MAISON HK

Location :

Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg

Client :

Privé

Associated architects :

Philippe Schmit et Georges Servais

Period :

1999 – 2001

Structural engineer :

Etre

Photos :

Lukas Roth

This corner property on the hilly outskirts of Esch-Alzette is characterised by its slanted position on a northern slope running against the existing house. Its eastern edge is confined by an avenue lined with linden trees, its southern border by a deciduous forest. The elongated new construction defines the south-side integration of the house into the landscape and was embedded into the sloping topography by means of long, low dry walls.

The core of the architectural project, an external courtyard slanted against the hillside, is framed by narrow and deep constructions and opens out to the edge of the forest. A tall glass wall acting as a three-dimensional object in space articulates the visual overlapping of the inside and outside spaces. The courtyard was conceived as an exterior room.

 

 

 

 

The two parts of the building, which have arranged centrifugally around the exterior courtyard, house an office, or dining room, with an adjoining kitchen. A kitchen garden in raised flowerbeds, surrounded by a dry wall, towers as a terrace over the garden path leading to the entrance of the house. Two parking spaces cut into the hillside round off the property on the street side. A newly created fruit garden structures the slope, with laurel hedges separating the garden from the street. The walling features a light sandy plaster finish. The dry walls were formed from layered sandstone in metal cages. The garden stairs use concrete components painted in matching shades. The terrace consists of natural light grey withering larch wood, while the glued laminate wood profiles and panels of the glass wall and the box-type windows were given a dust grey lacquer finish.