Description

Wedged between the motorway and the Frankfurter Ring in the northeast of Munich, the wagnis housing cooperative has realised its latest co-housing project. What makes the ensemble particularly notable is that it also contributes to the surrounding quarter.

In northern Schwabing where the project lies, the city is still tangible but begins to get ragged at the edges. The ensemble is open to its surroundings and comprises five buildings with 138 apartments for around 320 residents. It also incorporates some functions that were missing in the neighbourhood: one of the “add-ons” that was planned from the outset in conjunction with the residents is a public courtyard with shops, community facilities, play areas for children, studios and a restaurant.

The “wagnisART” project is part of the urban redevelopment of the site of the former Funkkaserne military barracks according to a masterplan designed by Ortner & Ortner in 2002. The architects envisaged U-shaped apartment blocks and rectangular urban villas, strung together in a straight line. Expensive apartments abound in the surroundings that make no secret of their status: there is plenty of greenery on either side of the rows but the buildings themselves make no contribution to the quarter. Only on the eastern perimeter does the atmosphere shift, where the artists’ studios lie in a U-shaped section of the now renovated barracks buildings. The site of the wagnisART cooperatives adjoins it on one side and the WOGENO cooperative next door, which comprises a long permeable building, contains a car-sharing station. This kind of cooperation between cooperatives bears potential for future collaborative efforts.

In this respect, the construction process at Gertrud-Grunow-Straße was exemplary. With about 40% of the residents already signed up at the outset, the architects could begin by considering the basic urban form: should it be an introverted island in the form of a large block, or an open structure made up of separate urban blocks? Both options were intensively debated with the majority finally opting for the open form of five individually shaped structures. Some had reservations about the open form: Will the children be able to play undisturbed in the courtyard? Why should the cooperative be open to the neighbourhood and include publicly accessible facilities such as cafés and workshops when the neighbourhood doesn’t reciprocate? “Ultimately, the argument that most convinced the doubters was the high level of social control resulting from the direct indoor-outdoor connection of the surrounding flats. On top of that, one benefits mutually from local interactions,” explains Rut Gollan, project manager at wagnisART. In the block opposite is the “Lihotzky”, an event space can be rented out for parties or meetings. Another block will soon house a collectively run café and a third bloc a launderette with sewing studio.

From the idea that there should be a generous common access route available only to the residents came the distinctive bridges raised some 10 metres above ground that connect Europe, Asia, Africa, America and Australia – the names of the five buildings – on the third and fourth floors. The view of the two courtyards from the bridges, some up to six metres wide, is reminiscent to that of a lighthouse from which everything can be seen. The fact that the residents have indulged in this spatial luxury for the circulation space is all the more remarkable in view of the fact that in privately financed residential construction, as well as in publicly-funded housing, such areas would have been mercilessly trimmed to a minimum. To achieve this, savings had to be made elsewhere: for example, the windows are made of plastic.

The result is a miniature urban quarter that has an aesthetic life of its own without being either quaint or stuffy. The ensemble on Domagkstrasse is a mix of generous open space and everyday feeling – a building that politicians, architects and housing entrepreneurs from across the country should take a look at.

Originally published in Bauwelt 10.2017, pp. 20-27, abridged and edited for Building Types online, translated by Julian Reisenberger

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