Status: 03.11.2023, 17:02 PM
By: Volker Ufertinger
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Happy builders: Helmut Mayer and his wife Ulrike Mayer-Tancic spend a lot of time on the construction site. The diagonally arranged spruce branches make the house visually something very special. © Dagmar Rutt
Hanichl: That's the name given to spruce branches that are left over from forest management. In the case of the new house on Mitterweg, they form the most important visual element. The Hanichlhaus in Stockdorf is probably unique in Bavaria.
Stockdorf – On Mitterweg in Stockdorf, just a few meters from Harmsplatz, a rather unusual house is currently being built. Hardly any passer-by passes by without taking a closer look at the elongated building, which has nothing at all to do with a concrete house of the old style. "It's an eye-catcher," says Ulrike Mayer-Tancic, who is fulfilling her lifelong dream here with her husband Helmut Mayer.
What particularly catches the eye is the façade. It consists of so-called Hanichln. These are old spruce branches that accumulate during forestry and are normally left lying around or, at most, processed into a picket fence. Helmut Mayer had a better idea: he brought it from his home in Regensburg, where the family owns some forest, to the Würm, peeled it off with his own hands and arranged it diagonally.
Mayer, a trained architect and employee of the Kraillinger building authority, has thus refined what appears to be a waste product. To enhance the effect even more, he arranged the Hanichl in the "golden angle", which, analogous to the "golden ratio", is particularly pleasing to the eye. It is 32 degrees. When he placed the first square meters on the façade a few weeks ago, he was still skeptical. "The whole thing seemed too irregular to me." But the opposite is the case, especially from the street, the whole thing almost looks like a work of art. And the Hanichlhaus is also unique, probably in the whole of Bavaria. "Only once did I see something similar in Norway at a Norwegian sauna," says the 63-year-old.
But that's not the only thing that makes the house so unusual. While many aging citizens stay in their homes for as long as possible, the couple is deliberately downsizing. "Then you have to clean a lot less," says the client. Currently, the couple lives on 119 square meters for rent, after moving in it will only be 69. The fact that this is even below the usual social standards does not bother the two of them. "I don't have any great demands and can also part with a lot," says the passionate marathon runner. In addition, their rented apartment is on the third floor. This is not a problem at the moment. "But you never know what's going to happen." One of the daughters moves into the basement (50 square meters). So it's also a multi-generational project.
Our new realm: The couple makes do with just under 70 square meters. There will be no hallway. When you walk in, you're standing in the middle of your living room. © Dagmar Rutt
The trick to the Hanichlhaus from Mitterweg is that the space is used optimally. So there is no space eater like a hallway. "You walk in and you're more or less in the living room, like in American homes," Mayer said. The ground floor is divided into two areas: on the one hand, the bedroom with shower and a spacious living room with kitchen. "A nice, large room, that was the only condition I made," says the wife, who lends a hand on the construction site.
The two Neu-Stockdorfers are happy to let others participate in the project. If you want to take a look at the house, you should come by. Mayor Rudolph Haux has also announced that he will demonstrate it to the Kraillinger municipal council after completion, as an example of successful densification.
And the Hanichl? Helmut Mayer leaves it to nature. "I'm going to do the devil and treat them with chemicals somehow," he says. This is not necessary at all, the wood will develop its own weather protection. The consequence is likely to be that the façade will change its colour somewhat over the next few years, with a tendency towards grey-silver. You don't have to be a prophet to know that the Hanichlhaus in Stockdorf will still find a few admirers.