Berliner Plattenbauten

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Spring 2014 | Professors Tim Heide and Verena von Beckerath | Master plan in collaboration with Emmanuel Ramirez and Peter Williamson

Assignment: utilizing the slab building typology (plattenbau), organize the south-eastern quadrant of the site while using the existing stable context and while researching new means of apartment block circulation.

Solution: a tripartite slab complex, two of which are non-standard widths of 17m and 9.5m, and one of which is a standard 12m width. Designing the two non-standard widths (equating to two standard width slabs), cross circulation that allowed for privacy, air, and light is the motivating factor.

Discussion: each of the two slabs addresses each of the student, family, atelier, and town home typologies differently, allowing for the greatest amount of variation in living experiences possible on the site.

Adjacent to each slab is an agricultural area. These areas draw from Prinzessinnengarten, utilizing crates to create a “mobile agricultural,” allowing the farming ateliers in the stables and the ground floors of each slab to process the food and products they are fabricating directly in the ateliers themselves (as opposed to the fields).