The Hafenküche on the Spree is small - but not insignificant in terms of infrastructure: as a canteen for neighbors and surrounding businesses, for guest berths in the marina next door, for catering the saloon boats and as a beer garden for sundowners. The dilapidated structure was extended, with an unconventional look right on the water and a beautiful view over the Spree.
The structural remains date back to the early years of the GDR and before. They were structurally secured - not demolished - and renovated for energy efficiency. With just a few interventions, the identity of the site was transformed rather than eliminated. The industrial habitus was emphasized by interventions with light steel and timber constructions. The dock gates, which can be fully opened, allow guests to move freely between the beer garden, the harbor edge and the restaurant at any point.
The new components were installed with a maximum degree of prefabrication in a short time and with great precision and a high degree of efficiency. Timber as a supporting structure reduces the unavoidable thermal bridge to a manageable level and continues the architectural language of the location. The new roof cantilevers over the entire façade and thus forms a durable and constructive weather protection. The structures are bolted together and can be dismantled and reused with little effort if necessary. The center of the interior is an open kitchen around which all other functions are grouped.
The new “@55” building is located within the “Stadtkrone Ost” conversion area in Dortmund.
The new building stands on a 20 m high embankment and borders directly on a nature conservation area. The storeys are offset from each other, creating a terraced landscape to the south, which can be converted into additional office space if required. On the north side, the storeys overlap the entrance by up to 12 m, creating a cascading roof.
The loads of the cantilevered storeys are bundled at the top and guided downwards with tension cables that follow the slope of the outer wall. Here, the resulting forces are transferred to the ground via a counterweight (approx. 150 m3 cavity filled with sand).
The storeys are unsupported and undetermined, i.e. uses are not predetermined. The building currently houses a restaurant, a medical practice, offices and an apartment.
The façade is homogeneously covered with horizontally laid profiled glass/structural glass, which is held in a point-like manner. This creates a crystalline structure that gives the building an abstract identity. In some places there are ribbon windows behind the outer skin - here the profiled glass can be rotated around the horizontal axis using a simple mechanism - thus providing an unobstructed view of the surroundings.
Porsche is synonymous with technical perfection, formal precision, passion, speed and understatement.
With its new building, Porsche Dortmund gives significant shape to the sensuality of these attributes.
The building is constructed parallel to the highway (B1) - as a direct entrance to the Airport Business Park. The building consists of two components - a base to absorb the topography and a metal membrane resting on it, which envelops a space 8 meters high and 130 meters long. The silhouette is reminiscent of an extruded aluminum profile - a significant reference to the high technical qualities of PORSCHE products. Everything is visible - technical service is staged.
A café lounge provides online images of current racing events, shows ongoing production processes or test runs of the PORSCHE typology. At night, the building makes a media appearance and communicates PORSCHE images via the transparent façades with light installations. The building's structures are all prefabricated - the concrete construction of the base floor consists of inclined columns curved in three directions, computer-animated laser and welding machines produce precise steel and aluminum components that are assembled as individual modules on the construction site to form the building.
A new business center with a hotel is being built on Alexander-Meissner-Strasse - the marker of a future business park - to accompany the new Berlin Brandenburg Willy Brandt Airport.
The building marks the start of the Airport Business Park. Future users and the neighborhood are unknown at the beginning - the site is an undeveloped field. The path to form therefore leads via sustainable footprints: ecological, economic, social and cultural. The relevant parameters are: urban contours, compactness (optimum A/V ratio), an efficient energy concept, functional user requirements, manufacturing processes, use and flow of materials, life cycle considerations, financing strategies, budget limits, etc. We call this process the “Sudoku strategy” (try & error). Basic geometries - cubes, cuboids, slices, lines, dots - are used to find shapes. They can be organized in a free order, vary in length, width and (storey) height and follow the specifications of the uses that are gradually found. In this way, a systematic collection of coordinated shapes and surfaces is created, which, organized in a meaningful way, depicts a clear configuration at the end of the process.
