Client: private

Conception and artistic supervision: Prof. Florian Hertweck, Architect, Luxembourg

Structural Engineer: Stelio Berikaki, Sinzig

Technical Supervision of the construction: Ira Matheis, Architect, Remagen

Photographer: Bildpark / Veit Landwehr, Cologne

Planning Phase: 2014-2015

Construction Phase: 2016-2020

Housing surface net: 182 m2

Construction Type: Sandwich Concrete Walls 16/14/20, Concrete slabs, Timber/aluminum windows

Press Distribution: v2com

About Studio Hertweck

Studio Hertweck is a creative laboratory with an international network of outstanding experts in various fields, from landscape architecture to climatic engineering, who regularly come together for innovative designs and the realization of various projects, from the scale of the architectural object to the neighborhood, and territorial strategies.

This is a view of the house from the vantage of the street leading to a wide driveway.

The wide driveway of the house leads to a garage with a wood-toned door that stands out.

This is a front view of the house that has white exterior walls, wide glass walls and a wrap-around balcony with wrought iron railings.

This is a closer look at the second level of the house that has wrap around balcony and glass walls.

The balcony has wrought iron railings for safety and aesthetic across from the glass walls.

The balcony leads to this outdoor staircase that is still followed by glass walls.

The glass walls give a glimpse of the interiors of the house and at the same time bring in natural lighting.

The simple living room has a large L-shaped sectional sofa with a gray tone that stands out against the hardwood flooring.

The wide living room has sections with tall ceilings paired with pendant lights and glass walls.

This is an over-all view of the living room with a simple sectional sofa across from the large TV on the opposite wall.

This is a view of the interior staircase with wood toned steps to match the hardwood flooring brightened by the glass walls.

The landing can be viewed from the vantage of the kitchen island that has a sink area on its corner.

There is a thick wall of concrete separating the living room area and the kitchen and dining area.

This is a close look at the kitchen area with a kitchen island that has the same wood tone as the hardwood flooring paired with black cabinetry across from it built-into the thick wall divider.

At the edge of the kitchen is the dining area with a rectangular dining table that also matches with the hardwood flooring bathed in natural lighting from the glass walls.

This is an illustration of the garage level floor plan and its sections.

This is an illustration of the first level floor plan and its sections.

This is an illustration of the second level floor plan and its sections.

This is an illustration of the third level floor plan and its sections.

The Röhrig House is part of a series of hillside houses designed by Studio Hertweck in the German Rhine Valley. It is located on a steep slope on the edge of the buildable land of Sinzig-Westum, a German municipality between Bonn and Koblenz. The client, a young family with one child, wanted to have generous interior and exterior shared areas, in combination with a rather classical program: two children’s bedrooms, a home office, a parents’ bedroom, and two bathrooms.

In order to translate this program in an economic way, Studio Hertweck has inscribed a very simple cube into the slope. Garage and storage rooms were accommodated on the ground floor, the children’s bedrooms with a bathroom on the first floor. On the second floor, an open living area was created, which opens onto a terrace towards the valley and at the back onto a garden. On the third floor, the architect located the parents’ area with their bedroom, bathroom, and home office.

The garden has been connected to the roof terrace by a set of terraces and outside stairs so that people can walk around the house while opening up beautiful views of the landscape. The reduction in terms of materials and the use of unfinished double-shell in-situ concrete walls not only has aesthetic value but also enabled the architect to dispense with some trades such as plastering or scaffolding.

To push the economy of the project even further, Studio Hertweck designed a single shaft in the center of the cube which contains all the networks of the house: from electric cables to water pipes, from the chimney flue to the laundry chute. All the technical appliances and sanitary equipment are arranged around this shaft so that they can be connected exclusively to it. The house is designed so that there are no thermal bridges and is heated by an air-water heat pump.