In the backyard of a Berlin Gründerzeit block is possibly the smallest apartment building in Berlin (or even Germany), designed by Max Hacke & Leonhard Clemens which is a prototype for the sustainable development of the small leftover urban spaces.
The ongoing housing shortage in cities requires new approaches to the development of inner-city areas in order to create high-quality living space despite tight financial and regulatory conditions. Berlin in particular has developed from a „green archipelago“ into a dense patchwork of urban strategies, historical fragments and architectural ambitions. Here, alternative solutions have become essential.
On an area of just 54 square meters (6x9m), a seven-storey, 22m-high residential tower was erected, which explores the relationship between spatial efficiency, a tight local regulatory framework and an appropriate architectural quality. The result is seven small apartments, each with 38 square meters of living space and open floor plans. Each apartment has a bathroom, kitchen-living room, a bedroom alcove and a generous south-facing balcony. Extensive glazing provides plenty of light and a view of the green and quiet backyard landscape.
The apartments are designed as open-plan spaces and can be occupied in different ways. The oven and hob required by Berlin‘s building regulations for rental apartments – usually a rickety combi oven from the DIY store in most Berlin rental apartments – has been replaced by a robust stainless steel kitchen unit and designed in such a way that it can be fitted with standard modules by the tenants at a reasonable cost. However, the kitchens are still visible and fully usable even without a fit out, giving the apartments a homely feel even without a lot of furniture.
The project, developed as an annex to the adjacent existing building, provided the opportunity to develop the roof of the existing building: The sculptural-looking round staircase, inserted as a joint between the existing and new buildings and clad in filigree fluted corrugated sheet metal, provides access to the apartments in the residential tower and leads to the roof of the existing building at the highest point. The roof was extended and equipped with a communal roof terrace. Accessible to all residents of the building, the terrace not only offers sweeping views over the city, but above all new collective outdoor spaces.
Contrary to what one might think, the generosity of the roof terrace is not a wasteful luxury, but a clever interpretation of the Berlin building regulations, which stipulate a second structural escape route via the roof. The result is not only a total of 11 new rental apartments with high architectural standards in a very small space, but above all community-building qualities for the residents of the entire building.
