The Ökonomiebau consists in a small shelter for an agricultural vehicle in Berlins countryside. This very unusual command offered the possibility to design a building within a extremely low budget, whose goal consists only in protecting its content from the rain.
The construction is thus reduced to the necessary and succeeds in being a simple but not simplist solution. A basic structure serves to draw the lines of the minimalistic and archetypical volume, while industrial wooden slats overlap each other and simply create the outer layer allowing the impermeability of the construction. With the passing of time, rain and light will make the material loose its vividness on ist outer face, and therefore create a contrast with its inner one.
The result appears at the same time incredibly clear and strangely ambiguous. The construction seems to balance between an obvious fragility and an elusive massiveness, showing without any secret the ephemeral character of its building principles but giving by its language a striking presence an unspeakable impression of permanence.
Architect: JAN RÖSLER ARCHITEKTEN
Client: Private
Place: Brandenburg, Germany
Year: 2015
General contractor: Jan Rösler Bau
Photographer: Simon Menges
