Giessen House is a minimal home located in Giessen, Germany, designed by John Pawson. This project was always going to be about taking a set of established architectural principles and applying them to the creation of an enclosed domestic universe. It was designed for a site formerly occupied by a mews house, located between parallel rows of townhouses in the town of Giessen in central Germany. While daily life and lines of sight freely extend beyond the house’s boundaries to colonize the entire plot, the atmosphere is purposely introspective at ground level. The focus switches to elevated views and a gradual recalibration of the conversation between interior space and the loss of natural light on the upper floors.

Photography by Harry Crowder