Linked Courtyard Housing in Berlin
This housing scheme in Zehlendorf, Berlin, shows how the use of waste land can provide unexpected areas for development and stimulate new planning approaches. Three units with large garden courtyards have been grouped together here to form an economical and space-saving chain of buildings. The optimum solution proved to be a housing type with a two-storey main tract and a single-storey wing. This high-density, yet introverted form of development provides a great degree of privacy and flexibility. The units can be freely divided up and used for residential or office purposes, as studios or workshops. Internally, the open plans and high rooms are tokens of the spacious quality of the scheme, which was nevertheless realized relatively economically. Among the factors contributing to this were the reasonable price of the site, the clarity of the concept, a concentration on simple volumes and materials, and the precise planning and execution of the work.
