Interview that between the bathroom and the bedroom was a separate WC, a tiny bathroom and a vestibule. PP: ...we thought we would have found treasure or a walled-in German or at least a pot of gold. It turned out that there was just one extra wall added in this awkward shaped bathroom. As a piece of trivia, the floors were originally covered with linoleum; this additional wall was built
74 House no. 28, designed by Emil Lange, living room, 2014. Photography by Natalia and Ernest Dec
directly on the linoleum. After pulling the wall down a thirty-centimetre gap revealed itself. We thought we would have found
GHL: Foamed concrete? It was
drills for steel are inappropriate for concrete
some treasure, weapons, maps, directions
invented in the States, in the 20s...
and vice versa; so they had to be careful
to the underground tunnels of Wrocław,
PP: Here, it was used as an innovative
and change the drill bits quickly. And here
but there was nothing: not even a spider.
solution. As I said before, the walls, from
is a part of the insulation, this particular one
During the construction, the builders must
top to bottom, were made of bricks and
is from the next house, but here it was the
have made a mistake, so they added this
mortar. The ceilings were made of reinforced
same, cork and cinder mixed with asphalt...
extra wall. The pipes were elsewhere, so
concrete, but not all; some of them were
it couldn't have been a chimney. Perhaps
made of bricks. The window apertures and
GHL: Was the mineral flax used here?
the shape of the door frames was not as
all external lintels were made of identical
PP: Flax? Yes, mineral flax was used
it should have been? Anyway, that was
profiles; the latter are slightly smaller
in all of the apertures. I removed what
peculiar.
l-sections, 120-centimetres long and joined
I could, but the rest of it is still there,
The partition walls weren't well-attached
into a rectangular frame. This was then
but hermetically sealed in. The original
to the rest of the construction either. The
bricked into the wall and filled with boards,
insulation is pressed cork, used partially
house has a steel frame, similar to timber
mineral flax mixed with clay and into that,
inside, partially outside.
framework but made of steel and filled up
the windows were mounted. Hence, the
with breeze blocks – a kind of “siporex”
workmen who were mounting the UPVC
GHL: Did the external cork insulation
made of recycled refuse.
windows were in big trouble because the
erode?
106 WuWA