Cooperative housing
Rural type consisting of house, courtyard, and shed
The ensemble relates to its rural context in several ways: house, courtyard, and shed—a communal housing project for 26 people aged 50 and over in the newly founded cooperative in Neunburg vorm Wald in the Upper Palatinate. The cooperative was founded for this project, and the building, which was completed between 2022 and 2024, is the result of an invited competition held in 2019.
The three-story solid construction has 20 residential units, half of which are subsidized, a communal living room with kitchen and wood-burning stove, a nursing bathroom, and guest rooms for visitors. Opposite is the shed, a house for things equipped with a large solar roof. It is used for storage and work. Between the two buildings is the cooperative space, an open, barrier-free courtyard embedded in the communal garden, adjacent to the cemetery, gas station, farms, and single-family homes.
Ramp, steps, and staggering
Access to the house is provided by a ramped pergola adapted to the topography. The pergola ramps are connected by an open staircase, the elevator, and a spiral staircase. Accessibility in accordance with DIN 18040-2 standards is elevated to a social space for casual encounters and becomes the structural backbone of the building: the residential units are staggered around the 6% ramp gradient, with 36 cm between neighbors. The permitted length of a barrier-free ramp section is translated into the width of the apartments; each apartment spans 7.50 m.
The exterior of the building is also stepped, with the different apartment sizes arranged in sequence, extending regularly by 1.20 m to the north-west. This projection in front of the neighboring apartment is glazed, giving each apartment its own view to the west towards the city center.
New apartment type in communal living
The two spatial operations, stepped layout and section, give each apartment an individual position in space from which the residents can connect with the community.
Facing south towards the pergola, each apartment has a glazed, unheated veranda. It serves as a terrace in summer, enlarges the living space in the transitional seasons, and is a threshold space between the communal pergola and the private living area.
Each apartment has a large, wheelchair-accessible bathroom with natural light, which is a fixed point and a special feature within the adaptive system of the apartments. Designed as an open structure, the residents were able to decide on the configuration of the rooms in their apartments in a participatory process. The structure can be dismantled, and each apartment can be converted into a 7.25 m wide front room, a room extending into the depth, or three separate rooms. The position of the kitchen is also variable and adaptable.
The project invents a new spatial structure: new house type & apartment type / gradation from communal to private / translation of accessibility into space: development of arbor ramp, ramp results in 7.5 m apartment / wheelchair-accessible bathroom as illuminated living space = invention of barrier-free communal living in rural areas
Permanent framework
The project has undergone several rounds of adaptation to the economic situation. In the design phase, we changed the timber construction to solid construction, and during construction, we changed from steel construction to in-situ concrete to further reduce costs. We are foregoing a basement—except for the elevator shaft and utility room. The external access, cold storage rooms, and parking spaces in the shed minimize the gross floor area. The apartments are designed as universal types that are pre-equipped for different finishing options, and it is possible to convert three rooms into one with minimal disruption. The infrastructure allows for small-scale division, so that the large room has three heating circuits and three electrical connection packages.
