Haus Am See Etxebizitza

Press Kit

Unique Properties

The house on the lake also treats its protagonist – nature - with the greatest respect. Interior and exterior seem to merge with each other. The hundreds of years old trees live with the inhabitants of the house, they are present everywhere and one even grows through the house. The large crowns of the ancient oaks and chestnuts take the modern tree house with its restrained wooden facade in their midst.

Dimensions & Packaging

The house has a living area of 610 m², of which 66.5 m² is the loggia and 6.4 m² is the patio. The load-bearing structure of the building is a steel skeleton standing on 40 diagonal stilts spread across 10 individual foundations.

All cabinets inside the house are built-in cabinets made by a carpenter. The sliding windows to the lake side are 3 meters high and 7 meters wide. The handicapped accessibility of the house is ensured by an appropriate elevator.

Tags

passive house, german architecture, sustainable design, steel structures, house on stilts, lake house

Production Technology

The ceilings, floors and walls of the house are made of pine wood, and the thermal insulation is made of cellulose fiber. The facade is made of vertical narrow larch slats and the roof surfaces are extensively greened.

Design Challenge

Due to the large tree population on the property, the structure could not be erected with a normal tower crane. Instead, the entire building was assembled in sections using a telescopic forklift.
A major challenge was the complete infrastructure: supply and disposal of water or wastewater with the necessary slope in the weight-bearing ceiling structure. For this purpose, the holes required for all pipes had to be integrated in the wooden beams and steel girders. As a result, each beam and each girder is unique.

Research

Nature, in the first place, is playing the star role in the draft of the architect’s house. The water had him captivated and he thought to himself, how can he places the interior and exterior as close to the lake as possible. The first drafts were quickly realized, Mies van der Rohes Farnsworth House as the inspiration. It would be a house which respected the nature by integrating it in its architecture. The age-old trees would remain untouched – this was clear from the beginning.

Inspiration

The architectural concept of the house pays tribute to the historical roots of the place. Without compromise, it subordinates itself to them without touching their essence. The structure floats above the terraces, respecting their space and form.

Project Duration

The project started in 2016 and finished in 2020. In Potsdam, Germany.

Operation Flow

Despite the height of the living level, the loggia is nevertheless situated 8 meters above the water surface, making the lake ever present in the house. At breakfast time the users of the house already see gray herons and swans passing by at eye level and in the evening here and there you will see otters waddling through the shallow water.
The heart of the house is the large kitchen-dining room, with a fireplace, seating area and a 7.5 m long olive wood table. Here is where the family with six children come together and enjoy their meals. The two big dogs, Schröder and Tilda, have also found their favourite spots here, where they spend hours warming their fur coats next to the lit fireplace.
It seems as if all of the residents have arrived to their house by the lake. None of them wish to leave and they don´t need to for that matter, either. Nevertheless, even in the event that the circumstances of life should change, the architect already made sure there were possibilities: the house is designed in such a way that it can be divided into three units with ease. Perhaps they even start a really nice pensioner´s shared living community in the future, or even a multigenerational house.

Image Credits

José Campos