Description

Five rows with an energy-efficient strategy: access from the north and a south facade fronted by balconies and steel-framed winter gardens. Courtyard-like green spaces have been created between the rows. The buildings and residents are linked via paths that run parallel to the buildings and an additional path, which cuts across the development under the raised unit blocks.

The ground level of the first row accommodates community services: a kindergarten, spaces for doctors’ practices, shops, or offices and – at the head of the next three rows – an “all-purpose” space which serves and is managed by all the tenants. The apartments are reached via large platforms in an open independent steel/glass construction to which the kitchens and bathrooms are attached. The living rooms and bedrooms are aligned along the south side fronted by a continuous strip of balconies and winter gardens.

The structural grid of the subterranean garage – which is naturally lit and ventilated – determines the structure of the building above; the partitioning walls, though, within and between apartments, are set freely and thus permit a rich variety in apartment size and type, with the larger apartments below and the smaller ones above. They are flexible not simply due to the sliding walls, which extend the bedrooms into living rooms when desired. The truly extraordinary feature is the concept for “optional habitation”: apartments can be joined and divided at the living and kitchen zones. Single parents, seeking the practical relief provided by co-op living, can nevertheless benefit from sufficient private room for each member of the household – a quality that is impossible in conventional public housing schemes. Other, even larger apartments offer separate entries and bathrooms, so that sections can be used independently.

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