The residential crown is a prototype of settlement 2.0. Rooftops of retail and office buildings, as well as parking garages, are activated, attractive locations are opened up, existing infrastructures are used more efficiently and the mixture of programs in the city centre is improved. The existing parking garage is complemented with penthouses as part of the renovation of the façade and entrance area. These residential units distinguish formally from the existing building structure and simultaneously give the building a harmonious completion.

Entrances and circulation of the building have been reorganized so that independent addresses for the car park and the residential building are clearly recognizable. The residential building is accessed (barrier-free) via a representative lobby on the ground floor with exclusive elevators that lead directly to the central, landscaped residential courtyard. The residential units are accessible from this common space. Each apartment (50 to 120m²) has a spacious, private terrace overlooking the rooftops of the city.

A listed villa of the 1850ties was converted into two family apartments. The large garden is used collectively. The 1st and 2nd floors were redesigned in relation to the needs of a couple with five children. Spaces „suitable for everyday use" are created and at the same time, the special character of the historic building with its ornamental elements and valuable wooden floors is strengthened.

To reestablish the former spaciousness a multitude of fixtures and walls were demolished. The roof was reconstructed according to current energetic standards. The first floor serves as an entrance area with a large hall leading to the kitchen and the balcony. The master bedroom and one kid's room are orientated to the garden. The former ballroom as the heart of the building is used as a dining and living room. The space has an impressive size (55m2, 6m high) and is decorated with an ornamental ceiling that was preserved and - where necessary - restored. A gallery is installed into the ballroom as a slender glass-steel-structure: The stairs are suspended from the gallery to keep the parquetry untouched. The second floor is reserved „for kids only" and features four rooms, a play hall, and a bathroom. The staircase between the two floors is enhanced in its spaciousness by opening up a part of the ceiling. All design and constructive measurements were undertaken in detailed consultation with the institution for historic preservation.

The residential complex AnA is situated close to the Student Village of Tirana University on a magnificent hillside. The oddly-shaped site starts with a narrow edge along the street and widens sloping down 15 meters of level difference. The building folds as a continuous figure, respecting all the necessary distances to the property line and on itself. This stepped form creates a local landmark with an identifiable skyline in a very heterogeneous context.

The site opens itself to allow a pedestrian connection between the student village and the northern areas. This passage enlivens the commercial ground floor and the compound piazettas. The cuts in building volume are a response to the urban regulations and a way to break down the overall massing into pieces more related to the human scale. The same 'cut' approach is used in order to provide light and natural ventilation for circulation spaces. The attic floor has setbacks in strategic locations of the building for best views from the terraces for the exquisite apartments. The materialization aims for an elegant appearance with differentiated materials and patterns but an overall clean white look: the plinth is of fair-faced concrete with a diamond-shaped relief, the body from white plaster, crowned by an attic floor clad in beveled tiles for a shimmering reflection of the strong Albanian sun.

The Rubber House as a price winning project in the Eenvoud/ Simplicity competition was selected to be built in Almere, Netherlands, as one of 12 experimental housing projects. In volume and style inspired by the simple and archetypal Dutch barn architecture the Rubberhouse forms a simple asymmetric double pitched roof inhabiting 2 storeys, in combination with a single pitch roof with one storey. The resource saving construction consists of massive wood panels from cross-laminated timber. The outer walls and the roof surface are clad with black EPDM foil. In contrast to that the atmosphere of the inside is characterized by the natural warm surface of the massive wooden walls. The utilization concept proposes small private rooms in favour of a generous open plan living area. Clear lines of sight through the entire building support the robust, open space sequence and allow visual connections into the adjacent forest. The living room can be expanded via the large sliding glass doors onto the terrace. The high degree of prefabrication allowed for a building period of only three months.

Like many other residential schemes of the 1960s the Nordweststadt in Frankfurt requires an update of its building stock, a redesign that meets current and future demands of urban living. A set of transferable, integrative, and low-cost design measures is developed, focusing on three main tasks: Tidying up, the regeneration of neighbourhoods, and the strengthening of identity.

