The Commandants House in Falstad is part of the camp, while still being secluded from it. Its po-sition shows its relation to the main camp - it is an integral part of the machinery but its not the place where the bad things happened.

01.REcallThe Commandants HouseStratigraphyteceel

In the following research into material from the archives and other written resources, we tried not to li-mit ourself on the history of WW II, but to assess every layer of time in its own place.

In that way, we were able to distinguish a different phases in the use of the building, different layers of time, every single one being important and interesting. The history of the building gets more complex.

The pictures show one of the living rooms in the time of the German camp, the post-WW II PoW camp and the 1990s, when the house was privately owned.

Methodologically we started by an extensive research about the building. First a drawing and research about the different building phases. The result was a construction phase plan (red indicating structure from 1943, blue from post-1993 and yellow from post-2001).

02.REcallThe Commandants HouseStratigraphyteceel

The main part of our design is a remodeling of the southeast part of the building: Instead of a multi-plicity of small rooms a big open space is created.

Because of massive refurbishments in the 1990s, the Commandants House doesn‘t contain much physical evidence of past historical episodes. What is left is is all the more important. In our design we shut out the 1990s look of the house and high-light historicaly interesting features.

Broad stripes stretch through the space in which the original appearance of the Commandants House is kept.

These stripes are to be installed in the interior and on the facade of the building, thereby connecting inside and outside.

03.REcallThe Commandants HouseStratigraphyteceel

04.REcallThe Commandants HouseStratigraphyteceel

That way, the historical details are a undefinied collection. The viewer should not be guided, but should discover. We don‘t want a valuation of de-tails.

Only in these broad stripes, the original surface of the walls and the appearance of the rooms is kept, while the rest of the space is to be altered.