The result is a house with the required volumes and surfaces. The load-bearing system consists of prefabricated columns and ceiling panels. Like the “domino house” (Le Corbusier), all floor plans are completely variable - the extension is temporary and can be adapted to requirements at any time. All shafts are perpendicular to the façade. The shafts arranged in this way and the horizontal window bands of the façade thus enable unrestricted conversion for third-party use - e.g. as an office building.
Façade
The realization is preceded by an almost three-year planning process until a building application can be submitted. Initially, the client makes an investment decision for this location due to its proximity to the future capital city airport. An urban development concept or a development plan do not yet exist. A competition will be held and will form the basis of the development plan. Users are being sought at the same time. Variants of future building structures are developed, adapted and discarded.
It quickly becomes clear that the building will have to be extremely variable. The uses may change frequently. This makes the planning process itself a critical success criterion: a strategy is required - adaptable and yet clear in its approach. Other parameters must therefore be considered to determine the final appearance. We started by examining various phenomena: Markings in the sky (lines, cloud holes, vistas), global + regional (options of flying), approach + take-off (the play with scale), natural features (nature reserve, birch forest in the neighborhood), technical innovations (development dynamics of aviation technology).
Now façade structures are explored - monolithic, elemental, collaged (glass + concrete), structures, colors, reflections, etc. The decision is made in favour of a horizontal structure that synchronizes the window bands to irritate the viewer. Process-based planning requires an adaptable façade concept - the basic geometries described above are given their actual appearance by a summarizing surface layer: an overall made of steel panels with a defined, summarizing color code. The system is modular and adaptable in planning + construction and creates a structural identity through the color, it is robust, reversible and inexpensive.
Building physics, construction, production and maintenance costs of the façade
The selected system is modular and therefore variable during the planning and construction process. Steel is highly resistant to mechanical stress and is non-combustible due to its material properties (simplified fire protection). Due to its mass, it offers good protection against overheating in summer, increased sound insulation (hotel use) and allows large spans of the façade elements with a minimum number of substructure fixing points. The substructure is based on a multifunctional system strip with concealed fastening, which allows constraint-free and simple plug-in installation. The result is curtain-type, rear-ventilated and permanently flat façades. Temperature influences and construction tolerances are reduced without tension.
The large span width of the façade elements and the minimized substructure (reduction of anchor points) lead to a reduction in thermal bridges. The large span width and large span width of the panels enable shorter installation times and therefore lower installation costs. The minimized number of fixing points reduces heat loss, while the surface coating makes cleaning or maintenance coatings permanently obsolete. The system and façade product thus create a highly cost-effective façade with a cost per square meter of gross floor area that is only slightly higher than that of external thermal insulation composite systems. The surfaces of the raw steel are given a long-lasting finish with a zinc-magnesium alloy. The entire façade system is 100% recyclable + permanently flat façade surfaces.
Color Scheme
What we see is not the shell as the façade of a house, but the “image” of a façade - an abstract composition with which the house eludes a clear classification (building type + use) and instead irritates passers-by and invites them to engage in their own process of abstraction. The color chart provided by the manufacturer did not seem sufficient to achieve this goal. Therefore, additional colors (special colors) were required, which we derived from our coding. The color coating (“matt”) is almost self-cleaning due to its surface structure, UV-stable, non-reflective and color-intensive in all weather conditions and particularly emphasizes the degree of abstraction. The cooperation with Thyssen-Krupp was uncomplicated, supportive and interested at all times - even at a time when the system was new and the costs could not yet be officially calculated.
Tragwerk: SKP Ingenieure Gmbh Landschaftsplanung: Kamel Louafi, Berlin Haustechnik: W33, Berlin Innenarchitektur: studio aisslinger, Berlin Fotos: Jan Bitter, Berlin
The era of inner-city shopping malls and shopping streets is coming to an end. New forms of retail and digital payment methods are making old-style shopping malls obsolete. This creates the opportunity to rediscover the city as a living space and give it back to the people. However, it is by no means possible to simply replace retail with housing.