Shrubs and trees are cut back, the parking is reorganized, pedestrian and cycle lanes are being introduced, new public spaces are designed and the courtyards are upgraded by private gardens, new public green amenity spaces and 'light pergolas' - a minimal architecture that connects basement parking with the courtyards and passes over into a podium with seating steps on ground level. The light pergolas enclose a small lounge, an external barbecue, water and electricity connections and a bicycle workshop. During evening hours and at night the pergolas illuminate the courtyard, by day these enable diverse and easy use of the courtyard and strengthen a lively community.

The project PELIKAN MIX4 is characterized by a variety of dwelling types according to urban lifestyles. Within an urban master plan four distinctive characteristics are developed:
A landscape tableau is the connecting element, forming an entrée for the private, semi-public and public spaces. Generous lobbies in each house compose a discrete identity and a space of encounters. A great flexibility in the floor plans allows a variety of different apartments in size and type. According to society demands, the types "wellness", "sustainable", "extravagant" and "comfortable" are developed. They differ in constellation of rooms, material, building equipment and the offer of outdoor spaces. So called "Glorietten" crown the buildings and optimize light, spatial peculiarity and views.

The airport Berlin Tegel is going to be closed down. TXL will be developed as a high-quality research, industry and business park with the profile of 'urban technologies'. A strategic master plan builds the foundation for a flexible - and therefore, robust - planning process. Developmental guidelines and a profound system of rules create a structural, programmatic and creative quality of strategic important subareas.

Simultaneously, more flexible developmental options are being allocated for other areas. ‚Quarters' profiles' emphasize existing potentials of subareas and strengthen the specific identity. An integrated concept for energy and water supports sustainable development: biomass, geothermal energy, wind energy and photovoltaics provide regionally generated energy. Gray and rainwater is being collected, refined and reused regionally. An urban aerial railway connects the site with the station and the tram. Here, the aerial railway is not only an efficient, sustainable means of transport but also represents sustainable mobility in terms of the site's profile.

House 1 is the first built project of the masterplan 'mirror twins'. On top of a shared commercial ground floor a green link connects the site with the close-by park. The two seperate buildings connected by the common plinth are generating an enormous amount of requested square meters. Rather massive volumes are perforated by a series of programmatic voids that connect to a common circulation space, an inner void. The much needed public space is integrated into the building by creating a second entry level and reinterpreting the circulation space. The engraving appearance
of House 1 refers to the typical salient facades of Tirana. Multiple tilted strips create a rich play of light and shadow.

The project is located on the western outskirts of Tirana, an area which has seen major development in recent years due to its prime location close to the main entrance corridor to Albania's capital. With a total of approx. 400.000 m2 built floor area the new district will house approximately 7.000 inhabitants. It stretches between two large parks, whose conceptual design also formed part of the competition brief. Runway Park is a 1,1 km long former landing strip and Lana Park is an extension of the city's main green axis. The design proposes an urban layout that forms a hinge between these two parks, making them accessible, as well as connecting them, whilst strengthening the distinctively different character of both. The urban structure reflects a combination of three typologies: 4 storey stripes, 12 storey towers and 8 storey 'urban rocks'. The aim is to offer a broad variation of lifestyles, as opposed to the prevalent development paradigm of 9 storey broken perimeter blocks in Tirana.

In the 14-month planning and realisation stage, a baroque hunting castle in Seesen was redeveloped with a focus on simplicity and clarity at a reasonable price. Also, the permanent exhibition of the museum was conceived and moved.

Central attention at the rebuilding work was the restoration of spatial relations and structures, as well as the creation of a high-quality, modern but timeless showroom, which is able to take on the various exhibits, including specialities such as 'The world's longest piano string. The exhibition has a modern pedagogical approach and offers attractions and information for all age groups. Additionally, the value was placed to increase children's participation through experimental- and multimedia stations. In this way the museum can be accessed by a variety of senses, understanding through seeing, hearing and touching.

