Page 103 - AIT0720_E-Paper

Entwurf • Design Kalhöfer-Korschildgen, Köln
Bauherr • Client privat
Standort • Location Köln
Grund-/Wohnfläche • Floor space ca. 60 m /10 m 2
2
Fotos • Photos Jörg Hempel
Mehr Infos auf Seite • More info on page 126

URBAN BEACH

IN COLOGNE

With the amazing Urban Beach roof extension in Colo-
gne, Kalhöfer-Korschildgen Architekten proved that a
dark, low attic of all things is able to bring ample light
into a spacious mid-terrace house from the 1950s. With
the help of movable elements, the shiny white multi-
purpose room serves as a place in the sun, a small pri-
vate pool or a bedroom for the family of three.

T he two-storey mid-terrace house not far from the Cologne city cen-
tre has a number of definite advantages. The location in a spacio-
usly laid-out settlement from the post-war period, the surrounding
green areas and the generous layout turned out to be ideal for the fa-
mily of three. The only downer: It is relatively dark – due to the small-
Grundriss Dachgeschoss • Attic floor plan format windows towards the street and the high, densely planted stock
of trees in the garden. Structural changes were unfortunately not really
a solution since the settlement and the house are under monumental
protection. Only the attic, until then used as a storage area, is exempt
from this and furthermore offers an unobstructed view over the tops of
the high trees, thus enjoying solar radiation into the evening. However,
the roof inclination of 32 degrees, the low room height, missing knee
walls and the conditions by the monument-protection authorities allo-
wing only small-format roof openings limited the scope of design. The
challenge consisted in compensating for the spatial and legal restricti-
ons and in designing an open space oriented towards the sky with va-
rious uses and intense atmospheres – connotations of a vacation-like
and sun-flooded place were explicitly welcome. To achieve this, the
floating screed was replaced with a floor of epoxy resin and the old fol-
Schnitte • Sections ding attic stairs with a new staircase. Two roof windows, which can be
positioned at a 90-degree angle, were installed as well as a utility room
and a WC mirrored on the outside and painted monochrome blue on
the inside. The radiant white ceiling- and floor areas reflect the daylight
entering from the southwest which, thanks to the glazing of the floor
hatch, now also serves to illuminate the hallway below it; at night, light
bands integrated in the covering of the braces illuminate the atmosphe-
ric multipurpose space. Two mobile steel elements, geometrically ad-
apted to the form of the roof, can be slid along the roof inclination and
produce a variable layout – from a lounge with a balcony to a bathroom
with a view into the sky all the way to a bedroom, everything is possible
individually or simultaneously. And whatever is not needed gets stored,
Detail • Detail decoratively concealed with fabric and space-saving, at the gable wall.

AIT 7/8.2020 • 103