Villa Tugendhat, (Brno, Czech Republic) 1930, Modern, Functionallist
 |
| Rear Façade |
 |
| Front Façade |
The Villa Tugendhat was built in 1930, and designed by Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe. It is a three floor Villa situated on a slope, with a concrete wall supporting the street side. It is made of steel frame construction, a concrete foundation, reinforced concrete ceilings and floors, and a stucco façade and brick masonry. Steel frame construction was not common for homes at the time, but it allowed for the development of a free plan layout, and varying floor plans for each individual level. The cross-shape profile of the columns were subtle in appearance, placed five meters apart, but held up all the upper levels, by being anchored into the concrete floor and ceiling slabs. Meis’ functionalist concept of iron framework enabled the structure to be built without load bearing walls, creating more open and light spaces.
Grete & Fritz Tugenhat met Mies in Berlin in 1927, and were already familiar with his work when they commissioned him to build their home. They had two children, and they home was built to accommodate their bedrooms, a nanny’s quarters, staff quarters and housekeepers flat. The chaufferirs’ flat and garages were accessed separately from the main house. From the street, the extent of the building is not visible, except for the upper bedrooms. You cannot immediately tell that the building has multiple terraces that open up to garden with a view of the city.
The top floor of the building has the main entry from the street, which leads to the main entrance hall. The main entrance hall enables access to the bedrooms of the the Tugenhats family and the nanny, as well as facilities for them. The Master bedroom and bathroom are towards the back of the house, connected to a terrace. Below that, at the ground level, there is a main living room, social areas, conservatory, kitchen, servants rooms and terrace. 
The south-east and all garden facing façades on the main level feature floor to ceiling windows. The main living area is divided by a wall of yellow onyx, with one side being the grand seating area, and the other side being the office and the library. A half circular wall made from Macassar Ebony defines the dining area. There is a curved wall of milk glass that can be lit, that defines an more intimate seating area. Mies designed all the furniture for the home, and determined their placement. The basement of the building houses all of the utility functions for the home. The utility and other technical features of the home were revolutionary for the time of the build.
In the main living area, aside from the light-up milk glass wall, there were two large windows across from the dining area that had a motorized retraction feature that would bring them all the way down to the floor, blurring the line between indoor and outdoor. There was a water distribution system for drinking and for utility. The home also had a heating, cooling and humidification system that although there was very little experience with this in residential buildings, according to the client, it worked perfectly. Mies also utilized elements of passive solar architecture to assist in concerning energy of the utilities.
Through the following methods, Passive solar architecture is achieved: placement of structure based on sun path, largest glazed areas placed south/ south-west/south-east, shading components such as awnings or Venetian blinds, accumulation cores or sufficient thermal insulated exterior, thermal zoning of layouts where living area is situated south and in the core of the house, while the north side of the home is dressing rooms, bathrooms, etc. Villa Tugendhat meets all these requirements. It was certainly an innovative home for many reasons, and understandably one of Meis’ best works.
GSTF Journal of Engineering Technology (JET) Vol.3, No.1 July 2014
Comments
Post a Comment