visible not only in the façade but also from inside of the hotel rooms.

“Alter Friedhof” in Rheine is a former cemetery that is now used as a park. An open library was planned to encourage the use of this park with its huge, old trees. To the people from the neighbourhood it is an opportunity to exchange books. In contrast to the open book cabinets that have recently become very popular in German cities, it is designed not only to provide a place for exchanging books but also an open library inviting people to read the books on site and thus adding a new function to the park.

The building nestles at the foot of the old trees, its contour and volume are defined by the open spaces between the trees. The open library is a truly open building. The soil remains visible within the building and the open structure makes it accessible from all sides. However, the low reaching roof provides shelter from the rain and the wind, creating an intimate and protected space.
The inside of the open library is arranged around three big “book shelves” embracing three courtyards and drenching the introverted space with plenty of light.

The shelves also have a structural use. A single structural system was developed for the walls and the roof of the building: short and therefore economic timber planks are arranged in a windmill layout forming a continuous grid structure doubling up in the walls, thus creating book shelves. The roof is covered with oversized wooden shingles, its overlaps leaving small slits that allow the light to fall inside

"Migrating Books" is an architectural-literary installation accompanying books on their unbelievable journey from book-annihilation to book-translation. "Migrating Books" focuses on those books that have been overcoming borders between the two countries of Germany and Israel ever since the inglorious Nazi book burning of 1933 and therefore are creating networks of cultural linkage. „Migrating Books“ emphasizes the new cultural connections: books as a part of an extending cultural network between Germany and Israel. A selection of books that were translated from Hebrew into German within the last 50 years is on display. The books lay open on their backs in the structure, inviting people to read – visitors choose their own journey through the installation and the stories within.

Books are hold by a spatial structure that plays with the depth of space. Depending on the viewpoint the rods of the grid structure overlay either to a clearly understandable raster or an ambiguous mass. The seemingly change between two and three-dimensional aspects makes the structure vary between simplicity and complexity.

The structure consists of transparent straws used in every day’s life for drinking, which are connected by joints made of acrylic glass. An ephemeral and transparent net is being created that gives hold to the books in space. The space itself is not strictly defined, it is not limited by any borders. The structure rather implies the depth of an open and flowing space. Depending on the viewpoint the structure seems to dissolve while the importance of the books is being emphasized.

For a select shop in Hamburg specializing in Japanese vintage designer clothes, accessories and small crafted goods, a shop interior was designed to provide a quiet yet sophisticated backdrop for the designer products on display, while allowing a high measure of flexibility to the regularly changing selection. Natural materials like light wood, shoji paper and sisal carpets were used to underline the high quality of the products sold.

The core element of the design is a wooden shelf at the heart of the shop stretching from floor to ceiling. Based on a spatial grid, some of the elements of the grid were omitted to create shelf compartments of various shapes and sizes. Instead of a neutral, regular grid this allows a high variety to display different items. This flexibility is further enhanced as the boards of the shelf follow the basic grid size allowing an easy rearrangement of the boards. The basic grid is as slender as possible as to give a delicate impression. Where the corridor in which the shelf is located opens up into the back room, the spatial grid widens up to enclose the changing room, evolving as one continuous element.

Instead of staging an iconic furniture design for the shop interior the shelf was sought to strengthen and compliment the existing spatial quality of the shop by giving it a rhythm and becoming its back bone. It unifies and connects the three rooms and the corridor and provides a flexible structure encouraging a diversity of use. As the shelf is made from untreated wood, the highly flexible use will help to develop a unique patina over time.

The design for the new tourist information under the steel and glass roof structure of Hamburg’s Rathausmarktarkaden adapts the characteristics of permeability and openess of the existing arcades. As the heavy tunnel vault roof structure stands on slender columns, Rathausmarktarkaden is characterized by an air of transparency on ground level and mass above. Taking on these features, the new tourist information is designed as a minimalistic glass pavilion, allowing for a maximum of transparency. This new pavilion is covered by a girder grid that incorporates both lighting and sun protection. Towards the outside, the new roof appears as a simple horizontal line.

The new roof stands on wall-like columns that are arranged in a rectangular fashion to the Rathaus and therefore strengthen the idea of permeability towards the city hall. These wall-like columns divide the interior space in a very subtle way. They are positioned towards the centre of the pavilion rather than on its edges thus keeping distance from the existing structure and preventing a concentration of mass on the ground level.

