The Art 4 is the second in a range of three designs for my Materworks, inspired by the Bauhaus and Huf Haus and taking influence from Gropius’s Directors house the Art 4 is a combination of new technologies and Buahaus design techniques.
Gropius’s Directors house along with Moholy-Nagy half of the next door Masters house was destroyed by a bomb during WWII. When Gropius built the house he wanted to have a section of his bedroom cantilevered over the rear terrace, this due to lack of the structural technology at the time was not possible. He had to have pillars supporting it, which he painted black to hide them. In 2011 Berlin architectural office, BFM (Bruno Fioretti Marquez) were commissioned to rebuild Gropius, this project was not a reconstruction but a modern homage to Gropius. Built from reinforced concrete, BFM are rebuilding the outside to match the original. But the interior of the house will be hollow and contain a plastic structure of painted wood.
Now that the technology is available BFM are rebuilding the cantilevered bedroom without the pillars, this design option intends to create the same architectural statement by offsetting the top floor of the house by one bay North and one bay East when looked at in plan. This cantilever will create a covered parking area to the rear and an L shaped terrace to the front, blend outside with in. In the main section of the house a void is cut in the floor with a wood burning stove suspended from the ceiling of the first floor and stretch down to the ground floor. Intended to connect the first floor with the ground and create a light well bringing sunlight into the middle of the house, this void also assists with heating the building by way of the wood burning stove.
The dynamic design of the house will reunite art with architecture by accommodating a large North facing artist studio on the first floor. The studio will be a prominent feature of the house, having wraparound glazing and being situated in the cantilever. Reinforced and insulated steel beams support the cantilever insulation will stop heat bridging and condensation.
