How private German houses differ from ours

When you travel to southwestern Germany, you involuntarily pay attention to the abundance of low-rise buildings. Apparently, contrary to the statements of statisticians, ordinary Germans are not in a hurry to move to city apartments, but prefer to live in separate mansions.

Europe is modest and unassuming

An average house is a one- or two-story structure with an attic. Surprisingly, the country is rich and the buildings are simple. There are no turrets, teeth or spiers to be found here. Behind the houses, behind the usual fences of a faded picket fence, there are nondescript greenhouse sheds.

At first glance, it may seem that there are no architects here, and the local villages are self-built. But this is a misleading impression.

In a mountainous country, land is expensive. This is probably why practical Germans build houses in natural inconveniences - in beams, ravines and gullies. One has only to take a couple of steps from the sidewalk to the side, and you will find yourself on the edge of running rivers with waterfalls.

Then suddenly you realize: local architects are not concerned with vignettes on the facades, but landscaping.

There is a lot of space for designers here: after all, the descendants of burghers are used to living in comfort. This means that city planners need to do more than just trample paths along the road. It is necessary to build bridges, stairs, water conduits, retaining walls. Traveling through low-rise Germany, you are amazed at the comfort that is created in the towns. In a rural settlement, in fact, you can find roundabouts and equipped parking lots.

Comfort in German is functional simplicity

The dwellings on the inside are as simple as on the outside. The interiors are subject to the same expediency:

• bookshelves - no frills;
• window frames are massive and rough in a rustic way;
• but the furniture - chairs, armchairs, tables - are elegant, lightweight and practical.

For example, let's study the house of a German design engineer.

The building is located on the edge of a ravine, but the designers have turned this disadvantage into a unique advantage. The highlight of the project is the basement. The basement wall that faces the slope is almost entirely made of glass. The area behind the wall has been cleared and planned, so the gully has turned into a furnished terrace. And the premises of the underground floor did not look like an abandoned barn, but like a cozy hall.

There is enough space to equip three functional areas:

- a playroom with balls on a soft carpet and large cushion mats;

- sports ground with wall bars;

- a musical living room with a cabinet grand piano (the hostess of the house loves to play music).

Internal walls are missing not only in the basement but also on the ground floor. Only the entrance hall is separated by a solid partition. However, the three functional areas - the kitchen, the small dining room and the grand living room - are visually distinct. The bedrooms are hidden upstairs in the attic.

It turns out that an ordinary German house is very similar to an ordinary Russian hut with a room. But how great are the differences between these dwellings!

Visiting western neighbors left a strange impression on me. It's hard to shake off the feeling that wealth and prosperity are just common sense and everyday work. The natural abundance received with birth is often perceived by a person as a dung on his head - as a burden that is difficult to get rid of. And what do you think?