Named OLS House, the three-storey concrete residence is positioned on a sloping site in a suburban neighbourhood and functions as the home for a family of four.

The clients asked J. Mayer H. to bring the view of the nearby valley into the house, so the architects added a line of floor-to-ceiling windows that wrap around the front corners. This glazing and the railings in front look like the teeth of the building, while rounded windows on either side look like huge eyes.

The house was constructed from reinforced concrete, then coated with two different shades of render to emphasise the rounded forms of the walls and roof.

A discrete entrance is positioned on one side and leads directly into the centre of the house. Here, a curving concrete staircase winds between the floors, leading up from spas and utility rooms on the ground floor to living and dining rooms on the first floor and bedrooms on the top floor.

Each room is outlined by curving partitions and furniture is built into the walls, creating functional storage areas for residents.

The middle floor opens out to both a balcony along the front of the building and a terrace at the rear, while the second floor also features a small sheltered balcony.

German architect Jürgen Mayer H. founded J. Mayer H. Architects in 1996. One of the studio's best-known designs is the Metropol Parasol, a giant latticed timber canopy in Seville, while other projects include a knobbly observation tower between Turkey and Georgia and a foster home for children and adolescents in Hamburg, Germany. See more architecture by J. Mayer H.

Photography is by David Franck.

Here's some more information from the architects:

OLS HOUSE near Stuttgart, Germany

The new house is on a plot of land near Stuttgart, on a hillside with a generous view of the valley. The owners wanted a new home that would bring this view to life even inside of the building. The house is in a residential area with conventional developments, most of which date from the 1960s.

The new, 4-person family home is divided into an elevated ground floor with entrance area, utility room and spa, and a second floor with an open, flowing floor plan containing the living, dining and kitchen areas. Full-height glazing provides a free view of the valley and terrace looking over the garden area. Upstairs are the sleeping areas, dressing rooms and bathrooms. The central design element is a sculptural staircase that connects all three levels.

The house was built as a reinforced concrete construction. The facade consists of one heat-insulating compound system and an aluminum and glass facade. Slats and anti-glare sheeting provide integrated sun protection, protecting it against heat. All of the lightweight partition walls inside are made of drywall. The floor is a seamless layer of screed. The roof with the deep, recessed balcony was built with pre-weathered zinc plate cladding and is fitted with solar panels.

Team: Juergen Mayer H., Marcus Blum (Project Architect), Sebastian Finckh, Paul Angelier, Hugo Reis, Julian Blümle

Project: 2009-2011
Completion: September 2011
Client: Private

Architect on Site: AB Wiesler + Michael Gruber, Stuttgart
Structural Engineer: Gunter Kopp, Leutenbach/ Nellmersbach
Service Engineers: IB Funk und Partner, Leutenbach
Building Physics: Kurz&Fischer GmbH, Winnenden

Function: Private House, near Stuttgart, Germany
Site area: 891 sqm
Building area: 306 sqm
Total floor area: 488 sqm
Number of floors: 3
Height of the building: 10,43 m
Structure: reinforced concrete, brick, roof: steel
Principal exterior material: EIFS, glass, zinc, rooftiles
Principal interior material: wood, plasterboard, creative floor
Designing period: 08/09 – 04/10
Construction period: 04/10 – 09/11

Above: site plan

Above: ground floor plan

Above: first floor plan

Above: second floor plan

Above: long section

Above: front elevation

Above: side elevation

Above: rear elevation

Above: side elevation

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The branch of Weinhandlung Kreis had no storage area, so Furch Gestaltung + Production was asked to squeeze 12,000 bottles of wine into the 70-square-metre space.

They came up with a new shelving system by welding wire-grid mats into cubes.

Each cube has slots for 25 bottles of wine, and each slot can hold almost any shape of bottle. Clip-on holders display selected bottles in an upright position.

The grids are made of powder-coated steel in a spectrum of colours, with orange, red and yellow arranged around the shopfront and blue, green and grey in the sales room downstairs.

"The shelf disappeared and storage became shop," explain the architects. "This shop should consist just of wine and no furniture – similar to a spreadsheet, which is full of data without wasting any space on structure."

