House Shmukler

The design thinking behind this house has absolute clarity. Ideas about sustainability, affordability and experience exist as an intertwined thread that runs from the initial concept, through the construction process and finally into day-to-day occupation. This approach has created a modest building that is simultaneously poetic and pragmatic.

A clean, shed-like form defers to a visually busy neighbourhood, with its wide variety of building styles, periods and types. By embracing the qualities and constraints of the long, narrow site, challenges have become opportunities. Light and air is pulled in from the northern end, from above and from low windows on the western and eastern edges. The experience of the house is literally turned inside-out by creating a spatially exciting interior, the form of which is also part of the passive heating and cooling strategy. The ground floor is treated as a singular tube of living space. Suspended above, and set against the warm plywood, are the crisp, white boxes that contain the bedrooms and bathrooms. This is clearly a great place to live.

The award for New House under 200 m² is supported by Hettich.