LIVING FOUND UPON LIGHTNESS

Studio design VI | Das leichte Haus

Instructor: Dipl. Arch. ETH Corina Trunz

Biberach, Germany

Summer, 2025

The lightweight structure is situated in the city center of Biberach, Germany, occupying a location atop row-office buildings near the train station. The goal of the design involves adapting living life to the vertical space created on top of a building, utilizing lightweight structure and construction. This new extension integrates a timber shell structure (Holzschale) that takes figuration of the rhombus-like form. The structural design incorporates two modular components arranged in repetition and reflection along the vertical axis, collectively forming a cohesive spatial sequence. The roof structure facilitates an open space that connects three previously isolated buildings under. Each module of the shell accommodates distinct types of housing, divided into categories such as apartments with or without lofts. These living spaces are characterized by their differing forms and scales, emphasizing the presence of structural elements to express the lightness between architectural elements, the spatial, and the overall richness. The lightness can be found in the connection between the tensioned cables and the rafter; between the illusion of the translucent wall layer or even in the air gap in between different layers of walls. Overall, this design approach challenges to the principle of how space can be formed and leaving a question of how form invents function

Spatial definition over lightweight structure

The project begins with a few studies on structural language and material in order to obtain the lightweight space and the tectonic aspect.

And this was found through the ambiguity of the overall structure, with non-straight pillars and translucent material.

Structural model—study model