Following our story about Shigeru Ban's apartments secured by rolling metal shutters, here's a concrete house near Stuttgart that can be sealed with sliding screens.
Located in the Esslingen district, the three-storey House KW by German architects Käß Hauschildt is nestled against a sloping meadow overlooking an orchard.
A concrete staircase connects multipurpose ground floor rooms with first floor living areas and second floor bedrooms.
Concrete ceilings are exposed throughout the house.
See also: our earlier story about a house that becomes a fortress by night.
Photography is by Antje Quiram.
Here's some more information from the architects:
Home for a family of 4, the house is located on the outskirts of the development area "Mittlere Rosselen" in Esslingen near Stuttgart, Germany.
Sloping down in east-west orientation, the hillside property is merging into the surrounding meadow orchards with their old trees.
Being three-storey facing the residential road, the building is two-storey only on the garden side.
The house is entered on ground floor level.
Stairs lead from the entrance hall to the living area on the first floor where kitchen, living and dining room are arranged as a round trip around the central staircase.
The large windows offer superb views over the surrounding meadows and allow nature into the rooms.
The second floor accommodates bedroom, children's rooms and bathroom.
Despite the compact floor plan, vista across the complete building length create a generous impression of the rooms.
Building construction has been implemented using a minimum of trades and materials.
On the outside the building shows a rough concrete skin with precisely cut in openings.
As such a self-supporting facade it is, in comparison to alternative materials, particularly sturdy and timeless.
The interior is defined by white plaster block walls and exposed concrete ceilings and stairs.
Doors, build-in furniture and kitchen are white and blend in unobtrusively with the rooms.
