ul class="overview_list " id="projectList">
  • Railway District

    The starting point of the urban development concept is the creation of two strong open space connections that act as a green bracket, embedding the new quarter in the urban context in a variety of ways and interweaving it with this context. The green bracket links the very different and previously separate urban open spaces of Gleisharfe and Hauptfriedhof. The two open space sequences structure the hitherto unorganized urban space and give the neighborhood development a clear contour.

    The adjacent greenery flows into the neighborhood and picks up on the existing space-creating structures such as groups of trees and fallow land to interweave them with the neighborhood spaces. This creates a lively place with its own identity in a central location. The guiding ideas of BAHNSTADT are consistently developed further. In the midst of the green brackets, a compact and densely mixed urban quarter is created, which is divided into sub-segments by three axes across the green spaces. They create direct path relationships and clear orientation in the urban space.

    completed
    2022
    Braunschweig
  • Carbon-Based Design – Steps to Zero

    The Netherlands needs 1 million new homes before 2030. How can we ensure that they put as little pressure as possible on the environment? How can we ensure that they meet the challenging climate targets? Even if all future homes are built according to the current agreements (Nearly Energy Neutral Building BENG, and 4% emission reduction in industry), the CO2 budget for construction will run out in 2026.

    This research is a continuation of the earlier report from 2021 ' Carbon-Based Design , research into the environmental impact of residential construction'. The focus is on the embodied carbon (the material-bound emissions from the production and construction process). Which components have the greatest impact on total emissions and how can we adjust our design and development strategy accordingly?

    This report goes one step further and quantifies the untapped potential for the reduction of environmental impact in buildings. With four cases, we aim to bring emissions as low as possible, or even to zero. The report compares three strategies: reuse, renovation, and biobased construction. We do this with the MPG method, which portrays the total environmental impact of a building over its entire life cycle, which is the current Dutch legal framework. Alternatively, with the Paris Proof method by the Dutch Green Building Council (DGBC) we test these results to see if they fit within the CO2 budget. Going beyond the legal framework, we also quantify the potential of Carbon storage in these three strategies.

    completed
    2022
    Rotterdam, The Netherlands
  • Ibbenbüren Tor West

    As the entrance to INOVA Park, „Tor West" productively brings together history and the future, offers elastic development possibilities and is supported by a robust open space structure. The central museum square offers a lively place to linger for arriving visitors, museum guests, users of the daycare center located there, and adjacent commercial workers.

    Three design guiding themes form the basis of the development concept:
    1. creation of a strong open space structure. This links the area in many cases via a robust and high-quality design with the northern Gleispark, the Osnabrücker Straße and the open cultural landscape in the south .
    2. integration of historic preservation and new buildings. With the preservation of monuments and integration of these into a clearly structured new building structure, a variety of spatial and functional relationships are created.
    3. the clearly structured commercial building areas allow the settlement of many small-scale to a few large-scale uses due to the efficient developments (delivery traffic, MIV, bicycle and pedestrian traffic) and the flexible building orientations and depths. Public generating functions are located at the entrance square and the museum.


    The open space performs important climate functions and, with its permeable structure, has good connectivity to the surrounding landscape. North-south connections support ground-level cold air flow for effective summer night cooling. A tall tree population binds fine dust, improves air quality, and provides a high level of comfort in the outdoor space.

    Idea
    2022
    Ibbenbüren
    Germany
  • Build Simply

    How to build using simple means in construction, building services, fire protection, floor plan design and open space and still react to the ongoing questions of climate adjustment and resiliency?

