Cooperative workshop process Block 616 Berlin – 2nd stage
Concept – the towers
A high point along Wilhelmstraße creates identity in interplay with the existing high points nearby. A second, lower point block, whose height fits in between the listed Mehringplatz buildings and the HOWOGE housing slab, defines an urban square along Wilhelmstraße. A shared centre opens up between the new point blocks. The entrances and addresses form quite naturally along the new avenue and the community square. The required fire-brigade access to Mehringplatz is via the narrowed Franz-Klühs-Straße. Deliveries and fire-brigade standing areas are on the south façades of the new buildings. The ground floors contain public uses, most of them for the common good, such as the kindergarten, a social and health centre, indoor playgrounds and a neighbourhood centre.
Maximum use of a minimal footprint creates generous open spaces and gives residents a wide range of ways to unwind. Minimal sealing, near-natural green spaces and green roofs and façades help cool the urban spaces. Tree planting following the sponge-city principle and retention areas on football pitches and skate parks reverse ecological damage. The new buildings are to be built as low-tech buildings in hybrid timber construction. Continuous ceiling heights of 3.5 m and a structural grid of 3x3 m or 6x6 m allow maximum flexibility of use. Thanks to modular construction, parts of the buildings can be dismantled and converted at any time.
The overarching pixel system
For the participatory design of public space, modules with a wide range of uses are offered to everyone across the whole site. These adaptable places are also used to fill the existing open ground floors of the HOWOGE buildings with meaningful uses, creating a safer and livelier neighbourhood. The pixel catalogue includes service, business, hobby and outdoor modules; apart from the business module, all elements will contain uses serving the common good. The pixels are distributed on predefined plots. The green spaces can only be occupied by common-good pixels, while the public squares also offer commercial pixels. Infrastructure such as water and electricity for connecting the modules is provided along the market squares and the pixel street. The pixel catalogue extends into the towers and offers modules for meeting places and “living+”. The plot system folds into the vertical and creates lively community on every floor.
Feasibility of the pixels
The module sizes of the pixels are based on container dimensions, so they can be transported by road on a lorry as empty frames or fully fitted out. In a modular kit system, the pixels are fitted with open, closed, access and installation panels and are easy to assemble with a click-and-hang system. A grid is laid over the open spaces. It defines places where pixels may stand, as well as routes along which installations are provided.
