A New York house built around a boulder
22.09.2023
A first-class timber construction: Christian Wassmann skilfully integrated a rock into the new home for his family. We accompanied the project in New York as structural engineers. Full details of the architect's project can be found in the "Architecturaldigest Report" on the following page.
Christian Wassmann emigrated to America in 2000 and established himself as a major player in the New York art and design scene. He worked for Steven Holl Architects for the first five years in the USA, then took the step into self-employment.
Report in the Architecturaldigest
The new home could be occupied in spring 2023. The house is not only a real eye-catcher, but also a prime example of energy efficiency.
Seven years ago, Wassmann and his wife began looking for a plot of land in New York State on which they could build a house for themselves and their two children, Kiki and Lorenzo. When their attention was drawn to a plot for sale in a former quarry, the story began with the new wooden building in a class of its own. An impressive rock is the central element of the new family home. For Wassmann, the connection between people and nature is central, so the rock is not disturbing. On the contrary: it is to become part of the new building.
After an in-depth study of the surroundings, the first sketches followed, in which the house integrated the boulder. This elegant solution concealed complex geometries with many construction challenges.
Wassmann rolled up his sleeves and assembled the prefabricated wooden elements with the help of local carpenters and specialists from the Swiss company trilegno; Timbatec was allowed to support the architect and the timber constructor trilegno in designing the technical details and creating the building statics.
The widely cantilevered and curved roof is only supported on four columns. With 3-D modelling in RFEM, the resulting forces are calculated.
In spring 2023, the time had come. The new home could be occupied. The house is not only a real eye-catcher, but also a prime example of energy efficiency. It generates about 18,000 kilowatts, but only consumes 8,000 - the surplus charges the electric car and is fed into the grid.