UNStudio: haus am weinberg, stuttgart

‘haus am weinberg’ by UNStudio, stuttgart, germany image © iwan baan all images courtesy of UN studio

dutch firm UNStudio has just completed the ‘haus am weinberg’ outside of stuttgart on a site situated between the town and a terraced vineyard. the white house is organized primarily around the twisting vertical circulation located at its core, while the form responds directly to the topography of the immediate landscape. program elements are then placed around the central stairs following the sun’s path to benefit from the greatest amount of natural light during the peak times that the space would be used.

the free-flowing load bearing concrete structure is minimized to its essential qualities to create a light airy volume. horizontal floor slabs and the roof plane being supported by the elevator shaft, two pillars and one interior column which free the corners to be wrapped in glazing. soft oak flooring, natural stone and stucco flecked with bits of reflective rock bounce light deep into the rooms with framed views of the exterior. at the heart of the residence is a contrastingly darker room dedicated to music and the hunt.  

view from the vineyard image © iwan baan

architect ben van berkel describes

“the haus am weinberg adopts a stereovisual spatial effect, acting almost as an optical instrument, whereby not a parallax view, but a parallax experience is created. moments of parity with the surrounding landscape from inside the house form a constant experiential connection and awareness of its immediate context.”

garden on a stepped site image © iwan baan

image © iwan baan

glazed, column-less corners allow panoramic views image © christian richters

twisting stair feature image © iwan baan

main living space image © iwan baan

CAPTION image © iwan baan

(left) kitchen (right) leading to the upstairs image © iwan baan

interior dark room image © iwan baan

image © iwan baan

image © iwan baan

site plan

form follows the topography

conceptual diagram

programmatical diagram

diagram

sun-path diagram with respect to program

project info:

location: stuttgart, germany net building surface: 618m2 building volume: 2839m3 building site: 1280m2 programme: single family house status: completed 2011 UNStudio: ben van berkel, caroline bos, astrid piber with rené wysk, kirsten hollmann-schröter and cynthia markhoff, christian bergmann, jan schellhoff, iris pastor, rodrigo cañizares, albert gnodde, beatriz zorzo talavera, shany barath, esteve umbert morits and hannes pfau construction management: G+O architekten gmbh, leinfelden-echterdingen structural engineer: bollinger und grohmann gmbh, frankfurt structural engineer on site: kraft baustatik, biesigheim electrical: aktive partner michael blickle, stuttgart heating/plumbing: bauer & ihle gmbh, esslingen ventilation: plangruppe emhardt, möglingen landscape: atelier dreiseitl gmbh, überlingen lighting advisor: ag licht gbr, bonn