Formal simplicity of Albers House as a remedy to a cluttered environment: an example of a home that inspires optimism

Albers House is a renovation-expansion project by Atelier RZLBD of a pre-existing bungalow, completely renovated on the inside and elevated by one level. The original building is stripped of its auxiliary post-construction structures. Thus, the genesis of the project becomes its original square footprint and the existing off-center staircase to be preserved. Paying homage to Josef Albers' square, the idea for the renovated architecture of Albers House is that of an offset of square volumes, radiating from the central volume containing the staircase, the void, and the large square skylight

The staggered triple-height void, culminating in the square skylight, not only provides a poetic source of light but also serves as an axis mundi, drawing the gaze and mind toward the zenith as the body moves across the horizontal planes. Its experience is further dramatized on the second-floor walkway, which, flanked by the two voids, evokes a sense of liberation from the ground, toward the vast open sky overhead framed by the square skylight

The wall that descends along this void, composed of rectangles either subtracted from or added to it, is an ever-evolving painting of light and shadow. The various functions of the house are arranged around this functional and totemic spine, in harmony with the unifying spatial order

On the outside, the house is an abstract geometry tinted in various shades of gray: from the flat gray of the stucco, to the reflective gray of the metal cladding, to the dark gray of the flat roof profile. The formal simplicity of Albers House serves as a remedy to its cluttered environment. It reminds people of what a home could be, inspiring optimism for life