Photo courtesy Reinhold Andris Office, Walddorfhäslach.
Architect Reinhold Andris has lived in his house in southwestern Germany since 1998. Fifteen years on, the structure remains emblematic of his modernist perspective. “It’s a very open architecture,” he says, noting the near-invisible steel frame and pervasive use of glass. Unlike the traditional stone houses in the neighborhood, Andris’s home feels lightweight, thanks in part to the split-level plan and spatial fluidity. “When the sun moves through the house, it creates thousands of different situations of light,” he explains. “It’s still interesting to me.”
The 2,152-square-foot abode is one of the 100 houses profiled in the new book The Architect’s Home (Taschen, 2013), which also includes the residences of Arts and Crafts virtuoso Charles Rennie Mackintosh, high-modern master Alvar Aalto, and contemporary practitioner Werner Sobek. The houses represent a variety of styles, but they serve a shared purpose, as the tome quotes architectural historian Adriano Cornoldi: “Making a statement…free of anyone else’s intentions, much in the spirit of a poetic manifesto.”
