Four houses in Maximilians Quartier
History
The construction site of the entire Maximilians Quartier in Berlin-Schmargendorf follows the streets and building lines of a building lease that has existed since 1904.
Urban development
The basic urban design of the Maximilians Quartier is the result of a workshop process. As a result, four building plots were determined, the two northern blocks according to plans by Hilmer & Sattler, the two southern blocks according to LeonWohlhage. These construction areas are and were planned by four architectural firms, from north to south: Tobias Nöfer, Hilmer & Sattler, the two southern blocks in a mixture of buildings by LeonWohlhage and Modersohn & Freiesleben. We built four houses on the southern construction site. Here, in the southern area, the urban typology dissolves the block edges, inner corners had been avoided. Views into the distance are also generated from the apartments facing the yard. The green of the allotment gardens is drawn into the courtyards.
Development
The main access to our houses is from the streets, only the southern house is accessed from the north via the courtyard.
The apartments in two of the four houses are rental apartments, in the other two buildings are condominiums. Small details distinguish the buildings from each other.
The houses are axially symmetrical with their long sides facing north-south. The facades find their upper end in a suggested gable. The characteristic element of the north facade is the central incision, the element of the south facade are the central loggias. Balconies emphasize the four corners of the building.
The east-west facing houses accommodate many of the desired two-room apartments. The development is cleverly organized to avoid long corridors. In this way, smaller, neighborly units are created in the 12-spacers with building depths of 22 m to 26 m. The staircases are naturally lit. All apartments have views in two directions via loggias cut deeply into the structure.
Facades
The facades of the houses have a long-distance effect, but reveal their rich and fine details to the user and viewer as they approach. The two-dimensional dressings of the façade are made in a light clinker brick slip with a rough surface, the reveals of the windows and the lintels are refined with black or blue-gray glazed straps. The transition between the interior space and the rough surface of the façade, which protects the outside, is thus particularly emphasized.
The change between the outer skin of the facades made of clinker brick slips and the monolithic exposed concrete of the balconies creates a contrast. In close-up view, the direction of the clinker brick slips is twisted against each other and different slips surfaces and colors define the feel of the facades, they become one fabric - and the fabric covers the houses, finely and drawn.