The structure of the girder grid aligns with the axes of the Rathausmarktarkaden, but also constitutes a rectangular system allowing for flexibility in arranging partition walls below. This division of the roof into a rectangular grid with compartments of varying sizes creates a subtle zoning of the open space below. The structure of the roof characterizes the space below, the glass roof allows for a maximum of light even in the centre of the pavilion. This also enhances the see-through effect of the Rathausmarktarkaden and the tourist information underneath it. Moreover, the glass roof preserves the view upon the existing steel and glass construction of the Rathausmarktarkaden. The space of the existing tunnel vault roof structure can still be experienced.

Mannheim is a patchwork city, where areas of very different character and typologies are located next to each other. The problem of the site is the extreme separation by the Autobahn-like street B38, that separates the patches like a ripped cloth. Instead of separating the patches, the street should be a connecting element that stitches the patches together.

Normally a boulevard is a wide street within a dense, urban area, where buildings of several storeys’ height define a clear edge along both sides of the street. Trees along the street and a green area between the lanes (often with trees as well) give it a generous and representative character. Along the B38 we do not find any building typology that would promote the image of a classic boulevard.

The areas on both sides of the B38 are characterized by a spread out and open building structure with a high percentage of green enhancing life quality. In order to keep the characteristics of areas around while at the same time creating a new representative entrance to Mannheim, we propose an inverse boulevard. Instead of creating a clear edge on the sides of the street, a dense and urban building structure is placed as an inlay between the lanes. On both sides, the open structures and green areas keep their character and are bound to each other by the inverse boulevard.

The new building structure of the inverse boulevard is characterized by a permeable layout between north and south and a broad mixture of usage, attracting people from both sides of the boulevard. The location between the two lanes of the street facilitates its crossing.

The starting points for this project were two completely independent circumstances. One was a heap of firewood in the client's garden that needed a place to be stacked and dried. The other was the wish of the religious clients for a place of contemplation and prayer in their house. The design for the wooden hut combines these two different wishes. It is a small private chapel in the clients' garden that is built of firewood.

The hut consists of five wooden frames that are stacked with firewood, thus forming the outer walls. The comfortably dim space inside is spotted by countless rays of light sparkling through the logs. In the course of time, dried wood is being used and replaced by new wood resulting in a constant change in the walls of the hut. The stacking pattern changes as well as the colour of the wood.

The space is created by only two walls. They open up towards the entrance and narrow the space towards the cross thus directing the movement to the inside. The deep roof shades the space underneath while the wind passes through the hut in summer. By using the on site firewood in the garden and granting it a new use, an unusual space emerges just a few steps outside the house providing a shelter for contemplation and prayer away from daily life.

The appearance of surfaces and space is what we dealt with in the exhibition together with Japanese artist Nobuko Watabiki at Galerie Renate Kammer, Hamburg in 2013. The seeming contradiction of our approach of questioning spatial phenomena and the two-dimensional abstraction in the works of Watabiki were combined in this joint work.

“Appearance” is a temporary installation creating two new spaces in the gallery Renate Kammer. An ephemeral, undulating surface of colourful, single woollen threads adds a new level to the known space, creating a shimmering, cloudy roof. A new space seems to appear above this open surface, which subtly gives new proportions to the space below. Depending on perception and viewpoint, two new spaces above each other appear or re-dissolve into one – the known space of the gallery. The sunlight and its changing angle in the course of time light up the vivid colours of the threads, enhancing the effect of appearing and dissolving.

Two massive, black stairs are newly inserted in the middle of the room for this installation. They melt with the existing black bases of the columns, creating a heavy counterweight to the weightless installation above. By climbing up these stairs the perception of the space drastically changes. Each step varies the composition of threads that appear as colourful lines and surfaces or melt into the space beneath. As the visitor finally pops up his head into the space above, the apparent surface of the installation becomes an ephemeral horizon that seems to slip. The vaults of the exhibition space obtain a new counterpart, the visible space cambers up and down. The field of vision and the perspective view of the space shift, being steadied by the depth-less paintings of Japanese artist Nobuko Watabiki above and below the installation.

Nobuko Watabiki gives the installation its colourful aspect. The colour concept of the artist, who normally deliberately avoids spatial depth, makes the appearance of this installation shimmer between the second and third dimension.