The only other item of furniture is the small tasting bar by the window.

Other wine shops we've featured on Dezeen include a shop that hides its goods behind wine bottle-shaped shutters and a shop in Zurich that uses built from the crates used to transport the bottles.

We've also featured a self-service interactive wine bar in New York and a sandstone winery that is partially submerged in the ground.

See all our stories about wine shops »
See all our stories from Stuttgart »
See all our stories about shops »

Photographs are by Zooey Braun.

Here's some more from the architects:

Wine merchant Kreis, Stuttgart, Germany
Completed August 2012

The Store

The client, a high profile sommelier and wine merchant, had to move locations and came to us with a request for a 'different' wine-store with a strong design which reflects the modern and fresh spirit of a new generation of wine makers.

The predominant requirement was to place six or twelve bottles of about 1200 different types of wine (about 12,000 bottles altogether) and a small tasting bar on an area of about 70m2, spread over two levels and with no space for storage.

From the outset it was clear that this was not manageable with traditional wooden shelving, crates or boxes. The use of space has been optimised for the benefit of the product - the shelf disappeared and storage became shop. This shop should consist just of wine and no furniture – similar to a spreadsheet, which is full of data without wasting any space on structure.

An important aspect was the exact positioning and organisation of the various types of bottles in the shelf. A vertical sort sequence was developed, derived from the columns in a spreadsheet. Each element can carry 25 bottles, with the carries attached five cartons of wine can be stored in each of them.

The usual romantic and idealised aesthetic of wine culture – oak furniture; earthy hues – was reinterpreted according to the cool self-conception of many young winemakers, which is also reflected in many of the new labels on bottles. It quickly became clear that the manually crafted installation we first had in mind had to be replaced with a industrially produced serial product to match the required standards of precision, function and aesthetics.

386 'fourpointeight' shelves were installed in a range of 21 colours: to soften the hard-edged industrial product, to give it some lightness and warmth, to create a sense of orientation and eventually to provide the location with some attention to the public.

These elements thus serve as a storage area, the visually appealing presentation of wine happens via a metal carrier, which lets the individual bottle float in front of the grid. To stage the installation the surrounding walls were rendered with black lime plaster, backlights were installed to add depth and the resin floor was made bright to let the light appear from below. A small tasting bar was installed in a display window. Customers can sit on a bench in the window and enjoy a glass of wine and some regional 'tapas'.

The shelving element – 'fourpointeight' – Steel wire 4,8 mm, powder-coated:

4 prefabricated wire-grid mats, welded in two levels, are connected upright with 5 reclined wire-fans to create a spatial wire structure with the dimensions 520mm (w) x 520mm (h) x 350mm (d). The wire mats act as statically effective layers – the 5 wire-fans connect them to each other. These fans are equipped with runners, which enable the shelf to accommodate 98% of all established bottle formats elegantly. One of these elements can carry 25 bottles of wine. A circumferential wire with bend edges adds style and lightness.

The powder coating provides protection (the shelf from corrosion, the bottles from damage) and colour, but also dampens against vibration and clanging. The robot-welded steel wire piece fourpointeight was developed up to serial production in cooperation with our manufacturer. They are added modularly to each other with a connector consisting of two metal semi-shells, which are bolted together.

Ground floor plan – click above for larger image

fourpointeight can be endlessly added to each other in pixel logic, gaps and cantilevers are possible. Spatial structures can be built up to a height of six elements (statically certified). The carriers for the individual bottles are made of bent sheet metal, which are suspended from the grid and secured against inadvertent dislocation with an O-ring.

Basement plan – click above for larger image

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Each floor plate of the three-storey Haus am Weinberg has a different shape and the top level leans out over a double-height glazed dining room at one corner.

Windows fold around all four corners of the building without columns, maximising views towards the vineyard on one side and the city on the other.

A curved staircase twists up through the centre of the house and has oak treads to match the flooring in the living room and bedroom.

The client enjoys hunting as a hobby, so one room of the house is dedicated to "music, masculine conviviality, and the hunt," according to the architects.

Above: photograph is by Christian Richters

Unlike the rest of the house, this room has little light and features wooden walls plus a collection of hunting trophies.