Urbanity is created through plurality
This includes mixed uses as well as different residential typologies that promote real neighborhoods and generate identification potential for one's own “Kiez”. Sustainability, the lowest possible energy requirements, resource awareness from the limited building site to the selected building materials, mobility, etc. are self-evident aspects of the planning. However, the essential characteristic should be the creation of new places where people like to live.
A - Access
A group of buildings of different types with differentiated heights forms a new neighborhood. It is linked by public paths, alleyways and small squares - for access to the buildings, small-scale retail, eating and drinking or simply for spending time. The quarter is integrated into the overarching network of routes in the city center between the main train station, Westenhellweg and Marktplatz or Hansaplatz.
B - Mixed Use
The use of the buildings and floors will be mixed. Small, adaptable stores, cafés and restaurants will be created on the first floors, which can be extended to the first floor if required. Commercial uses will also dominate the first floor - offices, doctors and the like. The basement brings the buildings together under one floor and forms a continuous storey for parking spaces, technical rooms and other ancillary areas.
C - Sustainability
The use of materials, an efficient energy concept, short distances, the multi-layered linking of individual private and public mobility, social and cultural acceptance and other sustainability aspects are developed from the outset in a multi-professional team and brought together in an overall concept. A key starting point for us is the conceptual integration of an accessible green backdrop. As a structural break, it separates the floors with commercial use from those with residential use. It runs through the buildings, the courtyards, becomes denser at selected edges, recesses or terraces and gathers as a roof garden with bridges connecting all the buildings - a multi-storey park designed for the residents of these buildings.
D - Mobility
The group of buildings on Amiens Square is located in the immediate vicinity of Dortmund's main railway station with a variety of regional and national connections as well as direct access to inner-city public transport with buses and the S-Bahn. We will combine these options with a concept that ensures individual mobility - through an internal sharing system for e-bikes and cars that are available to residents. We expect to be able to at least halve the number of parking spaces required in this way. The remaining parking space requirement will be covered in the basement.
With its wedge-shaped cubature and variety of uses, the Haus am MIR mediates between the public use of the “Musiktheater im Revier - MIR” and the adjacent residential development to the east of Schalker Strasse. In terms of space and design, the new building frames and accentuates the current, very heterogeneous “non-space” on the east side of the MIR.
The recessed first floor is integrated into the public space through its transparency. This effect is reinforced by a homogeneously designed theater forecourt surface that incorporates the new building. An independent, highly recognizable urban space is created between the different uses.
The existing building to be extended is a service hall for bus operations with offices. A multifunctional room for team meetings, workshops and office use will be added to these usage units in an extension to the existing roof. An additional kitchenette is used for catering.
The existing construction of the ceiling above OG2 was designed and constructed as a “roof”. The load-bearing capacity of the structure is not sufficient for future use with traffic loads. For this reason, the structure was reinforced. Steel girders and prestressed StBn ceiling elements in accordance with the structural analysis form the new ceiling level. The roof structure of the additional storey is constructed as a mixed structure of timber (laminated veneer lumber) in the longitudinal direction and steel (HEB) in the transverse direction in accordance with the structural analysis. Verification erected. Supports are positioned as X/V elements on the existing load-bearing axes.
The façades are designed as elements - the N/E façade as a closed timber/metal façade, all other façades as sliding glass doors.
Fire Protection: Neumann Krex + Partner, Niestetal Statics / Construction Physics: Ingenieurbüro Bauwesen Horn GmbH, Leipzig Building Service Equipment: Janowski & Co Beratende Ingenieure GmbH, Berlin
The most urgent goal of the urban densification study for the Nordhafen quarter is to develop the site as part of a future living environment in the new Europacity. For us, Europaplatz is an urban campus - a meeting place for residents and everyone who works here.
In addition, the study discusses the overlapping of private and publicly accessible uses, in parts also within the building, as well as the possibilities of resource-saving measures for heating and cooling at this special location.
