Oswald Matthias Ungers, Haus Belvederestrasse 60, Koeln-Muengersdorf

"A house is a representation of the idea of the world, of life, of existence." Oswald Mathias Ungers (1926 to 2007) In the course of his life, Ungers built himself and his family no less than three houses, two in the Cologne suburb of Muengersdorf, and one in the Eifel highlands. Even the first house, to which this richly illustrated volume is dedicated, caused an international sensation; it was considered to be an important example of so-called Brutalism. It showed "everything I knew how to do at the time", Ungers wrote regarding the building. He wanted a house that enveloped and sheltered, he wanted metamorphosis and transformation; architecture that was autonomous but at the same time respected the genius loci.