The former area of the World Exposition 2000 is being transformed into the EXPO PARK HANNOVER: a high-class business and technology park with excellent infrastructure within walking distance to the world's biggest fairground. About 85% of the area is already being used by businesses, service providers, institutions for higher education and event locations. For the remaining plots, a development study was commissioned in order to visualize possible designs and volumetric developments.

Special attention was paid to a wide range of programmatic options. The allotment provides plots between 2.000m2 and 20.000m2 and floor areas between 4.000m2 and up to 30.000m2. Different building types were developed and visualized in order to serve different needs concerning address-making, accessibility or internal organization. Exemplary designs are the OfficeTower, the ShowSPACE, the OfficeCUBES and the Start-upLAB.

A very special project in our portfolio is the Chalimbana Local Government (CLG) Training Institute in Chalimbana, Zambia as it can be seen as a good example of a passive and self-sufficient city. The aim of the masterplan was to increase the quality of life of both students and academic staff of the Institute, to structure the campus for the long term, and to provide the grounds with a clear, recognizable identity.

Low-tech in construction but high-tech in designing, we created a plan that included everything needed for an autarchic project. In a very sustainable manner, we used the excavated soil to press it into bricks contributing to the buildings being passively cooled and heated. To achieve that we mainly used the sun energy. From a special angle and material of the roofs to the orientation of all buildings to strictly East-West, with the main facades (North & South) avoiding the low angles of the sun, CLG Training Institute became an eco-friendly vision made into reality. Also, we made sure that the rainwater and the cleaned sewage can drain into the groundwater locally, granting a precise water cycle.

The existing road provides access to the campus by car. Simultaneously, a new main route for pedestrian connections is established as the new 'heart' of the campus. It runs between the mostly residential area on the North and the educational program on the South side of the grounds. These two clusters - housing and education - at the two opposite ends of the campus are surrounded by the lecturers' houses, and by leisure activities. By closing off some of the student housing blocks, small neighbourhoods are created, with inner gardens and courtyards providing atmospheric living quarters.

The study "periphery | landscape" identifies potentials and gives strategic advice for the long-term spatial development of the north-eastern periphery of Munich. The team was asked to work out a strategy for the development of an area of about 350 ha and to specify their findings for a sample size of around 150 ha.

The approach is based on the following steps: The potentials of the area are recognized in a profound analysis and brought together in a synthesis map (A). Challenges concerning sustainable development in the periphery were discussed. They led the team to five strategies (B). These strategies provide a framework for long-term spatial development. They were developed in a close interplay with the design of a spatial vision for the North-East of Munich (C). The spatial vision shows ideas for future open spaces and new developments. The team invented a set of typologies of periphery settlement. The typologies focus on specific combinations of settlement and open space (D). A design for the sample site (E) is differentiated with stories, best-practice examples and development options in order to illustrate the everyday life of future inhabitants.

Over the past decade, many gaps in building blocks have been closed in the city of Gütersloh. Various areas have been upgraded or restructured. With the integrated action plan, not only the urban design of the city will be further sharpened. With the participation of diverse actors, new prospects for the long-term development of the city are presented.

Strategic decisions are prepared to make the city centre adaptable for changing spatial requirements in the future. The integrated action plan defines key objectives for development. Conceptual and design requirements are defined for e.g. functional mix, open space planning, or traffic issues. These recommendations are implemented and spatially located in a strategic master plan. On this basis, future developments and project proposals can be tested and evaluated and individual measures can be derived.

Freiburg is a growing city where more and more people want to live. How can the city continue to be developed in a sustainable way? The Perspectivplan elaborates spatial development options for the City of Freiburg in the next 10 to 15 years. In the course of designing, built-up areas and open spaces are conceived and developed together. Based on a differentiated (GIS)-structure analysis, so far undetected potentials are made visible, development strategies are pointed out and by means of scenarios a future spatial image with a complementary structure plan is generated. The project has been developed in a cooperative process with stakeholders, the municipality, politics and the public.

www.perspektivplan-freiburg.de