Family House St. Augustin

Sankt Augustin, Germany

Photo © Tobias Hein

Architects: GRAFT

Location: Sankt Augustin, Germany
Year: 2014
Client: McDonald’s Kinderhilfe Stiftung
Team GRAFT: Founding Partner: Lars Krückeberg, Wolfram Putz, Thomas Willemeit Project Lead: Raphael Hemmer Team: Stefanie Götz, Rita Schmidt, Sebastian Gernhardt, Denis Hegic, Izabela Pavel, Alexandra Tobescu
Partner/Consultants: Ed.Züblin AG, Berlin; Springmann Architektur GmbH, Esslingen

The Ronald McDonald House is a Charity House that provides space and a home for families whose hospitalized children are in the process of receiving medical treatment.

The house is a dynamic bended structure that finds its resting position on top of a small hill amongst the surrounding topography.

On the ground floor, a long table centrally located in the public area serves as community space for the entire house. It is here that parents find the opportunity to engage in conversation with each other while preparing meals together, thus creating a reciprocal sense of support and understanding.

This central area also has an elongated interactive ramp. This ramp has many community uses, such as a landscape with spaces for sitting and lying down, a playground for children, a performance stage, and quiet working areas for parents. It also connects the interior community spaces with a large outdoor terrace.

Each room has a spectacular view over the fields of Sankt Augustin, with all 25 apartments oriented towards the sunset. Every apartment has customized furniture integrated into the window frame.

The entire structure does not seem like a conventional guest house but rather like an iconographic building sculpture – a light and abstract gesture as expression for hope and confidence during difficult times.