Das Glashaus
Das Glashaus is a weekend House in Uckermark north of Berlin. It’s designed for a small family with plenty of guests. The house offers a chance to spend time in the countryside and enjoy the nearby preserved forest and lakes.
The house has a simple floor plan with a curved wall that creates privacy towards the road. All rooms overlook the open landscape to the west and have access to the large covered terrace. The beds are positioned along the facade so they can be accessed both from the inside and directly from the terrace. Likewise the shower can be reached directly from the outside. When the long row of glass doors is open, the small bedrooms and shower feel like alcoves along the covered terrace.
The staircase and the kitchen block are built into solid volumes of concrete bricks that frame the main living space. The curved stone wall is recessed towards east to create a small court for the first rays of morning sun protected from the wind. The wooden structure of the roof forms a green house on the first floor. It contains a large and bright space that functions as a studio for creative work and a great place to enjoy the view and daylight regardless of the changing weather. A bed, a working table and later a bathtub turn the greenhouse into a spectacular space during Spring and Autumn. Towards west, the entire roof surface is glass so the view over the green valley and sunset can be experienced from inside. The eastern slope of the roof is polycarbonate that creates a spectacular play with light, shadow and changing colors as the sun moves over the house. Every day is a new experience.
In the warm seasons, interior and exterior spaces grow together through the many openings on the garden facade. The interior of the house appears to merge with the garden defined by the curving wall of the house and green hedges of the garden. In the winter, the compact insulated one storey house becomes a cozy and intimate place to withdraw and see the landscape and changing light through the panoramic windows. The green house upstairs is an extra feature that can be used when the sun has warmed it up, or the wind has cooled it down.
