Biographical spaces

Finding an apartment of one's own in which one can completely realize oneself is a dream for many. The fact that this wish can sometimes come true is shown by an apartment in an old building in Stuttgart: There, after years of searching on the competitive Stuttgart housing market, the owners were able to purchase a property that offered a perfect template for pursuing their individual idea of their own home. However, this first required a further waiting period, as the apartment could not be taken over until a year after the purchase. The building owners took advantage of this to develop a uniform design concept together with the Stuttgart office no w here architekten, in which, among other things, the luminaires from serien.lighting played an important role.

The apartment is part of a complete ensemble designed by the Darmstadt architect Erwin Blankenhorn in the style of new objectivity. It is located on the 3rd floor of a listed house built between 1912 and 1913 and has a floor plan organized around a central hallway. The two outer rooms facing the street each have a bay window with three-sided glazing, and the back has two covered porches. The architects worked with what was found and had numerous historic details repaired, such as wall paneling, coffered doors, and terrazzo floors that were still in place. In addition, the solid beech wood floor was sanded and pigmented. Due to the previous planning during the one-year waiting period, the concrete implementation of the refurbishment was possible in only six weeks.

Despite the concrete reference to the history of the respective rooms, the architects also implemented contemporary elements in the apartment, which at the same time echo the past. Thus, the no longer existing stucco on the ceilings in the dining room and living room was reinterpreted in the form of ornamental stucco rings. These are located above the dining table, which is illuminated by the "Draft Suspension Rope" pendant lamp from serien.lighting. The spacious living areas are suitably bathed in a uniform light by the "Draft Ceiling" and "Drum Ceiling" ceiling lights. In addition, there are other luminaires from serien.lighting such as the pendant luminaire "Cavity Suspension" in the kitchen or the wall and ceiling luminaires "Cavity Recessed" and "Cavity Wall" in the bathroom. The furnishings follow a biographical principle in that many pieces of furniture, objects and artworks are linked to places, events or friends of the builders. One example is the large-scale artwork in the living area, which is set off by the white "Reflex² Floor" floor lamp from serien.lighting. Its abstract-minimalist appearance forms the greatest possible counterpoint to the expressive art in dark colors – and thus exemplifies what an individual home can look like.