Residential Quarter Offenbach East, Construction Site B5

The competition site is located in "Quartier 4.0" near the former freight depot. A small square is to be created in front of the building to the south, so that special attention was paid to the design of the southeast corner of our building site. The development plan envisages a U-shaped development, and also a building depth of 17 to 20 meters, which allows for a high utilization of space.

The ground floor area of the building is almost completely used by the five-group day-care centre for children which has access to the high-quality landscaped inner courtyard as an outdoor play area. The colour-contrasting entrance to the day-care centre was upgraded with an arcade and placed at the corner of the building in such a way that a direct view from the square is possible into a glazed multi-purpose room as well as through the spacious foyer to the inner courtyard.

With full utilisation of the construction window, the upper floors will be exclusively residential, initially entirely in the subsidized segment. The total of 67 units are accessed via two vertical cores and an arcade, which as a buffer zone has a high quality of stay and invites communication among the residents. The two entrance areas to the development cores are located to the east and south, respectively, where the ramps to the underground parking garage and a bicycle storage room in the basement are also located.

The apartments themselves have minimal access areas and have been consistently organised with a "serving" zone to the green inner courtyard and loggias to the other edges. For reasons of sound insulation, the loggias facing the tracks to the south are closed. Some of the apartments are barrier-free and suitable for senior citizens.

As part of the task, it was to be checked whether variants with freely financeable apartments are also possible. Evidence was provided that through the consistent grid of the floor plan structure, smaller apartments can easily be combined to form larger units without affecting the quiet and thus harmonious facade appearance. The design allows for a timber hybrid construction, and system bathrooms are also conceivable.

The issue of sustainability was not explicitly required in the brief, but was nevertheless taken into account. In addition to the greened arcades and roofs and sustainable materials, infiltration areas were provided as well as photovoltaic elements on the roof and numerous parking spaces for bicycles and for e-mobility/car sharing. Residents have their own small garden area on the ground floor, as well as a community room accessible via an exterior staircase. As another special feature, a play and climbing ramp for the day-care centre was placed over the actual remaining area above the underground parking garage exit.

Team: Holger Grobe, Alina Schick, Sandra Frischholz, Patrizia Kopel