House K
At the southwestern tip of Lake Lucerne, at the foot of Pilatus, nestled in a wooded mountain landscape, lies the Obwaldner community Alpnach. The Küng family, which runs the third-generation local timber construction company of the same name, built their own, innovative residential building there.
Consciously, the building seeks to be close to the traditional Obwalden wooden buildings on an architectural as well as a constructive level, but continues to develop these in the sense of a contemporary identity. In this way individual motifs and moods are taken out of context and condensed into a new, independent expression.
The plot is located in the middle of an architecturally heterogeneous residential area. In the sloping topography of the plot, the solid, concrete pedestal, reinforced with bamboo, forms the foundation of the house. Above this pedestal rises a three-storey, elegant timber construction, which was created from the company's own solid wood system. The exclusive use of wood determines the architectural expression of the building. Above all, the two arbours, which differ in design and function, shape the "face" of the house. Consequently, even the shading elements of the building were developed as wooden, automated train shops.
All exterior and interior walls including the roof are made of untreated, untreated solid wood elements and completely dispense with additional insulation materials. The floor slabs are designed as massive board pile ceilings. A home without metal, without glue and without chemical building materials - only the pure wood.
Thanks to state-of-the-art processing technology and centuries-old timber construction knowledge, local houses made of local spruce / silver firs created a house made of natural and ecological building materials. In matters of heat storage, shielding of electrosmog, as well as in sound and fire protection, this system is far superior to conventional wood construction. In a consistent manner, the further interior work was also created from natural building materials.
If you enter the house from the main entrance, the interior develops as a continuum around a central access core. The option of going different ways between the individual rooms creates the impression of spatial generosity. This is further enhanced on the ground floor in the horizontal by the use of room-high sliding doors and on the upper floor in the vertical through the two-storey gallery area.
The central development core is made of rammed earth, the material of which was extracted from its own excavation pit. It connects the four floors and marks the center of the house. The core creates an exciting, earthy contrast to the otherwise bright and spacious rooms. Thanks to its proximity to the wood-burning stove, it ensures an ideal, delayed release of heat over all floors and regulates the humidity in the entire house perfectly. Tadelakt for the walls in the wet cells and casein for the floors in the entrance area as well as in the bathroom complete the range of natural materials.