See more stories about UNStudio, including a scientific research centre with windows like dominoes.

Photography is by Iwan Baan, apart from where otherwise stated.

Here's some more information from UNStudio:

The Haus am Weinberg is located in a setting that is at one time rural, yet suburban.

The location of the villa affords pastoral views of the stepped terraces of an ancient hillside vineyard on one side and cityscape vistas on the other.

The inner circulation, organisation of the views and the programme distribution of the house are determined by a single gesture, ‘the twist’. In the Haus am Weinberg the central twist element supports the main staircase as it guides and organises the main flows through the house. The direction of each curve is determined by a set of diagonal movements. Whilst the programme distribution follows the path of the sun, each evolution in the twist leads to moments in which views to the outside become an integral experience of the interior.

This is enabled by the building’s load bearing concrete structure which is reduced to a minimum. Roof and slabs are supported by four elements only: elevator shaft, two pillars and one inner column. Through the large cantilever spans, a space is created which enables all four corners of the house to be glazed and column-free.

A double-height, glazed corner - which houses the dining area - opens up to extensive views towards the North-West and frames the vineyard hill which forms the backdrop to the house.

By means of sliding panes, this corner of the house can fully open up to further blur the boundaries between inside and outside. Views from the living room are extended by means of a fully glazed corner affording open vistas toward the nearby parklands to the South-West. Further views from the twist are encountered on the second level, where the master sleeping and wellness areas are located.

Site plan - click above for larger image

The interior of the Haus am Weinberg is arranged into spaces of varying atmospheres and spatial qualities, with the four glazed and open corners allowing daylight to reach deep into the house. The materialisation of the interior of the house further accentuates the overall atmosphere of light by means of natural oak flooring, natural stone and white clay stucco walls speckled with small fragments of reflective stone.

Concept diagram - click above for larger image

Custom made features and furnishings are also integrated to blend with and accentuate the architecture. In contrast, at the core of this light and flowing structure is a multi-purpose darker room, dedicated to music, masculine conviviality, and the hunt. In this room the ceilings and walls have especially designed acoustic dark wood panels which transform from an articulated relief on the ceiling into a linear pattern as they descend the walls and meet the dark wooden floors.

Layout diagram - click above for larger image

The volume and roofline of the Haus am Weinberg react and respond directly to the sloping landscape of the site, where the scales and inclinations of the slopes which sculpture the vineyard setting are reflected in the volumetric appearance of the house. The design of the garden landscaping extends the organisation of the house, with the garden forming a continuation of the diagonals of the floor plans and each division creating different zones for function and planting.

Sloping lines diagram - click above for larger image

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A series of boxes create clustered seating and display areas in the centre of the store and are constructed from the same wooden boards with bitumen-coated mats over their surfaces.

Light bulbs are attached to bicycle wheels and cast circular shadow patterns over the walls and ceiling.

The store owner keeps limited edition and rare shoes in a long narrow chest below the main display wall, where he can show them to other collectors.

See more projects featuring chunky chipboard »

Here's some text from Ferrazzano:

Suppa is Stuttgarts first pure sneaker boutique, made for sneaker lovers, sneaker collectors and for those who value individuality and exclusivity. SUPPA is a Boutique which has a selection of limited and rare sneakers and a small collection of accessoires. The interior concept is minimalist but with a high attention to detail. The focus is directed on the essentials - Sneakers!

"Tar" cover transports the road into the shop. They give a first impression of how the shoe works on the street.

A second sitting area with built-in magazine table provides a communication platform in the middle of the room.

The shoes will be presented on an eight-meter-long wall. They are placed on screws, which can be removed at any time. The grid/layout of the shoes can be changed according to an event or sneaker release.

Under the shoe wall is a consistent sideboard - as a further display area. The sideboard, or the "treasure chest", is loaded with special editions and rare models (owner's private collection), which invites sneaker lovers to talk and exchange.

The shop window is a combination of presentation space and seating/bench. The built-in heater provides a warm seating in winter time

The floor lamp RIM LAMP is part of the lighting concept.

A small but fine selection of accessories is offered at three, "Butler". The butlers are stylized stick figure made of curved round pipe.

