Description

From the outside, the residential block on the water’s edge appears uniform and monolithic. The interior courtyard, however, opens the view onto a complex and typologically interesting structure. A series of 33-m-deep “bridge” apartments, which are strung in a row from one exterior facade to the other, are staggered each by one crosswall depth to the rear and by one story to the top, the roof of one unit thus constituting the terrace of the unit above. This cascade of housing units divides the block interior into two distinct sections: as the area of each stepped terrace widens from floor to floor, the width of each atrium-like interior beneath the “bridge” apartments diminishes in equal measure. This sectional configuration is what makes this project so attractive.

Parallel to these tiered levels, cascading stairs lead to the wraparound galleries that link all units. The floor plan arrangement of the standard apartments oriented to one side is rather more conventional: the service zone lies parallel to the corridor, next to it is a hallway, which provides access first into the common area and then to the private spaces. The upper units offer roof terraces accessed via the loggias.

The 100-m²-large living area of the bridge apartment, on the other hand, is only defined in very broad strokes: a kitchen/WC core divides it into a zone oriented toward the exterior facade and another facing the generous terrace. A glazed loggia completes the interior at the far end and, on the opposite lie the bedrooms with their own corridor and sanitary zone.

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