    "Build Simply" shows answers to these questions in a 5-step strategy which we developed together with our cooperation partners on levels of structural engineering, building technology and landscape design:

    1. Simple volumes connected to an active arcade
    2. Intelligent fire protection
    3. Reduction of technology through clever construction
    4. Use of local energy resources
    5. Cradle-to-cradle/Build sorted

    On an architectural level, these principles are implemented by public and semi-public spaces aligned to the common yard, the lowest building class possible, continous floor plans for a better ventilation within each apartment and a structure allowing an effective planning with wood. Nevertheless, the main focus of the design relies on the needs of people to promote a
    communal and sustainable togetherness

    Idea
    2022
    Schweinfurt
    Germany
  • Karstadt Recycling

    How can we transform vacant department stores in Germany and bring them to a new stage of life with new uses?

    Hundreds of department stores stand empty in German city centers. At Hermannplatz in Berlin, an old Karstadt building could be redesigned. A new façade creates a strong face in the urban context and an invitation to a differentiated courtyard sequence, which was redesigned as a playful open space experience. Instead of shopping, living, working and community-oriented offerings now meet the needs of the growing urban society in the 21st century.

    The existing Karstadt building provides valuable building materials that are deconstructed, recycled and reused. According to the layer principle, load-bearing and non-load-bearing components are structurally independent of each other. Thus, they can be used independently in their various life cycles.
    A durable, urban façade forms the new face to the city and creates a gateway to the interior.

    A varied sequence of courtyards accompanies the crossing and becomes an urban experience: the Werkhof with its lively hustle and bustle, the Green Heart as a central interface and at the same time as a place of retreat, and the city playground, which promotes interaction and participation. Flora and fauna form the connecting element of the spatial sequence within the courtyard structure up to the roof terraces.

    Idea
    2022
  • Individuality in series

    How to allow individuality in serial pre-production with modular timber construction to respond to housing goals in a social, ecological and economic way?

    Within the framework of the competition, this question was investigated. The result: a modular and project-independent configurable floor plan system for multi-storey residential buildings in timber construction. The focus was on the possibilities of serial, cost-effective and environmentally compatible construction with high spatial quality.

    A simple basic structure forms the basis for the development of the versatile room modules. The general concept provides for a division into three spatial and functional layers, with the middle layer forming the link between the well exposed lounge layers and at the same time acting as the supplying core. To increase the flexibility, versatility and quality of the floor plan configurations, the modules are shifted in relation to each other. This creates flowing, two-sidedly lit rooms or apartments and versatile configuration options. When dimensioning the modules, requirements for accessibility, eligibility and economical logistics as well as prefabrication were taken into account, resulting in the dimensions of the room and technology module.

    The simple structure and dimensioning form the basis for the development of the room modules and the modular and expandable floor plan configurations.The floor plan types can be used equally in different building types and development forms and can be flexibly adapted to different urban contexts.Furthermore, the structure allows the adaptation to differentiated user groups -from standard apartments, to living forms such as cluster apartments as contemporary shared apartments or apartments for grandparents or teenage children.

    In order to be able to give the buildings a differentiated exterior and further increase the living quality of the apartments, the system provides for additional add-on modules. These are arranged as an additional independent layer in front of the facade and offer a wide variety of design and usage options.

    Idea
    2022
  • Racecourse For Future

    How can the area of the former racecourse in the east of Bremen be used as a local recreation area for all citizens of Bremen that, in addition to providing important ecosystem services, continues to allow space for experimentation and the unexpected?

    The racetrack oval becomes a continuous green ring that leads through the different areas. The outer edge is the most precisely formulated in terms of landscape design and the most regulated in terms of operation. It functions as a perceptible spatial framework and as a clear threshold between inside and outside. In addition, two circular paths provide the overarching connectivity here. The openness of the racecourse center is preserved and staged. It remains open for dynamic changes and is a valuable property that has to be negotiated continuously. Sub-areas are characterized in a variety of ways and occupied by different clusters of use. Individual utilization modules profit from the spatial proximity to each other and can form synergies. The central connecting path is supplemented by a network of secondary footpaths and trails. It runs through the different areas of use of the park and enables a direct and intuitive passage through the area.
    The project showcase building at the entrance to the area serves as a hub for networking local actors and sees itself as an open start-up center where new ideas and impulses for the racecourse area are continuously generated.

