IBA Soft House

The Soft House project in Hamburg, Germany is a winning competition entry for the International BauAustellung (IBA), a prestigious German building tradition that dates to 1901. Completed in March of 2013, it is a set of four live/work row house units which offer a new model for low carbon construction and an ecologically responsive lifestyle that can be personalized to meet homeowner needs. The Soft House demonstrates how domestic infrastructure can become ‘soft’—engaging flexible living concepts, carbon-neutral solid wood (brettstapel) construction, and wireless building controls with responsive and performative textiles which create the public identity of the architecture. Through the conceptual reframing of ‘soft’ and ‘hard’ materials and the integration of architecture, mobile textiles, and clean energy infrastructure the Soft House transforms the German PassiveHaus typology, offering a more flexible living experience.

Client: Internationale BauAusstellung (IBA) Hamburg GmbH; PATRIZIA Projektentwicklung GmbH
Location: Hamburg, Germany
Size: 10,000 SF / 4 Residences (New Construction)
Status: Completed 2014
Honors & Awards: 2014 Boston Society of Architects Housing Design Award, 2013 Boston Society of Architects Honor Award for Design Excellence, 2013 AIA New England Award for Design Excellence, Architizer A+ Awards Jury Winner: Low-Rise Residential Category
Publications: Architect Magazine, Architecture Magazine, Architectural Record, DesignBoom, InHabitat

Mr. Shelly was a member of the design team while employed at Kennedy & Violich Architecture.

The site plan is based on the traditional liner polder (farm). It includes parking for bicycles and electronic vehicles, a raised terrace overlooking the adjacent park, and a vegetable garden.

The Soft House structure is a traditional German solid wood panel and deck construction with wood dowel joints known as brettstapel. The wood construction is complimented by flexible solar nano-materials in a lightweight, smart energy-harvesting textile cladding which bends to respond to sun angle or to open views. The textile cladding shades a large glass curtain wall with views to the Parklands. A three-story air convection ‘atrium’ brings daylight deep into the ground floor and modulates the rise and fall of warm and cool air with a system of interior curtains and operable window vents.

Flexible photovoltaics in the textile ‘twisters’ are attached to flexible fiber composite boards on the roof, offering shape adaptation for daily and seasonal sun tracking.

LEDs in the movable curtains are playful and engaging—allowing people to make new connections between the domestic and natural environments. The Soft House smart curtain LED lighting system allows for real time monitoring and visualization of outside wind and climate conditions. The solid-state light that moves along the Soft House curtain surface in relation to exterior wind levels creates a Visual Breeze - an ambient interior luminous expression of the external environment.