House SO is a minimal residence located in Stuttgart, Germany, designed by Finckh Architekten. The small, slightly sloping plot of land, just 9 m wide and 33 m long, is situated in a village-like, small-scale area halfway up the city Esslingen am Neckar, 15 kilometers east of Stuttgart. For decades, the young-at-heart retired couple wanted to build a carport on the premises. when it became known that this plot of land was construction land, they fulfilled the dream of their own small, modest home. Since as senior citizens could not get a loan from a bank, their wish of a “home where they can be on vacation every day” had to be realized with a very small budget.
A simple, slender, rectangular building with a slanted gable wall area that spatially defines the entrance plaza and spoils the interior with lots of natural light due to its full-surface, translucent polycarbonate façade. the cube, which is otherwise completely covered with corrugated fiber cement panels, floats towards the valley and generates the carport-like parking space for the mobile home. The building is fabricated in mixed construction, with the basement and ground floor consisting of reinforced concrete and the first floor and roof of wood-frame construction. Only by own work and the reduction of the number of work steps could the tight budget be adhered to.
The surface of the reinforced concrete ceiling is smoothed and colorlessly impregnated and serves as the floor. Inserted are heating pipes for thermal component activation. a “refined carcass” that creates structures and concentrates on the essentials. no corridors, no residual areas, rather a narrow, flowing, open space that generates width and conveys freedom. An inexpensive, resource-saving “tiny house” on a residual plot of land that conveys joy and joie de vivre, not only for the last phase of life.
A small, inexpensive, resource-saving “tiny house” on a remaining plot of land that had long been considered undevelopable, which makes a small contribution to the creation of living space in cities with a housing shortage through densification. the use of simple, inexpensive materials and the reduction of work processes and with own contributions made it possible to keep within the tight budget. An honest, Haitian, and natural, “refined raw building” that creates structures and concentrates on the essentials. no corridors, no residual areas, rather ONE narrow, flowing, an open interior that generates space and conveys freedom. a modest 3rd skin that radiates a lot of joy and joie de vivre, not only for the last stage of life.
Photography by Thomas Sixt Finckh