The new residential area at Egginger Weg in Ulm aims to provide an attractive living environment for a broad population. The quarter makes up an urban area of its own while being bound to its context by connecting paths and a similar scale. Green voids split up the site into three smaller neighbourhoods. The alternation of residential quarters and public green spaces ensures high living standards. The residential quarters are arranged around common green areas that form the heart of the neighbourhood and strongly connect the community. Multiple paths in east-west-direction open up into smaller green areas that stimulate gathering and communication.

The typologies proposed respond to the characteristics of the site as well as the multiple needs of a broad population. A huge variety of apartment sizes and typologies such as classic flats, maisonettes and loft apartments fulfil the needs of different inhabitants. The highest buildings are set parallel to the street in the North to stifle the noise. Access balconies and a functional zone of kitchens, bathrooms and storage rooms make up a buffer for the apartments that are solely oriented towards the South.

In the South, lower buildings along the residential street complete the area as an entity. Here, maisonette-apartments allow for living similar to detached housing. They open towards the communal area in the North as well as the view to the South. Between the long buildings in the North and South that define the edges of the area, several multi-generation-houses were proposed. In these buildings, apartments of various sizes share a common space on each floor. Other stand-alone buildings have an open floor plan that allows individual living with vistas into various directions. All these different buildings form a neighbourhood bound together by the common areas in their centre that overlay in various green spaces.

“Line, surface, space“ is an installation that plays with the perception of space. A fragile structure of threads stretching from floor to ceiling seems to dissolve in space and recompose to ever new appearances. Varying between transparent and closed surfaces, the spatial perception changes with each step taken through the installation. It is erected on the plan of three interlocking twisted squares of different sizes. While the threads of the outer square suggest the edges of an imaginary space, the more denselyarranged threads towards the middle seem to create surfaces. Ordinary threads evolve into lines in space that create surfaces which seem to comprise spaces. Lines and surfaces overlap in various constellations in space. Thus a fragile structure evolves on the plan of the three squares that constantly changes its appearance on approaching, walking around or through it, creating ever new impressions.

The structure blurs the thresholds between line, surface and space. It offers a new perception of these three ideas and a new understanding of how much needs to be defined in order to make them perceivable. Impressions when moving through the installation are complex; the ambiguous overlapping of the threads - as single elements hardly visible - seems to make the space even more perceivable though.

Financial restrictions encourage us to question essential principles that are usually taken for granted and see them as opportunities to develop a new architecture. In the installation “line, surface, space“ new spatial experiences are created by providing ordinary woollen threads with a new use. The Japanese artist Nobuko Watabiki painted some of the threads, so that colourful areas materialize on the surfaces by the interaction of the threads. Painted areas overlap and keep on changing their composition as one progresses through the installation, affecting transparency and perception of the surfaces and the space.

For the city of Regensburg an apartment building was developped that – despite its rational and economic construction – offers various ways of living in the community of the neighbourhood due to a subtle graduation from public to private space. The degree of public athmosphere gradually diminishes from the park-like surroundings to the inner courtyards and access balconies that are used by the community via the living modules that open up to it to the private bedroom modules.

Apartements line up around the courtyards and consist of two basic modules ot the same size. The living module is defined as a space for the apartment community and can be opened to the access balconies. It allows accesss to the private rooms as well as to the private balcony. The living module thus mediates between the private space and the neighbourhood. In contrast the bedroom module is only oriented towards the private balconies. Small secondary rooms between bedrooms and access balcony clearly separate the private rooms from the neighbourhood.

The arrangement of two bedroom modules and one living module (and again two bedroom modules and one living module) continues repeatedly on the same grid. Assigning various numbers of bedroom modules to one living module creates apartments of different sizes, ranging from a two-room-apartment consisting of one living module and one bed room module to an fiev-room-apartment consisting of one living module and four bed room module.

To integrate the new building of the Rossert elementary school into its small-scale surroundings in a village close to Frankfurt, it was split up into several small volumes. The volumes are adjusted in scale to the surroundings and therefore merge down the big building. The design for the school consists of nine similar volumes slightly twisted in their position and the space that is generated in-between these volumes. Twisting the volumes allows various views and angles of the village, the forest behind and to the open landscape. So each room in the school opens up into at least two different directions, thus providing visual connections between the volumes.

Functions are clearly separated into different volumes but are connected to each other by the space that is generated in between. Twisting the volumes generates a free flowing space that narrows and widens up again, thus producing various different areas where children can meet, play and run around, but also defines corners and areas of retreat. Therefore the building does not need any classical corridors; the school becomes a place of meeting and gathering. The space in between the volumes creates a variety of different spatial situations, nourishing children’s pleasure of exploration and their natural curiosity.

