Intended Audience
Trade
Reviews
Aiding the reader's spatial understanding of the project is the 2020 floor plan (above), which lists each of the 31 labeled interventions and keys them to the documentation in chapters eight and nine. This sort of cross-referencing is frustrating when omitted in books but helpful when included -- especially here, with a project that cannot be captured in one "overall" photograph and that entails numerous media and means of documentation to fully explain.
Synopsis
An ethereal late work by the Smithsons, hidden in a German forest In 1984, German furniture-maker Axel Bruchhäuser reached out to architectural duo Alison (1928-93) and Peter Smithson (1923-2003) with a playful letter ostensibly written by his cat and addressed to theirs. The letter between cats inquired about commissioning the Smithsons to build several lookouts on Bruchhäuser's home, known locally as the "Hexenhaus" (the "Witches' House"--a common name in the area where the Brothers Grimm wrote their fairy tales). Started in 1986 and completed in 2001, and located in a dense forest in Hessen, the renovation that the Smithsons undertook constituted an example of what they called "law of the conglomerate." Step by step, the house was expanded and opened to admit the light as well the trees, which became part of the interior. The house's primary materials are wood and glass, providing a poetic example of latticework and a stunning use of natural light.
LC Classification Number
NA997.S6
Text by
Smithson, Simon, Ramos, Ana Ábalos, Scimemi, Maddalena
