CONCEPT
The design of the Zeichenkörper House has its origins located within these three questions:

1    What if graphic logic could structure a house — not just decorate it?

2    What if energy-efficient vernaculars could support abstraction?

3    What does ‘form follows ethics’ look like after signature form is no longer enough?

Zeichenkörper is a neologism invented to fuse 2D and 3D design techniques and intentions into a new form.Here,

Zeichen = sign, symbol, marker
Körper = body, object, form

Together, Zeichenkörper suggests a hybrid: not just a building as volume, but as a semiotic organism or semantic object, operating between building and diagram, between typology and graphic code.

The house is a compact, energy-efficient structure that operates as a sign within the field of vernacular domesticity. Located in suburban Munich, the house engages its surroundings not through mimicry, but through measured contrast: graphic surfaces, beveled cuts, and planar intersections signal a break from the generic without disavowing the logic of construction.

The project foregrounds color, geometry, and massing as communicative tools — each elevation acts as a legible surface, a reading of domestic space in coded form. Rather than relying on compositional signature, the house performs as a sign-body (Zeichenkörper), embedding spatial intelligence within an abstract formal language.

It is both a continuation and a re-invention — drawing from the experimental optimism of late modernism while acknowledging the constraints and urgencies of the present. In this sense, it’s not just a house, but a reframed typology: graphic yet sober.

COLOR CODES

Signal Green
Used on: Primary vertical graphic stripes, stair and ramp structures, rear elevation “spine”. Reference: Emergency signage, utility boxes, green screen chroma. Meaning: Activation, direction, architectural vector

Postal Blue
Used on: Entry door. Reference: European postal systems, civic identity, early UI design. Meaning: Threshold marker, formal contrast, bureaucratic surrealism

Archive White
Used on: Primary wall cladding (off-white plaster) Reference: Museum walls, archival paper, suburban neutrality. Meaning: Field condition, background memory, architectural default

Vector Black
Used on: Painted “17”. Reference: Technical diagrams, Helvetica numerals, cadastral maps. Meaning: Notation, index, trace

Structural Tan
Used on: Window frames, porch handrails, interior surfaces. Reference:scaffolding, domestic utility. Meaning: Tectonic warmth, contrast against synthetic color

PROJECT TEAM: Neil Denari