Houses in the park | Stefan Forster

These six urban “villas” are situated within Mühlbergpark, a protected park area in the district of Sachsenhausen in the south of Frankfurt. Arranged in two well spaced rows, offset at an angle to each other, these classically proportioned buildings blend quietly and harmoniously into their surroundings. An interplay between the open and the closed, between intimacy and expansiveness, is generated by the combination of a perimeter wall around the park and a loose grouping of the individual villas. With their simple, restrained design and elegant proportions, these apartment buildings, clad with clinker in various shades of grey, are reminiscent of the early villas of Mies van der Rohe, for example the Lange and Ester houses. The spaciousness of the whole complex is continued in the interior in the use of large-format wooden windows, dark ashlar stone tiles in the hallways, high walls and parquet flooring in the two- to five-roomed apartments.