Residence of the German Ambassador to Slovakia

2004-2008

Federal Republic of Germany,
represented by the Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Affairs, Bonn;
represented by the Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning, Bonn

The new residence of the German Ambassador to Slovakia is located in Bratislava, on a hill with a sweeping view to the south over the Danube. The castle, the city’s landmark, towers opposite the new building to the west.

The design interprets the paths and views of the property into a spatial choreography that allows the exterior and interior spaces to become a flowing spatial continuum …

The building emerges from the flowing movement of a white wall/ceiling band. This begins as a property wall on the public street Mudronova, accompanies the driveway, frames a forecourt at an angle, folds over and becomes the roof of the ground floor, before ‘enveloping’ the private bedrooms of the ambassador’s family as a meandering band.

The threshold-free handling of the natural stone flooring and the floor-to-ceiling glass façades with their generous sliding elements in the private and representative rooms seemingly remove the boundaries between interior and exterior space. The choice of materials is strictly reduced and limited to a combination of natural stone (Steigerwald quartzite), plaster, steel and smoked oak.

The standardised spatial programme of the presentation area is broken up by means of large sliding and folding walls, leading to new spatial diversity.