Through the mask. The space between nature and architecture in Egon Eiermann’s house

Abstract

This article studies the threshold space that the German architect Egon Eiermann designed for his own house in Baden-Baden, that he built between 1959 and 1962. The research is developed from the original documentation of the time, the photographs and data taken in situ, the redrawn plans and an exhaustive bibliography. The text is divided into four sections: the first describes the project and talks about the conformation of the intermediate space as part of a serial work in Eiermann's architecture; in the second section, the influence of the traditional Japanese house is studied -with special attention to its engawa- and it is reflected on the relationship of the house with the garden and on the degrees of intimacy of the proposal; the third talks about the response that the house envelope offers to climatic problems; finally, in the fourth section, the components of this technological mask are analyzed one by one. Everything, described here, serves to explain the value that this threshold gives to the project, its ability to transform the space and the change of character caused in the building thanks to the lightness of this enriching perimeter element.