Potsdam, Germany
Haus em See is located in a historic lakeside property in Potsdam, Germany, on a site where a historic park café used to be. The Berlin-based architect, Carlos Zwick, bought this property wanting to create a place for a family, a house that engages with the elements of the surrounding nature.
Haus em See has been awarded a 2023 Future House Award by Global Design News and The Chicago Athenaeum Museum for Architecture and Design.
Ancient trees, water, and the listed Imperial Terraces -actually named after the emperor, who used to enjoy his coffee here in the past- determine the architectural concept.
Today the wooden house stands on 40 diagonal steel posts, with 10 individual foundations touching the imperial terraces in a respectful way.
With its facade made of vertical, narrow larch wood slats, the structure becomes a modern tree house. It integrates unobtrusively into the crowns of the age-old oaks, chestnuts, and linden trees.
Even the large maple that stood in the way of the house was left untouched and is now growing tall, right in the middle of the living room.
The loggia stretches across the entire width of the house. Eight meters above the water level, as though it´s floating above the lake. In the living areas, too, Carlos Zwick succeeded in creating closeness to nature thanks to the huge wooden sliding windows.
A long olive wood table stands in the middle of the spacious dining-living room, with a fireplace and kitchen aisle.
Large contemporary paintings hang on the walls. Some of these pieces of art are created by the architect´s partner in the in-house studio.
Project: Haus am See
Architects: Carlos Zwick Architekten BDA
Lead Architect: Carlos Zwick
Design Team: Christina Eigendorf, Natalia Szwedowska, Javier Sanjurjo, Mejo C. Joy, Carolina Botrán R.-Rey, and David Nicolas Gaar
Contractor: Claudia Kensy
Client: Claudia Kensy
Photographer: José Campos
