HOUSE
of YARDs
Köp — Berlin (D)
In future, a point block and a low-rise building consisting of six courtyards lined up next to each other will complete an ensemble of socialist prefabricated buildings along Köpenicker Strasse in the heart of Berlin.
And we love this property! Only rarely do you find such an accumulation of highly topical societal, social, ecological and urbanistic-architectural mega-topics in one place!
We also love the building task – because it is complex! After all, this is about nothing less than historical contexts, inner-city redensification, the combination of old and new, building on existing neighborhoods, living together, communicative living environments, hybrid building structures, new mobility, optimizing lighting, reducing 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 Tresor techno club.
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 defined by an almost 240-meter-long, 10-story-high prefabricated building which is flanked in the west by an 12-story point block.
In our design, we complete the unfinished ensemble with a further point block to the east. Positioned in between the two point blocks is an approximately 210-meter-long, 3-story low-rise building consisting of six connected courtyard structures.
These two structures will house a wide variety of functions, including commercial and shopping area, offices, privately financed apartments, subsidized housing, and a large number of cluster apartments.
Courtyards & Facade
Each of the six courtyards lined up next to each other is framed by 8-9 apartments. This creates a sequence of interconnected mini-neighborhoods, each with an individually designed green center as a meeting place for the housing community, as a view for improved quality of life for the residents of the existing prefabricated buildings.
The facades consist of diagonally milled fiber cement panels, each of which is rotated by 90°. Although the look of the facade is reminiscent of the rational aesthetics of the adjacent prefabricated buildings, the quality of the design is much more refined, filigree, and delicate.
