Red house on the hill

1993-1995

For the first house in an industrial estate in Lünen, we chose the site at the highest point of the area together with the client. Based on an examination of the building culture of the Ruhr area and the design statutes of the industrial estate, the building follows the idea of the worked clinker brick blank – a useful sculpture! The worked areas of the ‘blank’ refer to the entrance and window recesses, emphasised by red stucco surfaces as a smooth surface against the rough clinker surface.

However, the natural light inside is the most important design material. Each room is given its own special lighting assigned to its function and guided views. Based on the colour of the clinker brick, a red colour canon is designed for the interior. The clinker brick is also used in the terraced design of the outdoor facilities and thus deliberately references the regional modernist role models: Haus Esters and Haus Lange by Mies van der Rohe in Krefeld as well as the industrial buildings of the Zollverein colliery by Fritz Schupp.