Description

Two building complexes, hermetically enclosed with black, structurally ornamented concrete walls, formulate the gate position leading into the building exhibition grounds “Nexus World“ (see also the neighbouring building by Steven Holl). The large volumes are raised: the open ground floor, lit alternatively from above and from the side, houses several spaces for public use as well as the foundations for twelve of the integrated apartment units in each complex. The light joints, continuous from east to west, divide these units into individual rows.

The units are accessed via an open, slightly inclined and network-like system of arcades. The entrances for most units are located in paved yards, which connect the floors above in the manner of patios. These patios create a separate open space for each apartment and a degree of privacy that would otherwise be impossible in a development of this density. In the interior, the apartments are linked by single-strung continuous stairs, behind which small chambers – in a zigzag arrangement – project into the building joints.

On the second floor, the rooms and sanitary zones are lined up around the courtyard. The third floor accommodates the common area with kitchen; it overlooks the roof terrace, the patio reaching down to the paved garden and the sky. Akin to a wave-like shed roof, one half of this area is raised. Some of the units have an additional balcony on this uppermost level, accessible via a ladder.

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