Description

Urban context

The elongated rectangle of a former hospital was converted by integrating
existing buildings and open and green spaces and adding two residential
buildings that complete the blocklike construction. The large-scale site defines
clear boundaries between interior and exterior space. In the process, the new
residential building combines with the existing buildings, which were converted
into office buildings, to line three large orthogonal exterior spaces: the
former patients’ garden, the paramedics’ courtyard, and the Carmen courtyard.
The volumes grow calmly in different levels, giving the rectangular building a
lively rhythm. Analogously to the conglomerate of former hospital buildings on
the one hand and the solitary residential homes of the neighborhood on the
other, the volumes of the new construction oscillate between closed perimeter
block construction and individual volumes.

Ground-floor zone

The former patients’ garden with its beautiful stand of trees was largely left
alone. The paramedics’ courtyard now serves as a driveway for the underground
parking and offers a passenger drop-off zone and places to park. Separate from
the area for cars are “green preserves,” in which existing and new trees grow.
The Carmenhof, which is located above the new garage, extends across the entire
length of the property. The ground covering consists of a delicate gravel
covering and large poured-concrete slabs that provide a broad access path to the
entrances of the units. Planters made of rebar and filled with rocks and pebbles
provide places for soil and room for roots, while also providing a counterweight
to the trees above the roof of the garage.

Building structure

The housing complex includes forty-eight apartments with twenty-two different
floor plans, ranging from two and a half to six and a half rooms. There are also
eleven studios, which exit to either the courtyard or the street. With an eye to
modern work-from-home situations, the individual ground-floor apartments are
connected, maisonette-like, to studio spaces on the courtyard side. The
placement of storerooms and sanitary areas in the center of the spacious
apartments creates a circular path. In addition, the apartments can also be
expanded with minimal effort. Several units have terraces. Most, however, have a
room called the Four Seasons Room, which when the weather is nice can be
converted into an open loggia but can otherwise be used as a normal, heated
interior space.

Facade

The building complex responds to the existing spatial situation and the large
scale by staggering the height of its volumes, which start out from a continuous
base zone. Large window openings create facades, which switch between skeleton
structure and perforated facade. The highly perforated walls give the
residential buildings a functional, urban look, analogous to the existing
buildings, and at the same time provide the apartments with generous lighting
and breadth. The clear volumes tame the exterior spaces by integrating loggias
into the buildings. The diverse palette contrasts with the plain-spoken
architectural idiom. In collaboration with the artist Adrian Schiess, different
colors were assigned to the various exterior spaces to clarify the
atmosphere.

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Originally published in: Ulrike Wietzorrek, Housing+: On Thresholds, Transitions, and Transparencies, Birkhäuser, 2014.