Collegium Academicum by DGJ Architektur

Remarkable in every respect, the Collegium Academicum in Heidelberg was launched by a student initiative, which acquired the site on the grounds of a former US Army military hospital and selected the architects. The hall of residence is now run on a self-governing basis by the initiative. They not only promote communal living, but also communal learning. Among other things, it offers a one-year orientation programme for young people to continue their education in an interdisciplinary manner after leaving school and before starting work or study.

Circular pergolas provide access to the apartments from the courtyard. For fire safety reasons, the pergolas are made of concrete and the courtyard-facing facades are clad in sheet metal. © Thilo Ross Urh. Nr. 4026999/Quelle: DGJ Architektur GmbH

For educational purposes, the residence hall incorporates a single-storey, flat-roofed building containing an auditorium and additional communal spaces. This connects the two four-storey residential wings, forming a closed street block with an inner courtyard. The street facades are characterised by cantilevered fire protection bars made of sheet metal, which are enlivened by the interplay of open and closed wooden sliding shutters; otherwise, they appear rather smooth and uninviting. In contrast, the facades facing the courtyard gain depth thanks to the surrounding pergolas, and have a completely different appearance due to their sheet metal cladding. Fire safety regulations were decisive here. As they serve as escape routes, the pergolas had to be made of concrete and surrounded by non-combustible materials. They were therefore given an aluminium facade largely made of recycled trapezoidal sheet metal.

A solar power system on the roof offsets the residents' annual electricity consumption. © Thilo Ross Urh. Nr. 4026999/Quelle: DGJ Architektur GmbH

The two buildings have four floors, which house 46 residential units for a total of 176 residents. These are currently organised into three- and four-person flats. However, these layouts can be reconfigured at any time, including the option of creating large shared flats suitable for the elderly. This is possible because all apartments are accessible via the arcades and are based on a uniform square support and extension grid. To this end, the architects have designed partition walls that residents can build themselves in the building's workshop and move with relative ease. The entire system relies solely on form-fitting and force-fitting carpentry joints, with no metal connecting elements.

The apartments' interiors are based on a square grid of columns and partitions. Partition walls can be added or removed at any time. © Thilo Ross Urh. Nr. 4026999/Quelle: DGJ Architektur GmbH

In the basic configuration, the heart of each shared apartment is a common room. This is surrounded by the sanitary area and the individual rooms. Each individual room consists of two parts, each with an area of 7 m²: a spatially enclosed core zone and a second zone that can be designed to be completely open, either added to the communal area or integrated into the individual area by moving walls or room dividers. The supporting structure of the two four-storey buildings comprises a skeleton construction with bracing wall panels around the sanitary cores. Parts of the exterior walls and the apartment partition walls also contribute to the bracing.

The single-storey section of the building houses an auditorium for the Collegium's diverse educational programme. © Thilo Ross Urh. Nr. 4026999/Quelle: DGJ Architektur GmbH

According to the architects, the building was practically climate-neutral during construction thanks to its timber frame. Thanks to the Passive House design, the district heating system only needs to be used for a few days each year. A 180 kWp solar system covering almost the entire flat roof above the fourth floor and a 140 kWh energy storage system ensure the building meets at least 100 % of the students' annual electricity needs. Any surplus energy is fed into the local power grid.