Haus auf der Hostert
The Haus auf der Hostert combines the functions of private living and the semi-public exhibiting of art. Inspired by the tradition of a villa typology, the house provides public and explicitly private rooms. In the northern part of the Bonn district of Plittersdorf, the HICOG estate, which was developed in the 1950s, has expansive rows of housing that mediate between the Rheinauenpark and the remaining, mostly small-scale development. There are a number of villas to the east, directly facing the Rhine. The Haus auf der Hostert also faces the river. The entrance façade to the west is closed apart from two precisely placed openings on the central axis of the building. But to the east, the living rooms open out along the building’s entire length and provide views of the Rhine and the Siebengebirge hills. The building volume, which faces the street with an exactly square front view, is sculpturally designed on that eastern side using racking and colonnades. In line with the focus on the central axis, which is indicated by the openings in the entrance façade, access to the interior is provided via the central hall to the three living floors, which are framed on both sides by adjoining rooms. They lead eastwards to the relevant living room and bedroom. The exceptionally fine materials – such as the “treasure chamber” of the library, which is completely clad in wood panelling – and not least the fact that the architect was also responsible for designing the furniture, give the house a special status among his designs. The Haus auf der Hostert stands as an example of a modern villa, a successor to buildings that give a public aspect even to rooms that can be used as completely private retreats. That is expressed in a symbolic way in the artworks collected there, which exist in a dialogue with the cultural understanding of their time that can hardly be separated from the works themselves.
