The house arrived in Berlin in the winter of 2023, with the ground covered in snow. It had been built in a workshop, and its installation meant bringing the Tini system into a different climate, with different working conditions and different seasons ahead. The client, also an architect, shared the goal of creating a simple house, very open to the outdoors, yet capable of regulating that relationship depending on the time of year.
We sought—then and now—structural, constructional, and aesthetic clarity. In this project, that intention is evident both in the house’s layout and in the bolted solutions that facilitated assembly, as well as in how the joints and connections between systems were resolved. The garage follows the same logic: it was transported in sections and assembled on the lot in just a few hours.
Four modules make up the house, along with a module for the porch and terrace and another designated as a garage. The layout seeks a certain Miesian freedom: a compact core of utilities occupies the center and frees up the rest of the floor plan, allowing the spaces to relate to one another and open onto the garden through large glass surfaces. Simple concrete walls serve as supports, leaving the house slightly suspended above the ground.
This openness to the landscape also provides a thermal response to a climate of stark contrasts.
The large south-facing porch and the adjustable louvers are passive measures that allow for adjusting solar exposure throughout the year: they shield the interior from the sun in summer and allow the lower winter sun to enter and warm the house. Thus, an envelope with a large glass surface adapts to the seasons. The facade combines this transparency with charred Japanese cypress wood; its dark tones and the shadows cast by the latticework give it a discreet presence. The galvanized steel of the garage completes this combination of materials.
Inside, the atmosphere changes. The interiors feature wood-cement panels in various colors, with yellow taking center stage—it brings brightness and contrasts with the dark tones of the facade. The goal was to create a home that appears cozy and unassuming from the outside, yet bright and open when lived in.
The photographs were taken in 2025, two years after the house was built. We wanted to see it again after several more winters had passed, to observe how the materials had aged and how the house had settled into its surroundings.
Team:
Architects: tini living x delavegacanolasso
Photography: Yasu Kojima
