APARTMENTHAUS AM KURFÜRSTENDAMM
The property is located at Lehniner Platz in Berlin Charlottenburg, near the Berlin Schaubühne, the former Lichtspieltheater Universum, built by Erich Mendelsohn in 1928. The surroundings comprise old bourgeois housing quarters and buildings from the 50s and 60s, a mix characteristic of the heterogeneous West Berlin city center. The plot has been built upon to the maximum: defined by a freestanding firewall on one side and a massing in the courtyard area which towers the corner. The street facades characterise the building as independent. This blurring of typologies is to be understood as a comment on contemporary public and private aspects of living. The apartment buildings comprise two loft style apartments on each floor. In one design variation the apartments embody an elegant model, one which respects the quality of the neighbouring living quarters. The corridors, in relation to the living spaces, are based on an open concept. Consequently, sliding doors function as an integral element of the apartments and correspond with the windowed facades facing West and South-West and the movable floor to ceiling elements which open the rooms on to the city.