House Augustin

The project is exemplary for the conversion of a house as we know it by the hundreds of thousands. A detached house in a small German town, built after 1945, built by an unknown architect, unrenovated and disused. Grey architecture. Threatened with decay, demolition and economic replacement buildings or leisure-time patchwork. Cost pressure looms over all of them. Especially when, as in this case, young builders want to remodel the grandparents‘ home. Only a few of these existing houses are granted holistic planning in respectful treatment of the building substance. The result is a loss of building culture. The importance of this building task in dealing with our architectural heritage must be made clear to those involved in construction by means of realised examples. One example is the Haus Augustin.

This design aims to save the building. New elements follow the idea of building on. Architectural interventions are to be sensitively reduced to an appropriate level in order to conserve resources and costs. Timeless and aesthetic architecture, appropriately ageing materials, ecological building materials and low-maintenance technology give the house consistency for its existence for generations to come. This aspect is also reflected in the redesign of the floor plans. The house now functions for families over two storeys with generously extended living spaces and can be used as a barrier-free ground-floor retirement home with a second flat thanks to its structural provisions. A house must be able to adapt flexibly to the residents and their living situations.
The desired extension with one more room fits into the overall architectural picture as a roof extension of the original side house. For this purpose, its roofline is raised to that of the main house. The structure is a timber frame construction. The room is widened in the area of the two eaves to provide sufficient standing height under the sloping roof. The result is a directional bedroom into which evening light falls through a central gable window facing the garden down to its depth. The new overhangs of the top floor are carried by pillars in the exterior. Filter spaces are created between the new kitchen on the ground floor and the adjoining gardens. The natural shading of these loggias also provides thermal insulation in summer in the area of the large floor-to-ceiling south-facing glazing.

During the construction period, a friendship developed between the two building owners and us. A very enriching experience. Also to be able to see the house in use after it has been completed. The comments of the neighbours are shared to us. As a result, we are currently planning the conversion of a neighbouring house - to rethink grey architecture again. Made possible by the example of Haus Augustin.

Haus Augustin was named one of the 50 best single-family homes of the year in 2024. It received first prize in the "Goldenes Haus 2025" competition.