In surroundings which are neither clearly urban nor rural Riegler Riewe developed a concept which derived form the specific topography and from the individual needs of the members of the "Casa Nostra" association. The eleven single-family houses are arranged in a row like little blocks let drop along a steep slope which falls towards the south-east. Their density is reminiscent of southern buildings. As the building is confined to the upper area of the site (where car parking is also located) Riegler Riewe managed to create enough open space on the narrow site for the communal activities - children’s play area, meadow - without creating small gardens. Through the interlocking of the individual units they create intimate spatial situations which alternate between private and public. The horizontal and vertical staggering of the blocks, in which a tight network of paths with two open spaces is incorporated, produces a constantly changing perception of space. The buildings have been laid out so as to allow each inhabitant a view of the surroundings. The differentiation and layering of public and private areas is also continued inside the dwelling units creating a flowing sequence of spaces.
The development is accentuated by the concrete frames, which define the atria and in which two metre wide winter gardens (which have not yet been built) were planned. They visually extend the dwellings or terminate them and frame the inhabitants’ views to the outside.

The delicate harmonisation of colour, characterised by various nuances of grey, blue and green, is of particular importance for the general impression made by development. The purist use of materials which Riegler/Riewe make (while managing to avoid the temptations of a studied aestheticism) is also important. Their primary concern is to give their architecture a certain self-evident quality which does not necessarily strike one immediately.

Arno Ritter