Alexander Brenner houses

Text in English and German. Brenner's villas can be seen and experienced as three-dimensional works of art, lucid sculptures to live in, thoroughly modelled down to the last detail. The geometrical sculptural effect is achieved outside by the horizontals and verticals of their architectural structure and bands of windows, used to powerful graphic effect, by the thrusting canopy roofs, the cubically effective white walls pushing into the rooms individually, and by their large expanses of glazed façades. They also stand up energetically to the organically designed gardens and other outdoor spaces. But what is completely unique is the design logic Brenner deploys to make the cubism of the external forms impact on the interior, applying it to the everyday utility objects in the living rooms, kitchen and bathroom. Amazingly, he makes it look completely natural that not only all the cupboards in these houses are adapted to the stereometric order of the spatial continuum's subtle rhythms, but so are bulky fittings like washbasins, bathtubs, cookers and dishwashers. So if there as ever been a Stuttgart style in the history of more recent architecture, as is so often asserted, then that style has achieved a new and functionally highly refined liveliness in Brenner's houses.