Urban Beach - Roof Extension in a Center Row House

An unused attic space in a typical mid-terrace house from the 1950s was to be expanded. The settlement and the house are under monument protection. A low room height and the monument preservation requirement to allow only small-format roof openings limited the scope for design. The initial situation therefore initially promised conventional room solutions. The situation was like in Jacques Tati’s film “Les vacances de Monsieur Hulot” who was the last to arrive at his hotel on the Atlantic coast at the end of the day and only got one room under the roof - cramped, but with a view. The challenge was to compensate for the spatial and legal restrictions and to offer an open, sky-oriented space with diverse uses and intense atmospheres. The existing deficits should be viewed positively and the deficiency should create a new quality that creates associations with a vacation-like and sun-drenched place.

Urban Beach: