Description

In the 1960s Bremen earned a reputation as a “model city of social housing” due not least to the work of the GEWOBA trade union housing association. Founded in the 1920s, it quickly assumed a leading role in post-war reconstruction, along with Neue Heimat Hamburg, whose chief architect, Ernst May, played a decisive role in the urban expansion of Bremen’s Vahr district.

In recent years, GEWOBA has begun focusing on adding built insertions to its existing housing estates. In 2011, it demonstrated its openness to creative and unconventional solutions as part of the “Unusual housing!” competition held in cooperation with the Chamber of Architects and the then Senate Building Director Franz-Josef Höing. The competition invited submissions for intelligent solutions to supplement existing housing schemes, using five potential sites for the pilot project. The competition asked for designs with model typological character so that they can be applied as serial building blocks to other locations.

The “Bremer Punkt” by Berlin-based LIN Architekten Urbanisten is the product of one of the award-winning submissions. It is located in Gartenstadt Süd, a green housing estate built in 1957 to a design by architects Säume and Hafemann with eight-storey high-rise slabs in the centre and four-storey courtyard-forming rows at the edges. Due to its proximity to the late 19th century Neustadt quarters and the Werdersee recreation area, Gartenstadt Süd is a popular residential district. However, the predominance of two- and three-room apartments means that the existing housing stock does not meet current demand for apartments for singles and small barrier-free apartments, or for apartments for larger families or cooperative housing schemes.

The designated sites were formerly used for garages, and as they lay comparatively close to the slab blocks, the architects proposed erecting individual four-storey buildings that can either stand as solitary buildings or be coupled with existing buildings, docking onto them via bridges to provide barrier-free access to parts of the existing buildings. For the GEWOBA, it was important that the new buildings also benefit the existing residents: many older people live in the quarter and the provision of easier access makes it possible for them to remain in their familiar living surroundings for longer, and in turn also increases local acceptance of the building measures.

The wood hybrid construction method proposed by the architects also offers advantages in this respect. The high degree of prefabrication reduces construction time and on-site disruptions and is less dependent on weather conditions. The construction method has other advantages. The load-bearing timber frame outer walls of the approx. 14 × 14 m rectangular building are stiffened by the concrete walls of the circulation block. Also, only a few supports are required in the interior to sustain the load of the wood-concrete composite ceilings, making it possible to accommodate numerous floor plan variants with apartment sizes of between 30 and 135 m².

Indented loggias and irregularly placed windows enliven the external appearance of the cubes.

Three prototypes were completed in 2017. The external wood cladding that was initially proposed by the architects was replaced by render. Fire protection requirements would have restricted possible uses of the outside space at ground level had the building been clad with wood. The bridges to the old buildings were not (yet) built but can still be added at a later date. While the first two prototypes were mainly occupied by older tenants from the local quarter, the third new building is to be made available for a cohousing project. This model intends to make it possible for residents with low-income to benefit from social housing.

In the meantime, the “Bremer Punkt” has been developed and optimised further for future use as a variable building block. Access to the apartments has been shifted from galleries at one side to an inner core around which the dwellings are arranged in a U-shape. This affords an even greater variety of floor plan types, for example with three apartments per floor and has advantages for bearing the ceiling slabs. A floor plan guide was devised with some twenty different variants that can be used in numerous different combinations. The docking of the blocks to an existing building remains an option. The loggias, on the other hand, have been sacrificed in favour of balconies. While loggias bring the outdoors into the apartment, balconies are more performant energy-wise as they have fewer external surfaces, and also allow apartments to be larger. As with the floor plans, the positioning of the windows and balconies can be varied in numerous ways.

The modified “Bremer Punkt” is now ready for serial production, according to the GEWOBA, and its use in other housing estates is in preparation. The project represents an interesting attempt to counter a fundamental shortcoming of serial repetition – its potential monotony – by providing internal variability that also manifests itself in the appearance of the building. It also demonstrates that cost-effective building does not necessarily mean sacrificing good design.

Originally published in Bauwelt 20.2017, pp. 32-37, abridged and edited for Building Types online, translated by Julian Reisenberger

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