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Jeden Monat nähern sich unsere Kolumnisten, die Berliner Filmemacher Dominik und Benjamin Reding, dem jeweiligen Heftthema
auf ihre ganz eigene Art und Weise. Geboren wurden die Zwillinge am 3. Ja nuar 1969 in Dortmund. Während Dominik Architektur
in Aachen und Film in Hamburg studierte, absolvierte Benjamin ein Schauspielstudium in Stuttgart. 1997 begann die Arbeit an ihrem
ersten gemeinsamen Kinofilm „Oi! Warning“. Seitdem arbeiten sie für Fernseh- und Kinofilmprojekte zusammen.

Each month our columnists, Berlin-based filmmakers Dominik and Benjamin Reding, approach the respective issue-specific theme
in their very personal way. The twins were born on January 3, 1969 in Dortmund. Whilst Dominik studied architecture in Aachen
and film in Hamburg, Benjamin graduated in acting studies in Stuttgart. They started working on their first joint motion picture “Oi!
Warning“ in 1997. Since then they have tightly collaborated for TV and cinema film projects.

T he ball flew further and further, in a wide arc, our eyes followed it: first enthu- designed himself and ensures that it is published in architectural journals. He loves
siastically, then anxiously, then discouraged. We were still hoping it would
a big appearance, a gaudy effect, with water taps shimmering golden, the toilet floors
bounce off the wall and roll back to us. But no, it went over the wall and was, we being made of marble and the kitchen being custom-made by a carpenter. For him,
knew it immediately, lost forever. We couldn't see what was behind that wall, not architecture is a luxury to be enjoyed. Winning him over as an architect is not for
even on tiptoes, not even on two school bags stacked on top of each other. Behind every builder, but a stroke of luck for every caretaker. He's giving them a treat: large
the wall was the house of the school caretaker. It was said he had a vicious dog; it living room, children's rooms, study, double garage, sometimes even two bathrooms,
was said he was divorced, it was also said he drank too much and he was irascible a terrace, pantry and underfloor heating. And if there's no room on the ground floor,
and that he slapped a pupil in the face – but all that was rumour, a secret surrounded the caretaker's apartment is simply placed on the roof as a penthouse or, as with my
by the washed concrete wall. Three days before the summer holidays, the school school, it is a house of its own. THE MAKE-SHIFT SOLUTION: Architecture is a difficult
grounds filled with construction noise. The wall had to go down and, moved by one thing. Between emergency exits and DIN standards, between thermal insulation and
meter, be rebuilt. It was the strict request of the fire brigade because their fire trucks artistic demands, between the clients' requests and insulating glazing, there is al-
had not got close enough to the school's entrance during a training exercise. I had ways something that remains unclear. Here a disturbing corner room, a too narrow
imagined the caretaker's dwelling to be gruesome and creepy. Those who take balls corridor, there a poorly lit ground floor room, or an unused roof terrace at the top.
from children can only vegetate in a crooked shed, a damp and cold vampire castle Fortunately, there is the caretaker's flat! Relieved, the architect adds bathroom, toilet
or a lightless, gloomy bunker. But something completely different emerged behind and kitchen and - voilà! - the remains of the unsuccessful floor plan are quickly tur-
the torn down concrete wall: a bright, competently ned into a caretaker's flat, and the architect can
designed single-family home with a pergola, flo- avoid the revealing words "storeroom", "multi-
wer windows and glass patio doors. The architect purpose room", "archive" and "terrace for breaks"
had granted the caretaker's family plenty of what in his plans. THE REPETITION: "So that I may per-
he had withheld from us pupils: space, light and ceive whatever holds the world together in its in-
playful details. That night, they rebuilt the wall most folds." The architect, who can answer this
and the filigree residence one again eluded Faust quotation with a clear yes, is the winner!
everyone's unapproved glances. From that day on, Not only will he become world famous, receive
I have constantly paid attention to and have been the Pritzker Prize and the chairs, armchairs and
on the lookout for this peculiar piece of architec- cups he designs will be in every designer apart-
ture, for this unavoidable remnant of human nor- ment, but he will also create a style. A concrete
mality in all the school, opera, university and mu- house on stilts? Le Corbusier style. A glass house
seum buildings full of grandeur and aspiration. Ca- with a wet room? Mies van der Rohe style. A white
retaker's flats are not easy to find, they're hiding. cube with rectangular windows? Bauhaus style.
They duck away, as if their profane floor plan is And once you've found the style and caught a hint
too much to bear for the Rembrandts and Mozarts of eternity, then you will firmly stick to it, from the
above. I'll give you a tip: when checking the floor design of the mailbox to the caretaker's dwelling.
plans, take a closer look at the ends of the office Foto: Benjamin Reding This can be an advantage if the style indulges in a
and circulation corridors, look in the basement, certain opulence, or it can go wrong if the ma-
look next to the canteens and garages. If you dis- ster's designs are too strict. Or it can become a
cover a bathroom, a kitchen and one, two, three unspecified rooms in this area, then true feast when, as in the caretaker's apartment in Hans Scharoun's Philharmonie in
you are searching in the right place. This is the caretaker's flat. There are five basic Berlin, the "repetition" blends with the "granted one". The apartment, which Scha-
types, which are repeated depending on the style and character of the designing ar- roun called "Heizerwohnung" (boilerman's apartment) in the original plans, is not
chitect. THE MONK'S CELL: Thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not commit adultery, thou only the lovingly scaled-down version of the golden ecstatic concert hall above, but
shalt not dwell in rooms larger than the cell of a monk. As an architect, the ascetic also provides two bright children's rooms facing south, a garden with a terrace and
cultivates iron principles; for him, the 4H pencil does not sketch rooms, but separa- pergola and a living room with a view of Potsdamer Platz. It's almost a pity that there
tes good from evil. He loves the right angle, he loves the reverberation in the empty isn't a boilerman with two happy children anymore, as there isn't a caretaker at my
room, he loves the veiled grey of a rough cast washed concrete wall. Building for old school anymore. A facility management company took over the job, whose em-
people? Of course not, they would only spoil the flawless geometry. He builds an ployees now have to look for housing on the free market all by themselves. I was
idea, bright, clear, unrelenting. His caretaker's flats know neither children, nor bath- told that the old caretaker had put two battered cardboard boxes in front of the
room windows, nor naturally daylight in hallways. He denies them to be located on school gate on his last working day, filled to the brim with balls.
the ground floor, because there could be a garden or a terrace. The ascetic likes to Now I have one more request: Do you live in a caretaker's apartment? Perhaps in the
locate the apartment in the basement, behind the parking deck or close to the boiler monk's cell type or the granted type or perhaps even in the repetition one? Then
room, and he might even be flattered if people say: close to purgatory. THE GRANTED there is a gift for you! Send a photo of your caretaker's flat to pstephan@ait-
ONE: Some architects smoke cigars, drive rare sports cars and sail the Aegean Sea online.de and you will receive the collected "Redings' Essays"! The photo with the
in summer. The indulging architect certainly does. He lives in an exalted house he most beautiful, weirdest, most ascetic caretaker's apartment will be published in AIT.

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