location: Berlin
client: Privat
program: Housing
size: 272 m2
status: In Permission
team: Jan Wind, Daniel Vedder, Nicola Gurrieri, Felix Schoellhorn
A typical, three-storey Altbau building in the north of Berlin needs to be renovated, following a young entrepreneur’s desire to create apartments for his family members in the attic. With the district of Weißensee aiming to preserve its original Gründerzeit structures, the project demands to be orientated towards historical predecessors. Rebuilt after WWII, the roof should be replaced with a new structure, restoring the original, wider volumetry. Two typologies of apartments are created: a maisonette for a single or couples, and a more spacious layout for a family with kids. Both apartments benefit from generous outside spaces facing the courtyard. Due to the many trees standing on the street side, a secondary emergency route is planned as an external steel bridge, connecting the two staircases of the front building and the side wing.