 |
ten in one – Anklamer Straße 52
Building groups are a relatively new but very successful phenomenon in Berlin. Instead of buying ready-made condominiums, a group of prospective homeowners takes on the investment risk together. This gives them a say in decisions and enables them to save an average of 25 to 30 percent. The building group A52 was formed through a rapid word-of-mouth network in the extended circle of acquaintances surrounding architects roedig . schop, who also intended to reside there themselves, a move that proved confidencebuilding for the group. The design adhered to the concept of maximum flexibility. Preset factors for the unsupported stories with a respective area of 135 m2 were only installation shafts and double access to the stairwell, making it easy to create two units per story should life circumstances change. The challenge of completely taking on the planning of one’s own apartment proved greater than expected for most residents. Conceptualizations put to paper were frequently readjusted in their actual application. The most exclusive location, the 99-m2 roof terrace with a view over Berlin-Mitte, is collective property and comprises a guest apartment for use in coordinated rotation.
Angelika Fitz
An infill gap is filled by a building group with ten housing units
|
 Foto: © Matthias Zibuschka, 2008 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
Do We Even Want Walls? Berlin, October 2008
A desire for their own self-designed four walls was realized by the ten-person community of owners in Berlin-Mitte’s Anklamer Straße 52. Two-and-a-half years after they moved in, five of the owners take stock.
They live on a street that begins at the bustling Brunnenstraße and ends at a cemetery wall. They live in a house whose fiber-cement-paneled façade with staggered windows unmistakably indicates a new building and that appropriately melds into the six-story perimeter block development. Five years ago, the lot was empty at house number 52. It was here that they— ten people ranging from twenty-six to fifty-three years of age—made the right decision at the right moment: we’ll build a house together. That was in July of 2003. Then everything went rather quickly. Five months later they submitted the building application, and the building permit was issued the following April. Construction began in the summer, and in May 2005, less than two years after their first visit to the lot, they moved in.
Building as a Group
What sounds a little bit like a crazy idea spawned by a group of friends, or maybe like a commune, is in reality a popular and inexpensive way to privately build in Germany today. Instead of purchasing a run-of-themill condominium, many people now custom-tailor their own homes. They jointly take on the investment risk, but with the added benefit of being able to design and influence the creation of their own apartment.
In this case, Christoph Roedig and Ulrich Schop took the reins. Both are architects. Their desire for their own joint living space, along with neighbors they like, provided the impetus for “ten in one,” a house with ten apartments, ten owners, and an enviable roof terrace. They approached, for example, a longtime acquaintance of theirs, Petra Schwarzer, at a party. The social worker and yoga teacher lives with her boyfriend in the fourth story. The fact that the architects themselves were to move in provided her with a sense of security. The group of ten teamed up rather quickly even though the architects didn’t know everyone from the outset. Daniel, who lives with his boyfriend Bo on the third floor, had already long been on the lookout for an apartment to buy, but at every visit to a prospective apartment his gut instinct said “no.” All those seriously interested had to pay a kind of “entrance fee” so that they could start planning. Christoph Roedig and Ulrich Schop live on the ground floor, with terrace and garden. “We’ll take the apartment left over,” they had said from the beginning, thus making a promise: all apartments will be lovely. ...
Friederike Meyer
for entire text see catalogue
Größere Kartenansicht
