Meeting in the hall...

This is a social housing project in Munich, Germany by the studio RÖPKE ARCHITEKTEN (1998-1999).

The first time I came here, one year ago, I didn't understand immediately that it was an housing project and then, once my teacher explained it, I was really shocked. The first thing that I thought was: this is a place studied to make kids play together and create relationships among older people, their parents. And I think that's exactly what they wanted. The building is composed by around 172 flats all facing to this big hall through the use of balconies. Each level can be reached by different staircases, located on the base of the best distance to reach more flats. The hall is closed but, at the same time, it looks opened because the architects used a transparent material both for the ceiling (plexiglass?) and the entrance walls (glass?), at both the ends of the building.

                           

SOURCE: me

Since the space of the hall is very huge, even if the view is cut from the staircases, they designed this space more deeply, trying to make it more interesting to live in. To do this, they added these plants (maybe a kind of ivy?) running from the paviment to the top. The basis of these plants are seats and they used also other plant and trees, like to create the same atmosphere of a communal space, like the town squares. Then, to make it more interesting (I think) and to add artificial light, they chose to use these lamps, with a ball form, with different heights to light every floor with the right ammount. All signs to mark this place like a communal space, even the little bin at the entrance.

SOURCE: me

For what concerns the use of the balconies, they designed them to make people use and live them freely. I think this is why the width of the balconies is a little bit wider then necessity. Since not only the doors of each flat face to the hall, but also some windows (to obtain more light?), people living here try to personalise the entrances to their flats because they know that this is their space, even if it's a communal passage. At the same time people with kids leave their baby buggies serenely along the balconies. I think that this kind of situation could never happen in my city.
There are also staircases to reach what I think it could be the garage or storage rooms, with a proper route for bikes. But the design innovation went more deeply to analyse this problem and try to make it more interesting and more linked to an intimate atmosphere and a local intervention.

SOURCE: me

SOURCE: me