Multi-Family House

Balanced interplay of form and function in the city center of Vreden

There are many basic requirements for a new project. Sometimes there are financial, sometimes structural requirements and sometimes requirements from development plans and the surrounding development. In this case, the client and we had a partner with the city of Vreden right from the start who wanted to upgrade the cornerstone of urban planning.

For this project, cutting the plot was a real challenge. While the plot with a length of 30.00 m certainly had potential for a spacious residential and commercial building, the plot area of over a third only had a width of just under 10.00 m.

There was also a requirement to develop two shops on the ground floor, which should open up to public transport areas.

The southwestern edge of the building had to be designed as a fire wall in order to ensure the neighborhood and building law protection goals.

Despite the fact that this would only allow the building to be illuminated from three sides, a spacious staircase would be created by straight stairs arranged one after the other, which would be provided with sufficient daylight via large window areas in the northwest.

The rear staircase provides access to a total of 7 residential units and provides additional access to the first shop, which is spread over two levels.

Due to their different sizes, the apartments offer a good mix of studios to four-person apartments. In early discussions with subsequent buyers, individual wishes could be taken into account in the planning process.

The clear perforated façade divides the main body, which ends in a clinker gable after four floors.

As a result of the curtained balconies facing the Windmühlenstraße entrance situation, the building loses its strong vertical shape due to the layout of the plot.

However, the building deliberately picks up this height towards Königstraße in order to provide a clear edge to the intersection.

The project lived up to its urban planning significance and — even though it was implemented as an investor project — was able to incorporate architectural and design elements to improve access to the city center of Vreden.

This quality was guaranteed at an early stage, not least due to the desire of the city of Vreden to fix the building project under building law through the project and development plan. At the same time, the investor was able to ensure the profitability of the project on this basis.