Hercule House Makes a Bold, Sculptural Statement in Suburban Luxembourg

2019-03-14 14:24

Designed by Luxembourg-based architecture practice 2001, Hercule House in Mondorf-les-Bains, a leafy community in the country’s southeast, does not shy away from the limelight. Named after local hero John ‘Hercule’ Gruen, the concrete and glass volume stands out against the neighbouring farm houses and suburban villas in its monolithic monumentality. It is a bold sculptural statement that takes advantage of the sloped terrain to hide all the communal areas of the house below ground, on top of which, the box-shaped volume containing the private quarters “emerges fiercely from the ground like the tip of an iceberg”, as the architects explain.

在2001年卢森堡的建筑实践中设计的，在蒙多夫-莱斯-贝恩斯（monorf-les-Bains）的赫克洛（HercroweHouse），位于该国东南部的一个多叶社区，并不羞于远离聚光灯。在当地的英雄约翰·赫克勒斯·格鲁恩之后，混凝土和玻璃的体积与相邻的农舍和郊区别墅在其整体的纪念性中脱颖而出。它是一个大胆的雕塑曲线，它利用倾斜的地形来隐藏地下所有的公共区域，其中顶部是包含私人宿舍“像冰山的尖端那样强烈地从地面出来”的箱形体积，正如建筑师所解释的那样。

Photo © Maxime Delvaux.

照片：Maxime Delvaux。

Photo © Maxime Delvaux.

照片：Maxime Delvaux。

Photo © Maxime Delvaux.

照片：Maxime Delvaux。

Photo © Maxime Delvaux.

照片：Maxime Delvaux。

Photo © Maxime Delvaux.

照片：Maxime Delvaux。

Photo © Maxime Delvaux.

照片：Maxime Delvaux。

From the street, a gentle slope leads down to the house’s basement level where most of the its functions are accommodated, including a fitness - spa area, laundry room, wine-cellar and the garage, in the middle of which are the living quarters. Conceived as a large open-plan living room that also encompasses the kitchen and dining area, the space opens up to a sunken courtyard which allows plenty of natural light to illuminate the interiors, courtesy of the floor-to-ceiling glazing across the room’s 14-metres length, as well as the adjacent garage and fitness room, concealed as they are behind translucent panels.

从街道上，一个缓缓的斜坡通向房子的地下室层，在那里，它的大部分功能都得到了满足，包括健身。

Photo © Maxime Delvaux.

照片：Maxime Delvaux。

Photo © Maxime Delvaux.

照片：Maxime Delvaux。

Photo © Maxime Delvaux.

照片：Maxime Delvaux。

Photo © Maxime Delvaux.

照片：Maxime Delvaux。

Photo © Maxime Delvaux.

照片：Maxime Delvaux。

Photo © Maxime Delvaux.

照片：Maxime Delvaux。

Photo © Maxime Delvaux.

照片：Maxime Delvaux。

Photo © Maxime Delvaux.

照片：Maxime Delvaux。

Photo © Maxime Delvaux.

照片：Maxime Delvaux。

Above ground, the cubic volume houses three bedrooms on two floors, whose floorplans reflect the dimensions of the living room underneath. On the shorter street and garden sides, the facades are designed as curtain walls lined in reflective glass that provides both solar protection and privacy, not to mention expansive views of the verdant surroundings. It's also a clever way to integrate the monolithic volume into the leafy neighbourhood by reflecting the landscape around it. On the contrary, the north façade is completely blind, its concrete mass providing structural support to the two floors, thereby eschewing the use of pillars in the middle of the living room. The south façade is also made of concrete but is punctured by a series of strategically placed deep-set windows.

在地面上，立方体积的房子在两层楼有三间卧室，其平面图反映了下面起居室的尺寸。在较短的街道和花园边，立面被设计成幕墙，内衬反光玻璃，既提供太阳能保护，又提供隐私，更不用说绿色环境的广阔景色了。这也是一种巧妙的方法，通过反射周围的景观，将整卷书整合到绿叶丛生的街区中。相反，北立面是完全盲目的，它的混凝土质量为两层楼提供了结构支撑，从而避免了在客厅中间使用柱子。南面的门面也是由混凝土制成的，但被一系列战略性的深窗刺穿。

Photo © Maxime Delvaux.

照片：Maxime Delvaux。

Photo © Maxime Delvaux.

照片：Maxime Delvaux。

Photo © Maxime Delvaux.

照片：Maxime Delvaux。

Photo © Maxime Delvaux.

照片：Maxime Delvaux。

Photo © Maxime Delvaux.

照片：Maxime Delvaux。

The interior design shares the same austere, brutalist sensibility that characterizes the building exterior. Throughout the house, exposed concrete walls and ceilings bring the building’s structure to the fore, constituting a stripped down aesthetic, which is enhanced by trim-less, built-in furnishings such as light fittings, cupboards and wardrobes, a subdued colour palette of neutral tones, and a total lack of decorative elements. Terrazzo flooring in the communal spaces perfectly complements the roughness of the board-form concrete, while natural wood in the form of wall pannelling and floor parquet, in conjunction with sanded concrete surfaces, imbue the private quarters with a softer texture. “The resulting austerity”, as the architects say, “underlines the essence of the project: the minimal quality of the interiors fosters a relationship with the context”.

室内设计共享相同的朴素、野蛮的情感，表征建筑的外部。在整个房屋中，外露的混凝土墙和天花板将建筑物的结构提升到前方，构成了剥离的美学，其通过无装饰的、内置的家具（如灯具、橱柜和衣柜）、中性色调的柔和的调色板以及装饰元素的总缺乏而增强。公共空间中的水磨石地板完美地补充了板状混凝土的粗糙度，而以墙壁镶板和地板拼花形式的天然木材与砂磨的混凝土表面结合在一起，给私人空间带来更柔软的质感。“所产生的财政紧缩”，正如建筑师所说的，“强调项目的本质：内部的最低质量促进与上下文的关系”。