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.

Long before developing the BIG YARD, when Sascha Zander and Christian Roth wanted to start up as architects after university they could not find clients. So they decided to search for a possibility to generate jobs themselves. They saved a piece of land in Berlin via a purchase option and organized several private clients into a building group (German “Baugruppe”) for which they planned and built.

The concept of the “Baugruppe” (building group) has established since then and Zanderroth opened up a firm called SmartHoming which specialized in organizing such projects. The idea of SmartHoming is following: “Ambitious architecture in urban locations with affordable prices. The goal is to affiliate the future owners into a legal structure which acquires the land and assigns the architect.”

Zanderroth Architekten practice a special kind of real estate development. The client gets the opportunity to save the developers margin whereas the architect gets the job and determines the architecture. A variation of job acquisition where the architect does not hold the development risk but has the opportunity to build great buildings as references for himself.

Since then they have finished several award-winning residential buildings with the same concept. One of their earlier co-housing projects in Berlin, titled BIG YARD, was completed in 2010. The building consists of 23 townhouses, which are aligned to create a homogenous volume with 10 summerhouses behind it and 12 penthouses above it. In between, there is a large unplotted garden courtyard with a garage beneath it. The dream of the single house in the midst of Berlin became reality!

A rooftop terrace, summer kitchen, sauna, and four visitors’ apartments add to the aspect of community. The separated, yet overlapping access to the building gives the project an additional village character in terms of its use.

See for yourself:

Location:

BIG YARD: Zelterstrasse 5-11, 10439 Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg, Germany

Project Data:

• Architects: zanderrotharchitekten gmbh, Berlin
• Team Architects: Kirka Fietzek, Diana Gunkel, Guido Neubeck, Christian Roth, Konrad Scholz, Lutz Tinius, Sascha Zander
• Client: Bauherrengemeinschaft Zelterstraße 5-11
• Load-bearing structure: Ingenieurbüro Andreas Leipold, Berlin
• Building technology: Ingenieurbüro Lüttgens, Berlin
• herrburg Landschaftsarchitekten, Berlin
• Planning / Construction: 2007 – 2010
• Performance stages: 1 – 8
• Residential units: 45
• Storeys: 7
• Costs / Cost group 300 – 400 excl. VAT: EUR 8,970,000
• Gross floor area: 3,336 m2
• Net saleable/rentable area: 6,624 m2
• Site occupancy/Plot ratio: 1,00 / 3,00

The post Urban BIG YARD: Co-Housing Development by Zanderroth Architekten appeared first on Archipreneur.

We introduced zanderroth architekten to you in this article presenting five successful architects as developer firms. Since they were founded in 1999 they have developed and implemented numerous housing development projects in Berlin.

One of them is the ensemble of six apartment buildings in Liebigstrasse, Berlin.

The development project was managed as one of the biggest joint building venture project in which 144 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 free-standing buildings are positioned at a distance of 15 m from each other and are open in all directions. A distinction is made between two different building typologies: 2 x VI-storey, 4 x VII-storey, and also between 6-7 different apartment types including a garden apartment.

The principle of individual residential buildings is applied in the flexible combination of their floor plans. They can be added or divided. The flexible floor plans enable small residential units for singles and couples, as well as – after merging – large units for families. Two apartments with a floor space of 52 m2 and 64 m2 can be individually used or combined to create a large 116 m2 apartment.

This follows the principle of a flexible building, since it is not dictated by load-bearing walls and building elements. Demands change depending on different stages of life and the floor plans can adapt flexibly to the living conditions and requirements of the people.

See for yourself:

Location:

Liebigstrasse 1 – 1E, Berlin, Friedrichshain, Germany

Project Data:

• Architects: zanderroth architekten gmbh, Berlin
• Team Architects: Elisa Gersdorf, Tilman Heiring, Anne Kaiser, Dirk Müller, Anne Müller-Reitz, Ann-Sofie Paternoster, Christian Roth, Nils Schülke, Michael Spieler, Sascha Zander
• Client: Baugemeinschaft Liebigstrasse 1 GbR
• Landscape Architects: herrburg Landschaftsarchitekten, Berlin
• Structural engineer: Ingenieurbüro Leipold, Berlin
• Planning/Construction: 2010 – 2015
• Performance stages: 1 – 8
• Residential units: 144
• Storeys: 8
• Parkings: 76
• Costs/Account group 100-700 gross: EUR 29.5 million
• Costs / Account group 300 – 400 net: EUR 1,605/sqm
• Gross floor area: 6,691 sqm (72,021 SF)
• Net saleable/rentable area: 9,431 sqm (10,1514 SF)
• Site occupancy/Plot ratio: 0.24 / 1.78

The post Presenting Berlin’s Biggest Joint Building Venture Project by Zanderroth Architekten appeared first on Archipreneur.