Residential + Offices

A local centre, consisting of several buildings on top of a commercially used base, on a given urban planning shape and at the beginning of the new residential area in the Paul-Gerhard-Allee. This urban planning situation regards a concise building, in terms of appearance, development and organisation.

The aim of the draft is to do justice to the functional requirements of both living and trade in the fixed building structure and to create a versatile, inspiring and differentiated living environment. The unrestricted use of the whole ground floor for trade businesses, that open up to the street area and the neighbourhood square, is compensated by free roof areas, which can be reached easily from the apartments.

The maximum permitted total floor area in relation to the greater volume of the building, and the transfer of the trade mezzanine to the ground floor, results in room for free play, which is used to connect high living quality with free spaces for the community and a range of services.

Whilst the maximum possible height development is reached at the South corner of the Paul-Gerhardt-Allee, in order to strengthen the effect of the urban block as a landmark, it is not exhausted in the direction of the city square. That way the tower seems higher in proportion and its signal effect is strengthened. The lower height of the building in the South improves the incidence of the sun and the quality of stay on the central Belvedere rooftop garden.  

The residential construction is planned as a meandering band phased from floor to floor, surrounding and protecting the plot along the edges of the street. In the North the missing noise protection of the open-air facilities is completed with a glass pergola. Rooftop terraces and community space are organically connected by pathways, facilitating neighbourly relationships inside the building complex, enabling the exploration of areas to meet, stay and play and therefore positively overcoming the disadvantages of the configuration of the building and the structural density by creating an attractive living environment.