NeoGoldern – Not a single-family house! – neither a normal multi-family house

The new apartment building in Goldern – which we sometimes refer to affectionately and arrogantly as Neon Goldern – in wry reference to the legendary album „Neon Golden“ by the band The Notwist- is designed as a flexible apartment building. It combines up to four units, a guest flat on the first floor and an office/commercial unit on the ground floor. Programmatically and typologically, it obeys an almost prototypical search for an appropriate and sustainable way of building in the countryside. In this specific case, in a village of 90 people in the middle of Lower Bavaria within sight of the Isar I + II nuclear power plants. The village, which was historically – and almost still is – a pure farming village. At the moment there are a total of about 30 households, two full-time farms and three or four sideline farms.

The new building replaces the former large farmhouse and inn on the property, which was in acute danger of collapsing after 20 years of vacancy and was ultimately – after much deliberation – demolished in 2018. The result of the new building is a type of genetic crossbreeding between a traditional farmhouse, a modernist villa and a four-sided courtyard. Stylistic flourishes included. It creates various scenarios of use that are already possible in future scenarios. A high flexibility is silently inscribed in the structure. Whether as an apartment building with a studio and a collective courtyard – as it is currently used, or even the option of dividing it into two semi-detached houses at a later date – just as well as the use of the building for a large retirement community with a shared kitchen on the ground floor and a flat for a caregiver on the upper floor.

An expansion of the „empty“ rooms – the outdoor seating area and the roof terrace has been considered in the planning process and therefore possible as an internal extension in the structure. The large courtyard and the open spaces surrounding the house, such as the vegetable garden or the future orchard to the north can already be used collectively by all residents of the house without barriers.