Photography by Christian Burmeister, courtesy of Wirth Architekten.
German architecture critic Gerhard Matzig used these words to describe the typical German garage: prefabricated, ordered at a discount, and “sited in front of homes as if they had fallen from the delivery truck.” To Matzig, they “mark the aesthetics of purgatory.”
The building’s use of aged and gathered materials, its unusual lantern-like brickwork, and its congruence with regional farm vernacular make it quite unlike any other garage around.
The garage has two sets of wide wood doors: one near the street to allow cars in, and the other connecting the outbuilding to the garden.
The initial program dictated a garage and storage space for the clients, but the building’s purpose evolved over time.
In summer, the building lends itself to dinner parties and as a detached work studio.
The perforated walls are made of bricks recovered from a farmhouse destroyed by fire 20 years ago.
The brick walls are open to the elements—a technique borrowed from tropical climes to keep indoor spaces cool.
After dark, light is by simple ceramic sockets installed in gold-painted recesses in the concrete ceiling.
The wide oak planks were given four coats of linseed oil on recommendation of a local restorer.
Unlit, the garage looks like a closed cube.
Without disturbing the existing garden on the former farm, the only available plot of land for a garage was this 40 square meters (about 430 square feet) adjacent to the street.
Instead of a sloped roof, the architects chose an impermeable flat concrete roof to minimize the building’s profile.
Though modern, the structure fits perfectly in scale and materials with the red brick architecture of the region.
The Bremen-based architects, brothers Jan and Benjamin Wirth.