The Second Heimat House Extension  BRUNSWICK 

This extension deals with the theme of village 'home' in contrast to the urban world of the cultural avant garde. Rustic and refined aesthetics are used to mirror this dichotomy.

The name of this extension refers to Edgar Reitz' film called The Second Heimat. Some time earlier Simon designed a house extension in response to the first Heimat film, attempting to interpret the themes of social cohesion and belonging in a rural community, and to explore how traditional use of compartmental space, visible timber structure, wide rustic floorboards, window placement and building form could conjure up a sense of homeliness. The Second Heimat extension has been designed for a couple who admired the earlier house extension.

In the Second Heimat film a more urbane setting than the first is explored, as the protagonist Hermann leaves his village to engage with avant garde music culture in the big city. As a parallel, this extension is more open to the outside, and the detailing is sharper. The roof is angled upwards to collect solar energy through north-facing glass, and the eaves slope up to a 'cutting edge'. But while you can take Hermann out of the village, you can't take the village out of Hermann, so the aesthetics are nonetheless predominantly rustic, expressed in the heavy pergola and radially split weatherboards.