Antivilla, Krampnitz bei Potsdam
Brandlhuber+ Emde, Burlon

In their Antivilla, Brandlhuber and his team articulated a critique of conventional domestic architecture. Their analysis of the structure revealed that it was largely intact—and at 500 square meters, significantly larger than what zoning would allow for new construction. Adding to its value was a layered past: during the GDR era, this former factory produced women’s underwear. The building was once part of the state-run textile conglomerate VEB Obertrikotagen, famously chronicled by filmmaker Volker Koepp in a documentary spanning 23 years.

Why Tear Down a Building with Such History, Only to Replace It with Something Generic?

Instead, the team opted for minimal intervention. The modest scope of work became an opportunity to question residential norms. Based on the observation that living spaces expand in summer and contract in winter, they implemented a system of thermal zoning. Insulated curtains enclose a 75-square-meter warm zone, which houses the winter core: kitchen, bathroom, and a sauna that doubles as a heat source.

The building’s four massive window openings—framing views of forest and lake—were created during a communal event: friends were invited to break through the walls using sledgehammers. The jagged edges of the openings remain untouched, their rawness preserved under large glass panes. These expressive scars keep the memory of their making alive.

Other subtle gestures populate the interior. Artist Karin Sander contributed a fragment of woodchip wallpaper. Gregor Hildebrandt’s floor installation made of glued cassette tape evokes an imaginary parquet. The overall atmosphere is one of unfinished elegance—of a building open to interpretation and evolving use.

This logic extends to the hardware. All doors feature FSB 1045 handles; the entrance doors use the cranked variant FSB 06 1045. FSB 1045 is a return-style lever derived from the FSB 1015 series—a model with nearly 90 years of design history. Windows are fitted with FSB 34 1015, a Johannes Potente design.

All handles are made of untreated aluminum, which weathers over time to a pale matte gray. The patina integrates naturally into the space, harmonizing with the raw concrete, gray-lacquered doors, and aluminum window frames. In the Antivilla, everything converges into one vast, playable gray—fluid, open, and unpretentious.