Seifert House

Photograph by Paul Ott, courtesy of BAU|KULTUR.

Mrs. Seifert, sixty-three years old and curator of an art gallery, commissioned this house after her previous home, an approximately 150 years old building, burned down. For her new home she demanded a particular requirement - namely, the new house (contrary to her previous one) should fuse with nature in order to give her an immanent feeling of the change of seasons.

Photograph by Paul Ott, courtesy of BAU|KULTUR.

Subsequently, the conception of the house became a deep engagement with Mies, in particular with the Farnswoth House, and the question of how a space should be constituted in order to open itself to the surrounding by simultaneously offering privacy. Furthermore, it became an investigation of how much freedom in space effectively determines the way of living in contrast to a few certain spatial determinations that liberate. Whereas the first model refers to Rietveld's attempts to create freedom e.g. by means of sliding doors etc. the later model refers to Mies' structured open plan.

Photograph by Paul Ott, courtesy of BAU|KULTUR.

Mrs. Seifert tried to follow and understand the conceptual approach with great interest, and supported final decisions on the construction. She spared no effort to understand Mies' architecture and made educational journeys.

Photograph by Paul Ott, courtesy of BAU|KULTUR.

Notes on building construction:

Based on the personal and textual engagement of the owner, the house - which is made of none but concrete and glass - was constructed in less than seven months and with an incredible low budget (1.350 €/m2). Indoor the whole house was made of "hammered"exposed concrete. There is only a smooth pastel coloured surface inside the concrete "boulders"(= concrete blocks in the form of simplified rocks). To emphasise the open character of the house, the floor area around the "boulders"was designed with grey homogeneous concrete filler.

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