MEET YOU IN
THE NEXT YARD!
Köp — Berlin (D)
A high point and a low-rise building consisting of six courtyards lined up next to each other will in future complete a socialist prefabricated building ensemble along Köpenicker Strasse in the heart of Berlin.
And we love this property! Only rarely do so many highly topical societal, social, ecological and urbanistic-architectural megatopics accumulate as here at one point!
We also love the building task, because it is complex! After all, it’s about nothing less than historical contexts, inner-city redensification, old and new – building on, new neighborhoods – living together – communicative living environments, hybrid building structures, new mobility, optimization of lighting, reduction of noise emissions and much more!
The construction site is located in the heart of Berlin, on Köpenicker Straße directly opposite the Heizkraftwerk Mitte with the famous Techno-Cub Tresor.
The site is almost 300 meters long and less than 35 meters wide. It is the former parking lot of a typical Berlin prefab building ensemble. The stage-set-like rear end of the site is formed by an almost 270-meter-long, 9-story-high prefabricated building which is flanked in the east by an 11-story high point. In our design, we complete the unfinished ensemble with a further high point to the west. In the middle of the two high points, an approximately 250-meter-long, 3-story low-rise building consisting of six connected courtyard structures is placed.
These two structures will house a wide variety of functions such as commercial and shopping area, offices, privately financed apartments, subsidized housing and a large number of cluster apartments.
Courtyards & Facade
The six courtyards lined up next to each other are each framed by 11 apartments. A sequence of interconnected mini-neighborhoods is created, each with a green center as a differently designed meeting place for the housing community, as a secure children’s playground, or even as a view with quality for the residents of the existing prefabricated buildings.
The house facades consist of diagonally milled fiber cement panels, each of which is rotated by 90°. Although its façade appearance is reminiscent of the rational aesthetics of the adjacent prefabricated buildings, its design quality is much more refined, filigree and delicate.
