EUROPAN 14 The Productive Cities – Die produktiven Städte

The urban configuration of the areas in Neuperlach and Taufkirchen represent for us an unfinished landscape, the product of unresolved tensions between different ideas about urban planning at the time of their realization. We propose to interpret the existing city fabric and to transform it into a more urban and balanced whole by replicating existing typologies in order to create more complete compositions where the perimeter of each city block is reinforced. This approach results in more active street corridors and more diverse and better utilized spaces inside each estate. Following the same idea, programming reinforces urban form: productive and commercial uses are housed in the outer perimeter of the blocks in order to activate the streets, while additional housing and soft uses such as small child care or day-centers for the elderly are planned inside as a way to extend the number of hours in which these public spaces are used. By working with an interpretation of the existing footprint to create a greater degree of differentiation between outside and inside in the urban scale, our project generates a more efficient and contemporary usage and way of life for these estates, as well as contributes to a sense of identity and urbanity in the quarters.

Our proposed construction system is based on a three-dimensional prefabricated module made of Cross Laminated Timber panels. These modules are completely outfitted in the factory in order to guarantee the maximum building quality and standard of living for the minimum cost. In its repetition of a constant dimension and proportion, the wood module lends the project a serial character reminiscent of the housing projects of the Wilhelmine Era. In its specific size, the module is designed to work in conjunction with the housing key. The buildings consist of a basement level and a first floor built with reinforced concrete structure, and a variable number of floors for housing formed by the stacking of the wood modules. This construction system is the fastest and least disruptive for current neighbors. The dimensions of the rooms and openings in the wood modules are carefully studied to produce generous and dignified spaces for life. The brick cladding generates a continuous skin for the buildings that produces a sense of urbanity and decorum as a complement to the efficient modular construction.