Daniele Luciano Ferrazzano or DLF PRODUCTDESIGN

Project Scope: Project Management - concept, design, interior design and lighting installations, Corporate Design (Interior) and corporate behavior, construction management and interior design - to turnkey handover.

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Situated on an existing research campus, the Centre for Virtual Engineering contains a series of combined offices and laboratories that look out through the saw-toothed windows.

The envelope of the building is a mixture of curved and rectilinear walls and ceilings, which create organically shaped rooms on each of the four floors.

An atrium is located at the heart of the building and is crossed diagonally by staircases with treads that are colour-coded to signify the floors that they lead to.

Other completed buildings by UNStudio include headquarters for the Dutch national tax offices and a pavilion in New York’s Battery Park.

See more stories about UNStudio »

See more stories about laboratories on Dezeen »

Photography is by Christian Richters.

Here's a full project description from the architects:

Virtual Engineering in the New Inventive Economy

Ben van Berkel / UNStudio's Centre for Virtual Engineering (ZVE) realised and receives Gold certification from the German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB).

The Centre for Virtual Engineering (ZVE) for the 'Fraunhofer-Institut für Arbeitswirtschaft und Organisation IAO' in Stuttgart has been realised. The official opening takes place today with an opening ceremony during which the German Sustainable Building Council (DNGB) will award the building with a Gold certification.

UNStudio’s design for the Centre for Virtual Engineering (ZVE) applies its research into the potential to expand contemporary understandings of new working environments and affect a design approach that creates working environments which stimulate communication, experimentation and creativity through a new type of office building. The Centre for Virtual Engineering (ZVE) not only incorporates a fully inclusive approach to sustainability, but also provides an example of the role that architecture can play in the working environments of the future.

Ben van Berkel: "The Centre for Virtual Engineering (ZVE) was designed as a new prototype for how architecture can incorporate a contemporary understanding of the work place and stimulate new ways of working in the future. Communication is key to new and creative ways of working and we designed the ZVE of the Fraunhofer IAO to stimulate this at all levels through architecture."

The traditional office grid and the separation of work spaces is replaced by the incorporation of extensive visual connections, spaces for incidental and planned meetings and flexible office 'laboratories' with shared work stations.

Located on the research campus of the Fraunhofer IAO in Stuttgart-Vaihingen, the Centre for Virtual Engineering (ZVE) specialises in the investigation of different multidisciplinary work flows.

All parts of the ZVE programme are implemented into the spatial organisation of the building. The diagrammatic approach employed combines the laboratory and research functions with public exhibition areas and a scenographic routing of the visitors in an open and communicative building concept.

Construction and design elements are integrated within a coherent structure with open and closed elements. The geometry of the floor plan, consisting of curved and straight elements, dissolves into the saw tooth geometry of the facade whilst maintaining the effect of a continuously transforming surface.

An exceptional level of sustainability was a key consideration from the outset. The building structure partially consists of bubble deck ceilings, providing both an economical alternative to the more commonly used concrete ceilings and reduction in weight, allowing for column free spaces.

The plot for the Centre for Virtual Engineering ZVE has been used to its maximum in terms of development potential. The rounded shape and optimised building envelope provides a 7% smaller contour than that of a rectangular form of the same area. This also results in a better facade area to volume ratio. The amount of glass facade is only 32%. All spaces along the facade can be ventilated directly by operable window elements. Ceilings without any lintels make it possible for daylight to reflect deep into the spaces, which are additionally supported by daylight lamellas while the sun screens are down. Low maintenance, separable, and recyclable materials have been used for the skeleton as well as for the interior and facade construction.

Ben van Berkel: "The Centre for Virtual Engineering (ZVE) is a prime example of what I like to refer to as 'attainabilty'. The building combines the affordable with the sustainable through a combination of its compact building volume, materialisation, flexible organisation, efficient ground use and numerous energy saving installations."

UNStudio worked in collaboration with Asplan from Kaiserslautern on the architectural services for the Centre. UNStudio was responsible for the design development, the required 3D-planning and implementation during all planning processes. Asplan was responsible for the development of the construction documents and the site supervision.

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