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

The post Urban Co-Housing Project on Gap Site Developed by Zanderroth Architects appeared first on Archipreneur.

“When you look to buy sites in the city, you tend to find small gap sites, largely leftover spaces”, Roger Zogolovitch – architect, independent developer and Founder of Solidspace – told us in a recent interview.

“When you look at gap sites rather than the ‘usable’ more prominent sites on the waterfront, you may find that the views from the former are towards railways, or down alleys, or overlooked by other residual bits of the city. Some consider them the ugly ducklings of a city, but to me they’re very exciting because of their limitations. These difficult constraints make for fascinating and challenging projects.”

That is why Roger came up with the idea of working in split levels: arranging spaces for eating, living and working on a connected series of split levels. They coined this practice as their company’s trademark design concept and called it the Solidspace DNA.

We present you the Zog House, the first development project were Solidspace implemented this ‘spatial DNA’:

Previously home to six single-storey garages behind Brondesbury Road in Queens Park, London, constructed in the 1970s as part of its conversion into flats, the site had a history of planning refusals. Solidspace purchased this 195 square meter site in October 2004.

And since Solidspace usually outsources the architecture, they appointed architects Groves Natcheva to design a detached family house of 187 square meters. Planning consent was approved in October 2005, to create a building of two interlocking volumes in both plan and section.

It was dug down by half a floor level and, although two storeys internally, its southern facade to the street was only 4.5 metres in height. This met the proscribed light angle from the windows to the rear of the neighboring 77 Brondesbury Road. The northern volume consisted of three storeys (matching 1 Donaldson Road next door), with three levels on basement, ground and first floor.

The generous proportions of the Solidspace DNA in Zog House, allow a triple height void, exposing the section with views to the upper levels of the house, and to the sky, balancing the long views from the living space down to the kitchen/dining area on the lower garden level.

The entire development demonstrates the gap site feasibility of building houses at 187 square meters equating to a density of 52 units per hectare.

Gus Zogolovitch, Roger’s son and Founder of Inhabit Homes, lives at the house with his family. Inhabit Homes was evolved from Solidspace as it became obvious that regular estate agencies struggled to find buyers who were interested in design-led housing. “Inhabit Homes is doing the marketing and sales for Solidspace. We are acting as their sales agency”, Gus told us in a recent interview for Archipreneur Insights.

Location:

1a Donaldson Road, Queens Park, London, UK

Project Data:

• Architect: Groves Natcheva
• Developer: Solidspace
• Client: Solidspace
• Project Manager: Gus Zogolovitch
• Planning/Construction: 2004 – 2009
• Residential units: 1
• Storeys/Levels: 4
• Gross floor area: 190 sqm (2045 SF)
• Net saleable/rentable area: 175 sqm (1883 SF)

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