Assembly D2

Newbuild of a residential and commercial unit for a housing cooperative

Location: Donaustraße 2, 12043 Berlin-Neukölln

Year: 2018 -

Team IFUB*: Johannes Krohne, Bernhard Kurz, Miguel Lopez, Mikus Druviņš

Together with:
Winfried Härtel / Project development - www.winfriedhaertel.de

Client: Baugruppe D2

The gap in the edge of the block, which is required by building law, is located directly at the southern end of the very long Pannierstraße at a small intersection. In response to this, the

front building

was designed with a high point that also visually picks up the street-facing gables of the neighbouring buildings and moderates the different eaves heights of the neighbouring buildings to the right and left. The building is thus harmoniously integrated into the urban space, which is also helped by the urban perforated façade with its stepped base storey. This houses two commercial units to revitalise the district, whereby the colourful glazed clinker brick slips already visually indicate the building in the rear courtyard.

The

convertibility

is one of the essential parameters in the design of durable and long-lasting buildings. That is why the apartments in the front building are designed in such a way that they can be divided or combined very easily, even at a later date.

The

garden house

in the rear courtyard was attached to the existing fire wall there and staggered in height to comply with the statutory distance areas. The south- and east-facing setbacks were designed as terraces and thus provide maximum outdoor living quality.

The view from the front of the house to the garden house shows - even walls free of fire loads do not have to be unsightly! The open

safety staircase

located at the front of the garden house must be surrounded by non-combustible building materials for fire safety reasons. With this trick, installation areas for the fire brigade could be completely avoided and the courtyard could be designed as a garden. Bicycles and rubbish were also stored in the basement, thus keeping the courtyard completely free. The non-combustible coloured clinker brick slips therefore develop from the basement of the front building over the entire façade towards the sky in the truest sense of the word.

The

glazed brick slips

were sourced from a local manufacture in the Berlin area. As a connecting element of the façades of both buildings on the site, the plinth of the front building as well as the staircase wall and the plinth of the garden house were designed in a graphic of cheerful, bright colours.

The safety staircase had as a requirement not only a non-combustible building envelope towards the stairwell - but a non-combustible façade skin for the entire building. Therefore, in addition to the tiles, a façade made of untreated and thus 100% recyclable corrugated sheet metal made of

aluminium

was chosen. The wall construction, as well as the balconies and windows, were permitted in wood, which means that the design of the front and garden house relate to each other not only through window formats but also through materiality. Coloured fabric awnings complete the picture.

The three façade materials at a glance. Larch wood in the front building, aluminium in the garden house and the coloured clinker brick slips on both buildings. The window formats with their distinctive cross were installed 45cm above the ground and are thus designed as possible

sit-in windows.

In order to cultivate the community in the house, there are

roof terraces

on both buildings with a great view and for all residents to use. From the roof terrace of the front building, you can see the whole of Pannierstraße as far as Görlitzer Park.

At the southernmost end of the property is the largest maisonette with a wonderful, sheltered

terrace

that is sure to become even greener in no time. The nesting boxes for the swifts are visible in the background.

The flexibility of the residential uses had its (ecological) price. Due to the more difficult sound insulation requirements for recessed flat partitions, it would have been significantly more complex and expensive to construct the supporting structure in timber. For these reasons, a

hybrid construction

with the load-bearing structure in solid construction and the façade in timber construction had to be chosen. This is reflected in the central corridor, which is left in raw reinforced concrete and provides the necessary robustness as the most frequently used space in the entire building.

The staircase in the front building

is a very reduced solid construction without any great demands on the surfaces. Reinforced concrete and white-painted, unrendered sand-lime brick walls characterise the image. The lift doors carry the colours of the tiles from the façade into the house and provide splashes of colour on all floors.

The building services concept

is based on an exhaust-air heat pump that produces domestic hot water from the heat of the exhaust air from the flats and automatically ensures the air is circulated via outside wall air diffusers, thus providing the necessary air exchange. The system is combined with municipal district heating for space heating and photovoltaic modules on the roof to support the operation of the heat pump.

The balconies

in the front building are designed in such a way that they combine the advantages of a loggia with those of a balcony. You have both a more protected part with side walls and a part that overhangs the façade through which more light can fall onto the balcony.

Upon request, the residents were also supported in designing the interior spaces. Here, the

interior staircase

designed by IFUB* of one of the maisonettes in the garden house.

The kitchen

in the flat in question was designed to match the staircase. As a healthy living material, only spruce wood was used for the fixtures, which was painted with pure linseed oil.

IFUB* also designed a

kitchen

in the front building. This develops around the corner from the access corridor and thus makes optimal use of the available space.

The bathrooms

could also be individually designed. Starting with a standard tile that is available in many different colours and formats, a variety of designs were possible. Here as vertically laid 10x30cm tiles in three different colour shades.

Here is another

shower bath

with colour gradations in a different colour spectrum.

For this resident, a coloured bathtub niche made of 10x10cm tiles was designed for his

bath.

Other

tiles

were also possible on request. Here, different grey tiles were combined with small coloured niches.

The residents were also able to influence the fittings and the bathroom layout. Here, a

shower and bath

was combined with black fittings, plain white wall tiles and a floor of terrazzo tiles.

Floor plan: ground floor

Floor plan: 1st floor

Floor plan: 3rd floor

Floor plan: 5th floor

Roof terraces

Longitudinal section

A little fun at the very end,

Renderings vs. photo

What are the pictures before construction and what are the pictures after construction?

Cross section: front building

Cross section: garden house