The house with a gable, known from countless children’s drawings, is the German archetype of housing. This typology creates the foundation of a surprisingly unconventional home for a couple that moved from a converted school auditorium back to the region of their childhood: To the green neighborhood next to the forests of Leipzig, with lush gardens and family homes that are facing the street with their gables.

The defining characteristic of the neighborhood was translated into a gabled residential building. However, this figure did not remain alone. In keeping with the motto “two are better than one”, the overall appearance of the new building is made up of two offset, narrow volumes.
This makes it possible to remain within the axes of the neighboring buildings, to react to the scale of the surroundings and at the same time to create the required spaces in a compact way. Instead of simple typification, the architectural design aims to transform the existing components in a way that an independent architecture is created. A clear and straightforward building with precise openings into nature. The views focus in particular on the forest to the east and the orchard to the west.

At first glance, the double gable and the round windows do not seem to fit in with the typical townscape of the suburban location. The façade, with its rough-sawn surface made of board-formed exposed concrete, seems to be closer to the forest than to the neighboring houses.
And yet these familiar proportions blend naturally into the architectural surroundings.
The house is accessed via a densely planted front garden. This acts primarily as an arrival zone between public space and privacy.

Behind the exposed concrete of the exterior walls, thermal insulation made of ecological and energy-efficient hemp limestone was applied on the inside. This hemp limestone was used for the first time in Germany for this project.
A warm, finely textured clay plaster on the walls and ceilings creates a connection between the differently proportioned rooms. For the flooring in the public areas, a shimmering green natural stone was chosen, which is also used in the sanitary rooms and showers. Natural oiled oak parquet was laid in the upper, private rooms.

The atmospheric lighting of the surrounding nature is falling through the finely structured round portal into the entrance. Like in a cave, these arched shaped doors and passageways continue throughout the house and create a connection between the open cooking and dining area -a reminiscence of the barrel vault of the school auditorium, where the owners previously lived in Leipzig’s city center. The living level of the new building is slightly elevated and surprises with a space that extends up to the roof. The private master area is situated on another intermediate level; a few steps above are the rooms for children, guests and working. Each room celebrates the individual view into nature and deliberately plays with the discrepancy between the elongated double shape of the house and the structure of rooms contrary to that.
This confusion is reinforced by two bracing walls in the interior, whose concrete has been left unplastered and rough-sawn to match the façade.

Building projekt: Duplex | new building of a family home in Leipzig-Portitz
Client: private
Completion: 2023
Photographer: Clemens Poloczek