Description

The design of this infill construction was inspired by its dense, heterogeneous surroundings. A slit divides the block into two volumes (3.5 m/7.5 m) both of which stand tall toward the street and short in the back. This way sunlight and the life of the street can penetrate within; apartments can orient themselves to more than two sides. A generous stairwell spans the gap between the two building halves, connecting them together. The open stairs have giant wooden platforms that reach into the blocks’ interior, and are at once terraces and meeting places for the residents. The garage is in the basement. The first two floors hold larger apartments with several levels. Between them runs a passage into the block’s interior, ending in a small walled-in garden. Along the street front, stacked onto two stores at the ground level are modest studios and 2-room units up to the eighth floor. One of the two building halves jumps back along the site’s edge, thereby legally permitting windows that overlook the courtyard next door. All of the units are, both by size and arrangement cut to fit the lives of postmen, enabling them to live near work. The apartments generally open onto a corridor that leads to a bedroom and bath on one side, and living room, kitchen, and toilet on the other side.

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