Description

The five couples in the group, all 55 or older, wanted to create a communal housing concept that would enable them to live independently within familiar surroundings for as long as possible, and to get involved in the local neighbourhood. Bessungen is a district of Darmstadt, a city in the federal state of Hessen with a population of 150,000. The project is located in the heart of the old town and comprises an almost village-like courtyard ensemble of historically-listed half-timbered buildings that date back to 1758. The houses have been renovated using renewable and recycled building materials. Barrier-free access was created where the buildings could accommodate it in the form of flush sills and thresholds, wide doorways and floor-flush shower trays. A stair lift could be retrofitted if required.

A total of five apartments were created, four of them for own use with a combined kitchen and living area (plus pantry in some cases), a bathroom with shower, and two similar-sized rooms that can be used flexibly as personal spaces or as living room and bedroom. A further one-room apartment for rent is also part of the concept. The slope of the front-most house was corrected in order to obviate the need for steps in the low-height first floor. New windows with slender mullion profiles preserve the historical appearance and scale of the building and restore the building’s original character. Carefully proportioned dormers were added to the mansard roof.

The communally used rooms are in the two ancillary buildings: the barn contains a large common room with a communal kitchen for meetings, house music and festivities, as well as an atelier and room for guests in the roof space. The smaller building contains a workshop, bathing room with bathtub, sauna and storage space. The residents also share the communal courtyard and garden.

The Sandberghof communal housing project in Bessungen comprises five couples. The group came together through their involvement in the “Neues Alter” (New Ideas for Old Age) interest group and defined a common objective: to create a housing project founded on the principles of mutual help and support and sound ecological and social qualities. All of the members of the group have worked in social professions and all share common interests including music, theatre, literature, walking and travel. The formation process was a mixture of exploring the concept of community-oriented housing and the concrete planning process with the architects.

The group drew up a list of important criteria and began looking for a suitable location. The site should be close to a town centre, within easy reach on foot of shops and facilities and with local public transport in order to still be able to take part in public life when no longer as physically mobile. Acquaintances, now neighbours, drew their attention to the ensemble of historically-listed buildings and the site met all the criteria. One couple of the group submitted a bid to the local municipality with the already elaborated concept for a community-oriented housing project for people in the third phase of their lives. They were awarded the site subject to provision of a financial plan and planning documents agreed with conservation and planning authorities.

The first plans for a community-oriented housing project were made in 1997, but it took until 2003 for the group to form and purchase the property. The planning and construction process was completed in 2007.

Privately financed: where required, additional loans were taken out, including a low-interest KfW loan. To secure the aims of the community-oriented project should one or more members leave the group, the contract stipulates that the civil law partnership (GbR) has the right of first refusal.

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Originally published in: Annette Becker, Laura Kienbaum, Kristien Ring, Peter Cachola Schmal, Bauen und Wohnen in Gemeinschaft / Building and Living in Communities, Birkhäuser, 2015.