    The concept preserves and further develops existing landscape and utilization structures. It avoids deconstruction and adds new layers to the site - structurally, functionally, and ecologically.

    Idea
    2022
    Bremen
    Germany
  • Campus Delta Heilbronn

    In order to bring people, ideas, opinions and uses together in a diverse way and at the same time to make an important contribution to adapting to climate change, the CampusDelta is being created as a learning landscape and a place of knowledge on the banks of the Neckar.

    The CampusDelta creates an urban structural transition between commercial and residential areas through compact building structures with clear building edges to the northern street space and an open, smaller-grained building structure to the southern riverside park. The new central campus mile connects the northern education campus, the Neckarbogen and the access road heading north to the Wohlgelegen innovation park. This urban axis functions as a superordinate networker, as a central movement and orientation zone for the campus and creates a clear address side for the buildings. Along the mile are diverse recreation zones, small and large squares, as well as the important primary functions of the campus. The characterful buildings of the campus are compact, differentiated in structure, hybrid in use, and feature striking roofscapes and green facades. Small-scale organized first floor zones and open foyers give the architectures a human scale and support the diversity of uses inside and out.

    Shaped from the landscape, the campus minimizes sealed surfaces, maximizes open space and thus biodiversity as well as near-natural water management, and relies on renewable building materials, climate-neutral energy supply and sustainable local mobility.

    Idea
    2022
    Heilbronn
    Germany
  • Schönefeld Nord

    How can a missing piece in the urban puzzle holistically bring together airport, landscape and existing neighborhoods?

    At the border between the capital, the airport and the countryside, Schönefeld's „quarters of landscapes" combines the qualities of a major city with those of the surrounding countryside.The new urban component strengthens the qualities of Schönefeld and qualifies the existing landscape spaces. In the process, a rich urban ecosystem with great biological diversity is created.

    The northern landscape is strengthened and open space qualities are recognized for new residential locations. The starting point is the northern landscape band consisting of the Brandenburg field landscape in the west, the former Wall strip, the Rudow South Park and the Rudow-Altglienicke Landscape Park in the east. A mixed neighborhood forms the southern edge. Here, in the immediate vicinity of the train station, a compact, urban neighborhood with a strong mix of uses is being created.

    Diverse new urban quarters are located in the heart of characteristic open spaces. They create living space for a total of 11,500 new residents of Schoenefeld and 4,000 jobs in the immediate surround-ings of the train station and airport. They are characterized by their direct access to nature, short dis-tances and vibrant urban centers. A wide typological variety and a broad spectrum of public, neighborhood and private open spaces create the foundation for a variety of different forms of housing and lifestyles.

    Idea
    2022
    Schönefeld
    Germany
  • Humboldtblock

    The Humboldt Block combines existing and new buildings to create a new productive quarter with a character know for Berlin, connects on many levels with its surrounding and can respond flexible on future challenges. The urban design aims to connect the area wit its surrounding - on one side the Humboldthain as an important open space, on the other side with the adjacent areas and institutions of the technology park.

    The structural setting completes the perimeter development of the building block along Gustav-Meyer-Allee. Existing and new buildings merge to form a quarter with a strong character, creating an outside view typical for the location. The part on Gustav-Meyer-Allee with its public first floor areas form the showcase, representing the new quarter. In the center of the Humboldt Block, a sequence of squares is created to connect the entrances of the new and old buildings. Those buildings face each other and form a common public space.

    The development is divided into nine north-south oriented strips of buildings, some of which are grouped together by internal courtyards. The main internal development for delivery traffic divides the resulting building strips in an east-west direction. The permeable building structure opens generously to the Humboldthain and links the quarter with its surroundings. The main thoroughfare is aligned with the two existing crosswalks of the block.

    completed
    2022
    Berlin
    Germany