Even the most daring of architects cannot bring themselves to tear the hearth out of the home
3 months ago
By Edwin Heathcote
I recently came across some photographs of the most remarkable fireplace. Hans Demarmels’ Rebberg House of 1965 is fiercely Brutalist, a sculptural tour de force built with a conviction and sense of shape and form more usually reserved for public buildings — an art gallery or a town hall perhaps. But Demarmels condensed the power of brutalist concrete into a domestic fireplace. It is true he added a little Constructivism, perhaps a bit of De Stijl and maybe even a touch of Frank Lloyd Wright and Japanese Metabolism, and from these ingredients cooked up this centrepiece like no other.