The house produced by Sergei Tchoban in the green forest connecting Berlin to Potsdam has three levels, one entirely below ground. The regular geometric layout, with a quadrangular form open on all sides with large windows, becomes a chance to experiment with a compositional game not unlike the construction games of Froebel, timeless pastimes with boxes of different sizes containing blocks of colored wood, used by kids to build imaginative houses and palaces in miniature.

In this case the playful sense of stacking becomes a project theme, as the building takes on character through shifts between its two stacked levels.

The first is anchored to the ground and clad in red brick, like many local constructions, and supports the one above it, like a glass box paced by a geometric skin of insulated aluminium that slides outward, along its diagonal and form more than half its length, created a portico zone prior to the entrance, and a large terrace on the first floor.

The apparent image in balance of the overall figure, which does not reveal the necessary support for the volumetric overhang of the first floor in terms of thick slabs, is resolved in static and structural terms by the use of two steel bridge beams, which inserted in the design of the facades of the upper level break up and become an integral part, identifying the entire cantilevered body with the support beam.

In this way, the intentional simplicity and clarity of the plan of reference are transformed on a volumetric level into a complex, dynamic, surprising element. A philosophy of approach that almost seems to lead back to the period of architectural folies, which precisely in the famous nearby Sanssouci Park populate the amazing late-1700s landscape ordered by Frederick the Great with various figures.

Surrounded by tall trees, this small work of architecture stands out from the context in terms of figure and materials, with fine views of the landscape on all sides, in a direct relationship with the interiors.

The trunks seem to enter the ground floor living area with its central fireplace, while the foliage moves outside the overhanging bedroom zone of the first floor, connected to the level below by a helical staircase in a two-story space.

The bedrooms open to the large terrace created on part of the roof of the brick block. The basement is set aside for personal care, with a fitness room and an entirely glazed spa clad in earth-tone mosaic tile.

Photos by Martin Tervoort – Text by Matteo Vercelloni

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View of the house in the greenery. The construction is composed of two regular blocks; the one clad in brick supports the other, faced with insulated aluminium panels. The overhang of the first floor is obtained by making the structure of the bridge beams coincide with the facades, avoiding the need for a thicker support slab.
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View of the house.
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The living area with the central fireplace.
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The spa in the basement.
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View of the portico zone at the entrance. The ceiling clad with the same aluminium sheets as the facades underlines the character of a suspended, overhanging ‘box.’
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View of the helical staircase in a two-story zone of the house.