This post is part of our winter 2019 blOAAg series, Housing Affordability: Built-Form Case Studies. The featured case studies are from the OAA’s 2019 report titled, Housing Affordability in Growing Urban Areas, produced by the OAA’s Housing Affordability Task Group and SvN Architects + Planners.
Case Study 02: Bremer Punkt | Architect: Lin Architects Urbanists
Location: Bremen, Germany | Year: 2013-2017
Program: 1 to 6 room apartments | Size: 30 m² to 138 m², GFA 800 m²
Like many German cities, Bremen is confronted with an increasing housing shortage and a growing demand for affordable housing.
In response to this, the largest Bremen Housing Association, GEWOBA, has prudently taken on a supplementary extension to its existing 45,000-plus housing stock. In 2011, within the framework of the competition “Ungewöhnlich Wohnen” (unusual living), five exemplary lots from a postwar housing area were chosen to investigate the adaptability of the area. The proposals considered contemporary demands for affordable and flexible housing that could offer manifold inhabitant configurations. These housing areas, in the Gartendstadt Süd of Neustadt Bremen, offer generous green open areas formed by homogenous four-storey housing blocks.
Construction of Bremer Punkt | Lin Architects Urbanists | Bremen, Germany
The urban niches are activated by the punctual integration of four-storey timber cubes. With a surface area of only 13.35 x 13.35 m, the cube houses react sensibly to the existing buildings, granting the character of the green open spaces of the estate to keep their appearance. The new buildings are designed as a modular timber prefab system. This system allows flexible layout possibilities for site-specific needs and responds to individual demands. The houses can adapt to differing apartment combinations, surface area, circulation, façade and building form requirements.
Timber construction system (left) and elevations (right) | Lin Architects Urbanists
Isometric diagrams showing various configurations | Lin Architects Urbanists
Further reading: https://www.lin-a.com/gallery/bremen-competition-lin-project-housing/bremer-punkt
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Official release date of the full report to be announced shortly.
The report, Housing Affordability in Growing Urban Areas, was prepared by SvN Architects + Planners Inc. (John van Nostrand, Liana Bresler and Blair Scorgie with the support of Eric Pitre and Jorge Quesada Davies), with the direction and assistance of the OAA Housing Affordability Task Group.