The proposal responds to a competition for a new residential high-rise and four additional residential buildings to be built upon a former parking lot in a central area of Berlin.

Our project proposed increasing the housing density by 60% and put forward a different urban concept than prescribed by the brief. A shared plinth that contains collective facilities and atelier units connects the buildings. The atelier units are positioned along the entire length of the street behind a colonnade that redefines the urban space of the street. On top of this shared foundation, several separate building masses are placed to absorb the rhythm of the large-scale developments across the street. The upper arcade becomes a street that creates vertical closure and distances the apartments through air chambers and ‘front yards’.

The arcade and the plinth are designed as reinforced concrete constructions, while the surmounted residential blocks are conceived as prefab wood systems. The compact, insulated volumes are wrapped in soundproofed and climatically buffering shells. The floor plans are consistently oriented towards the southern and quieter backside of the development. The residential units consist of flexible, functionally neutral spaces that can be connected as an open suite of rooms or used separately. Direct access to the upper floors supports the connection between living and working.