Description

Access:

Halls on the street side provide entrance to the residential and commercial spaces; the type of access differs from wing to wing: the front building has vertical point access, four units per floor, via an interior stairwell; the added floor has either an external access corridor or central corridor; the units are accessed via small courtyards open at the top and featuring wooden gates.

Interior space:

The rooms of the apartments on the added floor are arranged around a central hall, which is connected to the uncovered courtyards. As a rule, the living spaces face west onto a small private loggia. The apartments of the new front building are arranged at angles and composed of additive cells with open kitchens. A corridor or hall provides circulation to the living spaces and the interior bathrooms.

Exterior space:

Loggias, adjacent to the living room and individual room with special layouts for the corner units.

Morphology:

On the one hand, the existing structure was expanded by adding a floor with a wooden frame construction. The continuous facing of larch panels results in a rhythmic, sculptural housing for the roof, in which light wells provide accents. On the other hand, a six-story new building was erected on the southern end of the lot; its materiality in the form of gray Eternit panels enables it to function as a connecting link to the neighboring buildings, and its polygonal form is adapted to the boundaries of the lot. Its form resembles a hollowed-out block that has been pulled upward. The sharp, angular outlines result in diagonal lines of sight that, together with the staggered French doors and continuous metal bars of the banisters, emphasize the verticality of the structure.

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