With his designs of atrium houses, the 33-year-old Günter Hönow won a competition for up and coming architects, the jury of which was led by Otto Bartning. His designs were convincing in their simplicity: the simplest of the atrium houses is also the most compact. At the center of a large living area without subdivisions, Hönow placed a functional block containing the bathroom, a separate toilet, an open kitchen, and the heating system along with other technical elements. This block is provided with light and ventilation by a so-called “lantern”, a skylight.
The northern end of the house features the garage and children’s room, illuminated by a small courtyard lined with slat walls. The large living room with a separate bedroom opens to the south and is fully-glazed except for a small chimney wall. There is no corridor. The large courtyard is divided between landscaping and terrace: the building-high wall on the south side was originally intended as a boundary and to provide privacy, but it has since been removed.
