Architekten LEE + MIR: Awardee of International Residential Architecture Awards 2020. The property has been owned by the family for three generations. Black Forest is built on the foundations of the parental and grandparental houses and now offers the living space for the third and fourth generation.

The topography of the property on the hillside is extreme: bordered by the road and the steeply rising forest in the north, the terrain also slopes sharply towards the south. Here it forms an artificially created narrow but long plateau, which extends from west to east. The new house takes up the virtual contour lines of the site and abstracts them by superimposing the facades of the three floors polygonally in the direction of the view to the landscape.

The building appears closed on the entrance side towards the street. Only after passing through the garden gate, which develops from the homogeneous cladding of the garage doors, the building begins to gradually open up for residents and visitors.

From the partially covered entrance courtyard, you can get a first view from the outside into the kitchen and from there to the terrace on the southeast side. In the bright courtyard you are greeted by a perforated translucent steel filter with an apparently textile surface, through which you can access the interior of the living room via the integrated front door. Here on the top floor, the view over the living room, the dining area and the kitchen with fireplace opens into the valley of the family’s home town. The upper floor can be experienced as a coherent daylight-flooded room. Free, custom-made fixtures set in the room structure the room and take on the necessary functional requirements. Technical components, the elevator door and the access to the guest toilet are covered by floor-to-ceiling solid oak strips. A component that can be found throughout the house on all floors. A staircase covered with oak leads to the ground floor, where you are greeted by the daylight of the walk-in glass floors embedded in the floor of the upper floor. The parents’ area with dressing room and bathroom opens onto the garden, which cannot be seen from the outside. The bathroom and bedroom are designed as a large, coherent space, separated only by a glass pane, into which the sun’s rays fall from the east in the morning. The children’s rooms with private bathrooms are oriented towards the south to a shared balcony. From the balcony the children reach the garden in front of the parents’ area. A generous outside staircase creates the connection between the open and partly covered terrace on the upper floor and the garden on the ground floor. It leans against the slope side and ends in front of the pond with a waterfall in the east, the open space behind which forms the end of the plateau. From here you look back at the evening with a glass of wine to the gently illuminated house. … Before or after you decide to end the day in the SPA of the basement with sauna and fitness room. Alternatively, the upstream whirlpool waits for its determination…

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Third Award: International Residential Architecture Awards 2020 

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Firm: Architekten LEE + MIR
Architects: Jeremy Edmiston
Category: Private Residential Built
Project Location: Black Forest
Team: Marc Mir, Melanie Oster
Country: Germany
Photography ©Credit: Christina Kratzenberg, Jürgen Pollak

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Architekten LEE + MIR In all of our projects we work intensively with the building project and the needs of our clients. From the complex requirements, we develop customized solutions that meet both high aesthetic and functional requirements. For a complete and harmonious design, our planning does not end with the building envelope, but goes beyond furniture, kitchen and bathroom design, lighting design to the design of the outdoor facilities. Because of the early involvement of specialist planners and craftsmen, our buildings are of the highest level in terms of design, technology, energy efficiency and functionality. Each building is a customized solution that reflects the individuality and personality of our clients.