A new district emerges
The inner-city wasteland, which has so far been largely unused or only rudimentarily used, is set to become a lively district with a direct connection to Berlin's main railway station. Despite good connections to the transport network, the site must nevertheless be understood and thought of as an island, as it is separated from the surrounding districts by various spatial barriers. Extensive railway tracks prevent direct contact with Wedding, while the Spree Canal forms a natural border with Mitte. New bridge connections will counteract this peculiarity, but will not be able to eliminate it. This makes the new district's own urban identity all the more important. The newly created town square as the heart of the new quarter will become an address, the inner open spaces a private garden.
Construction and sustainability
The complexity and multitude of technical systems should be kept to a necessary minimum. To this end, the solid components are activated and circulated with cool night air so that the coolness stored at night naturally compensates for the internal heat loads that arise during the day. Earth ducts and - where possible - evaporative cooling from the Spree canal provide the necessary cold air. Circulation through the building is initiated by a “chimney” (stair tower), which is routed beyond the parapet edge of the building.
The client wanted an ecological, spacious house. It was to make maximum use of natural energy resources. It shouldn't be expensive, but it should also be differentiated, tailored specifically to a family of five, who required a lot of space and even more open space. In other words, very diverse requirements, which were met with a compact, elongated building.
Consistently oriented to the north and south and demonstratively constructed using an alternation of solid and skeleton construction, it is a low-tech solar house. Behind its radically minimized supporting structure of rods and tension cables, it opens generously to the south with its continuous, double-skin glass front, while a highly insulated, almost closed wooden façade extends along the cold north side, which only allows the opening of a narrow strip of light there.
All the adjoining rooms, solidly constructed and consistently arranged along the north side, act as heat buffers as well as storage masses, while the living compartments opposite them, which are transparent to the garden and the sun and kept flexible by sliding walls, derive their maximum benefit from the passive use of solar heat.
The space that links these two areas is equipped with skylights and space-saving cabinet elements that give it a clear rhythm and immediately help the person entering to find their way around, it is the prelude to an extended living space. In summer, it is a flowing living space, protected from excessive sunlight by the cantilevered shading of steel pipes arranged in a row. In the winter months, on the other hand, the heat buffer of the double-skin south-facing side allows the sun's rays to penetrate deep into the house unhindered, warming the indoor air and having a purely psychological effect.
The other parts of the extensive ecological concept are also efficient, from the choice of building materials used to feed rainwater into the cycle of a domestic hot water system. In the third and fourth expansion stages, this concept will be extended to include the active use of solar energy.
The height and position of the new building is aligned with its urban surroundings. The front edge is flush with the neighboring building. In order to make the façades facing Aktienstraße more prominent and to increase the visibility of the building on the site, the volume is planned across the entire width of the plot.
A steel construction with a timber frame façade is planned, which will be curtain walling. This materiality is not only sustainable, but also creates a better quality for the employees working there thanks to its tactile feel.
Conceptually, the volume is organized in a strong base with a “flying” upper block to create a new scale on the very different fronts (e.g. fast train connections, industrial character with large and less street-going buildings). Instead of one large block, the concept focused on working the volume in its height and in two main parts, with less weight due to the “aerial plane”.
Usage
The allowance for a large market activity attracts a high contingent of users to the site. This is reinforced by the office workers and visitors to create a lively place.
The emphasis on the aerial floor of the parking speaks to the less human scale of the railroad line and the industrial buildings, allowing a new and elevated view of the surroundings. The two-story commercial space includes a storage area, mechanical rooms, restrooms and circulation cores. Intended as a large retailer, the design of the ground floor and first floor forms a self-contained and strong base, which connects to the office building via the equally self-contained and external access cores.
The upper four-storey volume will be an airy and transparent body for office use. The external circulation cores are important for the flexible use and organization of the floor plans.
Open spaces
The site is higher than street level. For this reason, the entrances to the project site are based on the gradient of the current access road. The ramp to the parking deck is planned as an independent element and sits on the straight level of the access road.
In addition to the ramp, entrance areas, technical and delivery areas as well as the required parking spaces for bicycles are planned. A smart pool is also planned for flexible mobility. Together with the public transport system, the parking deck meets the number of parking spaces required for office buildings and businesses.
