If you are interested in contemporary housing development and co-housing in Germany you cannot overlook zanderroth architekten. Since they were founded in 1999 they have developed and implemented numerous housing development projects in Berlin.

One of them is the apartment buildings in Christburger Strasse. For the development of this gap site zanderroth architekten were awarded the renowned architecture prize “best architects 16”.

The co-housing development project was managed as a joint building venture in which 27 parties (singles, couples and families) joined to form a private company that carried out the construction project on its own responsibility, under the guidance of SmartHoming. The advantages are great individual freedom of design and lower costs combined with high architectural quality.

The apartment buildings have flexibly divisible floor plans. The use of ceilings with long spans made it unnecessary to fix the floor plans in any way. There are no load-bearing walls or supports within the apartments, allowing the floor plan distribution to be determined freely. The only fixed elements are the position of the shafts and the elevator, which provides direct access to the apartments.

Due to fire safety requirements for the emergency exits, a special accessing system was developed that used continuous balconies on the buildings’ rear sides to turn the stairs into fire escapes. These balconies also act as protected, spacious open areas. By contrast, the front sides are the buildings’ showcases, with enormous, elegant fixed glazing that dissolves the boundary between inside and outside.

Despite the modern character of the materials, the façade is not an alien object, instead representing a contemporary building block in the city. Decorative elements such as offset window bands, horizontally running ledges and the color tone are reflected in a translated form in the shimmering color of the anodized coating, the profiles of the post-and-mullion construction and the shadows created by the sculptural elements of the opening casements.

The different façade concepts and their contrasting usability meet in the courtyard. On one side, the continuous balconies with raw fair-faced concrete balustrades ensure privacy even as far as the exterior space. On the other, the perfectly smooth aluminum and glass façade allows residents to decide whether to present themselves or retreat behind curtains. The entrance area is recessed slightly, allowing the key zone of contact between public and private areas to be more permeable, weather-protected and paved with street slabs.

Location:

Christburger Strasse 19, Berlin, Prenzlauer Berg

Co-Housing Project Data:

• Architect: zanderroth architekten gmbh, Berlin
• Client: Christburger Straße 19 GbR
• Landscape Architects: herrburg Landschaftsarchitekten, Berlin
• Structural engineer: Ingenieurbüro Leipold, Berlin
• Planning/Construction: 2009 – 2013
• Performance stages: 1 – 8
• Residential units: 27
• Storeys: 7
• Parkings: 17
• Costs / Cost group: 100 - 700 incl. VAT – 9.7 Mio. EUR
• Costs / Cost group: 300 - 400 excl. VAT – 1,445 EUR/qm
• Floor area: 3,708 sqm (40,000 SF)
• Living space: 2,872 sqm (30,913 SF)
• Site occupancy/Plot ratio: 0,55 / 3,42

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