Description

Access:

Access via public space between the slab volumes; ground-floor apartments are accessed directly; the upper floors are accessed via a combination of interior corridor (rue intérieure) and vertical point access with four units per floor with interior stairwell; stairwells lit by skylight.

Interior space:

The vertical stacking of the building volumes corresponds to a graduated typology that permits a variety of different housing forms: family apartments with small gardens on the ground follow have separate entrances like row houses, face the same direction, and have extra space in the form of an atelier space in the lighted basement. A rue intérieure ca. 70 m long provides access to the studios and the two-story duplex apartments. The apartments in the towers are arranged diagonally in quadrants. The living spaces are developed diagonally, setting out from the entrance and creating a flowing series of spaces of different proportions, the ends of which are formed by cross-positioned balconies.

Exterior space:

Ground-floor apartments with private gardens; balconies on the upper floors; the towers have balconies on their short sides and roof terraces on the long sides.

Morphology:

In keeping with the units inside, the facades are varied in design and reflect the additive combination of different parts of the building and their diverse concepts for living. The three-story slab volume has a column facade that follows a grid as well as full-height windows. The entrance and balcony strata are docked to this grid. The layered building volume has a perforated facade with emphatically framed window elements and balconies on its short sides. The lateral webbed tarpaulins on the side of the balconies provide privacy and are imprinted on both sides with various motifs of passion flowers. They visually reduce the size of the building volume and connect it to the greenery.

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Originally published in: Peter Ebner, Eva Herrmann, Roman Höllbacher, Markus Kuntscher, Ulrike Wietzorrek, Typology +: Innovative Residential Architecture, Birkhäuser, 2009.