Klenke Apartment Building

Street facade.

Project details

• Project Name: Klenke Apartment Building
• Client: Uta und Karl-Heinz Klenke
• Project Type: Residential
• Principal Designer/s: Archifactory.de
• Design Team: Matthias Herrmann, Matthias Koch, Kerstin van Treeck and Carsten Deis
• Date of commencement of project: 2003
• Date of completion of project: 2004
• Location of site: Dortmund, Germany
• Site Area: 556 sq m
• Built-up Area: 1855 sq m
• Cost of Construction/Execution: 404.000 €

Words from the designer

"The industrial area of Siegen is situated about 100km south of Dortmund, regionally in between Westerwald and Sauerland. It is one of the oldest iron processing regions in Europe. Due to poor economic conditions towards the end of the 19th century; a new method of timber-framed construction broke away from the medieval tradition -- which was characterized by opulent usage of material and ornaments. Thus we arrive at a simple house type with proportions deriving from classicism.

Our proposal for the reconstruction of the Klenke Apartment Building is based on the artistic principles and thoughts of this long-forgotten type of building."

[Left] Northwest facade. [Right] Street facade.

"The suburbs of Dortmund are generally laid out in grid-block. On one such block's road, we reconstructed a two-floor apartment building and then extended it by another floor."

The kitchen at the 2nd floor.

"The two existing floors had to be adapted to contemporary lifestyles, and so the integrity of the ground plan needed to be maintained to the greatest possible extent. The newly arranged upper floor received a slightly varying plan layout -- including an open living area."

[Left] The staircase. [Right] Looking down the staircase.

"Situated on the gable wall, the core of the development with its old wooden staircase and toilet areas was completely removed, and replaced by a Ferro concrete staircase with a light well."

Upward view into the "shaft of art".

"While the light well is used for illumination, morphing it with pictures turns it into an 'art well'. The building holds horizontal, large window openings and offers framed views over the surrounding buildings. "

View from the street.

"With its traditional roof shape and simple cubic stature, the new house seamlessly conforms to the typology of the suburban quarter. At the same time this existing image is put into question -- the new building shell comes across as a coloured block, whose lively surface changes in the light, as if it was a huge stone block."

View from the courtyard.

"The mix of tradition coupled with a reduction in opulence typical of traditional construction, causes an overlay of different images of what a house in this neighborhood represents. Thus informing the neighboring building development of the possibility -- of blurring the lines that define the boundaries of old and new.

The 'traditional' is defined in this house by the built-in flap tile and tilt-angle of the roof.

The fact that the building is situated next to a gateway to a delivery-yard, and the atypical front-end gable view; define the urban character of this house."

Credits

• Text by Archifactory.de
• Photographs by Archifactory.de, Christian Richters, Courtesy of Archifactory.de
• Compiled and Edited by Varun M Ajani