Description

The building closes a small building gap that runs crosswise through an urban block. This situation permits neither front nor rear buildings, and no courtyard space for natural light; instead, a dense, homogeneous spatial structure composed of “space blocks” runs from one end through to the far end. Basic Space Blocks is a system of modular space blocks with an edge length of 2.4 m, which are placed front-to-back, side-by-side or on top of one another, thereby creating complex, three-dimensional, stacked housing configurations.

Natural light and views are provided for the apartment interiors by manipulating this spatial construct. This results in mini­apartments, which offer surprising spatial qualities in a continuum of three-dimensional situations despite their limited floor area: some are single-level but with two-story atria in one segment, which allows light to fall into the apartment from the other side.

At other times, stairs set into similar atria provide access to generous roof patios, or else a unit is oriented in the opposite direction on the second level and connected on that side to another space module. Some modules are cantilevered, simply to open the view into the street perspective. The building was the first in a series of similar projects in urban contexts with extreme density. The “porosity factor” – which measures the permeability of the space blocks to light and air – emerged as the conceptual leitmotif for the design method.

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Originally published in: Oliver Heckmann, Friederike Schneider (eds.), Floor Plan Manual Housing, fourth revised and expanded edition, Birkhäuser, 2011.