EFH Keiler
A Plea for a New Interpretaon of the Single‐Family Home: Open, Social, Permeable – and Consciously Opposed to Retreat and Isolaon
A Small Ensemble in Itself
The Keiler single‐family house is divided into two structures – a single‐storey entrance building and a detached main house form a small ensemble in themselves. The entrance structure, by remaining single‐storey, creates a clear gap to the neighboring building, which had to be built against, and calms the complex situaon next to the adjacent property. At the same me, the concrete entrance structure meets all fire safety requirements within the boundary area.
The main building is freed from the limitaons of the diagonally running northern property line by this created gap and, through its form as a clearly readable solitary structure, it references tradional building typologies – parcularly the tradional Einhof, which is characterized by a single, clear volume. Due to the shape of the plot on the north side, the clear structure moves closer to the street. This proximity is seen as an opportunity for open dialogue with the surroundings.
While the entrance volume is designed as a through‐building, providing a direct connecon between the south and north sides, the main structure opens toward the south and west. To the north, the solitary volume is held by a nearly closed wall panel. Along these two accompanying wall panels, the building unfolds: the entrance area with cloakroom, ulity room, and guest bathroom lies on the lower level – five steps up, one is led into the living and cooking area. The upper floor serves as a retreat – there are three bedrooms and a bathroom.
Lived Openness
The Keiler single‐family house stands for an architecture that thinks of openness in terms of design, interacon with the surroundings, the terrain, and the social context. Due to the plot’s layout, the building moves closer to the street. This proximity is understood as a chance for open dialogue with the neighborhood. The house becomes a mediator – an expression of a mindset acvely lived by its residents: curiosity, aenveness, a clear commitment to respecul and social coexistence – qualies not typically associated with the single‐family home.
Clarity and Reducon
The house’s external appearance is clear and reduced. It dispenses with a basement, garage – simply without unnecessary volumes. It emerges naturally from the terrain and seems to float above the landscape. The building is structured into 2.5 levels: the mezzanine level – the entrance area, the ground floor – for cooking and living, and the upper floor – as a private retreat. The forecourt remains understated – the two parking spaces are greened and blend discreetly into the landscape.
Filters
A central design principle of the house is the idea of a double shell: two layers surround the building – one fixed and one flexible. Using sliding wooden elements, the house can open or close its outer shell – a transion between public and private. The living atmosphere can be situaonally shaped by the residents: open, light‐filled, and communicave during the day – calm, protected, and secluded in the evening.
Honest Use of Materials
Honest, untreated materials are used throughout the building. Reinforced concrete construcon on the ground floor – robust and safe in areas of potenal fire transfer and in contact with the earth – calm and grounded. The upper floor and roof are made of solid wood – warm and natural. Both the concrete and solid wood are le raw and untreated. The materials are allowed to live and age naturally. Energy is supplied via an air‐source heat pump and a PV system on the roof.
Respecul, Aenve and Open
The Keiler single‐family house is an open house with a strong atude: it presents itself as welcoming, flexible, and permeable – and yet is able to withdraw when needed. Openness and privacy are not opposites, but two states between which this house mediates with elegance. The openness of the house becomes both an architectural statement and a consciously lived daily reality. It is a building
for a family that does not retreat into the supposedly pey‐bourgeois single‐family home, but instead acvely seeks dialogue with the neighborhood. The open character of the house is also reflected in the design of the outdoor space. The deliberate avoidance of fences, massive barriers, or significant terrain alteraons expresses a respecul, aenve, and open atude toward the surroundings.
A house that mediates – between space and people, between inside and outside, between today and tomorrow.
