Haus Fügener
Opencast lignite mines leave behind huge devastated areas.
In Saxony, there were 27 mining areas, 3 of which are still active today. Here alone, 260 villages fell victim to surface mining. The initially seemingly useless open pit holes, also called mining cavities, filled with groundwater, which rises due to the hardly active lignite mining, which is only possible with groundwater lowering. But filling with groundwater alone would have taken too long, so additional flooding was done with rainwater, water from rivers like the Saale or Elster, and pumped groundwater from the remaining open pits. In 2018, all the remaining holes were filled, but they are still far from functioning like natural lakes. The plantings that have been carried out must be constantly maintained and renewed, and the pH value of the water, which is often still too acidic, is also raised with lime fillings as needed. The renaturation process, which has been ongoing for almost 30 years, is not scheduled to be completed until 2050. Around Halle and Leipzig, post-industrial crater landscapes have been transformed into the Leipziger Neuseenland.
Lake Hainer, with 600ha, is one of the larger lakes of the Neuseenlandschaft and represents a special feature with the possibility of shore development of residential and vacation homes.
All plots consist of a 18m deep shore strip on one half and a 18m deep water surface on the other half. The lot depth of 36m is the same for all lots, but the widths are variable.
The Fügener house was planned for the smallest parcel with a width of 10m. In order to occupy as little area of the small plot as possible, the house was divided into two houses. The front house is placed as close as possible to the street, the back house as deep as possible into the lake. A 12m long bridge connects both houses. The space between them remains free.
The single-story front house, with its closed street front, occupies the entire width of the 10m-long lot, protecting the property from view. The translucent bridge leads to the front house, which opens completely to the lake with its glass façade. The usable space of the tower-like rear building is distributed over 3 floors to minimize the footprint of the house. It has a width of only 5m. The remaining 5m of the lot forms a natural transition from the mainland to the water.
The front house contains a guest room, a workshop, the technical center of the air source heat pump and a shower room with toilet. The workshop can be fully opened to the street by means of a floor-to-ceiling folding door. On level 1 of the rear house is the kitchen-living room, on level 2 the bathroom, WC and bedroom, and on level 3 a studio.
Only three materials were used in the construction of the project: Steel, concrete and wood.
The majority of the structure is made of wood and steel and has simple and visible connections so that it can be easily dismantled.
