Editorial

These days there are certain topics that editors, mindful of current trends in house building, should no longer include in their publications. The current issue of AW on the typology of single-family homes is such an example. Indeed, there are many arguments that have been raised recently against this form of habitation, exemplified in the current debate about sustainability and energy efficiency, various reasons of an economic nature and, of course, by simple statistics: In Germany the number of planning permissions granted for owner-occupied houses has dropped by almost 60 per cent since 2006.
In May of last year a group of Austrian architects even launched a campaign at www.wir-planen-keine-einfamilienhaeuser-mehr.at, the very address spelling out their mission: „We no longer design single-family homes.“ Hoping to get at least 1000 supporters for their initiative they were inviting signatories to vote against the building of private houses for just one family; but so far only 16 architects have signed up. And then there are the two sizable stacks of letters which have been piling up on the editor’s desk in recent months, full of examples of single-family homes to be considered for inclusion in our publication. They rather point to the as yet unbroken popularity of the owner-occupied private house among architects as well as their clients. So, we decided to sift the material, do our own research and put together a themed issue on single-family homes – admittedly against the current mainstream. The projects presented in this issue are all by architects whose ingenious designs are in response to, at times, very complex preconditions.

Zum Thema
Was ist so schön am Eigenheim? Über die rationale Unschlagbarkeit einer Wohnform | Winfried Moser

Bauten
Einfamilienhaus in Falkensee | Julia Bergmann und kleyer.koblitz.architekten
Einfamilienhaus in Eschenz | Felix Jerusalem
Einfamilienhaus in Buchs | Keller und Brander Architekten
Einfamilienhaus in Rykkinn | Knut Hjeltnes as sivilarkitekter
Einfamilienhaus in Jegenstorf | Covas Hunkeler Wyss
Einfamilienhaus in Berlin | Helm Westhaus Architekten
Einfamilienhaus in Nürnberg | netzwerkarchitekten
Wohnhaus mit Gästehaus in Grosselfingen | Julia Berkhan Markus Fischer Architekten und Ingenieure
Einfamilienhaus in Ljubljana | bevk peroviç arhitekti
Einfamilienhaus in Darmstadt | Joachim Wendt
Einfamilienhaus in London | Adjaye/Associates
Einfamilienhaus in Wien | thalerthalerarchitekten
Einfamilienhaus in Köln | jäck_molina architekten
Einfamilienhaus in Antwerpen | bulk architecten
Wohnhaus mit Büro in London | Prewett Bizley Architects

Wettbewerbe
Einfamilienhaus in Kronberg (Taunus)
Hausboote auf dem Eilbekkanal in Hamburg