The new school occupies the north-western corner of the site, set back from the street as far as possible, nestling into the hill behind while keeping major parts of the site free for the schoolyard. The repetitive arrangement of similar volumes facilitates extension as more volumes can easily be added to the system. On the other hand single volumes can easily be separated from the building, thereby allowing adjustments to functional or demographical changes.

For a psychiatric ward for children in a small village close to Zurich, a new building to house lodgings, a cantina, a day-nursery and various treatment rooms was to be planned as an expansion to an existing 19th century building. Comprising all the functions required, the existing volume seemed too big for its rural surroundings and the small hill on top of which the psychiatric ward is located. Instead of a single, massive volume that would seemingly suppress the hilly landscape and would compete too much with the old grand main building, we broke down the volume to integrate the new complex in its small scale environment.

The complex consists of several volumes of different sizes that adjust in scale and roof-scape to the surrounding buildings. These volumes are arranged as one building around an open courtyard and combine the functional advantages of a single building with the small-scale structure of rural houses. We intended to give the impression of a cluster of small houses rather than a huge clinic to the children. Moreover the various functions should be distinct from the outside rather than to mingle down in a single volume facilitating orientation to the kids. The new complex embodies a singular building and a small village at the same time, unifying the intimacy of a house with the variety of a village.

The heart of this village is the open courtyard that forms a protected outside area to play and study. The courtyard is intimate but not completely closed off, gradually transforming into the semi-private grounds of the ward that extend to the open landscape. On the perimeter, the new building defines various different green areas that overlay with the mellow, open landscape and naturally integrate the building into the hilly site. Thus, the new building is merged down into its rural surroundings.

Between Kennedy und Lombards Bridges in the city centre of Hamburg, we intended to render the art of Japanese painter Suzuki into a spatial experience. In many of Suzuki’s art works detailed drawings of natural motives painted on an acrylic panel are set in front of a canvas, thereby creating art on several layers: on the acryl, on the canvas, the shadow cast by the drawings onto the canvas and a space in-between. The intention was to open up this space to the visitors, allowing them to experience new insights on the art and on the city. From the inside, drawings on the glass overlay with a view of the city of Hamburg as a ‘canvas’ draw the visitors’ attention to the surroundings.

The plan of the pavilion consists of three nested squares, building up a cubic room in the middle and two layers of passages surrounding it. The first square is the outer skin with Suzuki’s drawings on glass, dropping their shadows onto the white wall of the second square. Between the second and third square, a dim in-between space with black walls and light entering only softly through the narrow overhead lights is to make visitors forget their surroundings. The third square is a white cube in the middle with Suzuki’s drawings on the glass ceiling. Cut off from the outside environment, the sun casts strong shadows of the art that steadily wander along the walls during the cause of the day.

On the pavilion’s site, lush nature produces a small forgotten paradise in-between two highly frequented roads in the area between Binnen- and Aussenalster. Detailed outlines of natural motives overlay with real nature, shining in a thousand shades of green and silence inside overlays with the rustle of the leaves and the roar of the busy Hamburg traffic. Wandering shadows visualize time that has seemingly come to a halt, if it were not for the constant disturbance by the traffic. Choosing this site, we wanted to draw public attention to one of the many ‘in-between spaces’ in Hamburg, which contribute to the attractiveness of the city but are not perceived consciously.

On the base of a former monument in Berlin, a new monument to commemorate the peaceful demonstrations of thousands of people in East Germany leading up towards the German re-unification was to be designed. The former, destroyed monument had been centrally located on its vast base on a high pedestal and used to feature the last German emperor on his horse looking down onto his people. It had been a monument to admire from a distance and represented the power of a single person over the masses in a straight-forward statement.

But only a monument with room for interpretation can develop a poetic power kindling people to think about its history. For the new monument of freedom and re-unification we took the opposite approach to the former monument. Instead of arranging a single object in the centre, various elements were distributed all over the base. Only the sum of many single elements makes the monument perceivable, thus visually interpreting the power of the democratic people.

70.000 protesters on the Great Monday Demonstration in Leipzig achieved to spread the revolution all over the GDR. 70 golden blades sparkle in the sunlight, their reflections glare and they flex and sway in the wind but don’t break. They withstand the elements as time passes. Their shadows wander from east to west. The remaining base is accessible to everybody at all times, thereby making it a place for people to meet and gather. A monument of interaction.