The October issue focuses on Munich. And comes to the conclusion: urban development is the reason why we German-speaking Swiss go to Munich! We are pleased about a beautiful text by Ulrike Wietzorrek about our project in Braystrasse.
The architecture of the city
Redensification is the spectre of many citizens, because in their eyes it means the loss of valuable green areas and open spaces, is characterised by sterile luxury renovation and social displacement and, moreover, does not fit at all into the familiar image of Munich as a liveable village of millions.
The Palais Mai project proves that things can be different, that building densification can really bring out the qualities that lie dormant in a place, and that its starting point is a large vacant courtyard in the Haidhausen district. The site is located only a few hundred metres east of Prinzgentenplatz with its magnificent Wilhelminian-style facades in an urban extension from the 1920s. Here, the perimeter block development is simpler and more large-scale. In keeping with the period, the block is grouped around a large inner courtyard with valuable old trees. The Bavarian fire insurance company, which has large rental housing stocks in the neighbourhood, recognised the potential and decided to add rental flats to enhance its portfolio.
At the city's request, a planning competition was held, which the Palais Mai office won. This is the first multi-storey apartment building by the young Munich-based architects, who quite naturally insert three polygonally shaped structures between the existing buildings and the trees. The sensitive placement interweaves with the existing buildings to create a complex spatial structure with a differentiated sequence of different plazas and courtyards, from which all the flats - old and new - benefit. The design avoids the frontality of other competition entries. The multiple bends and angles constantly create new orientations and, despite the narrow building position, a feeling of spaciousness through views into the depths. With the municipal children's house, a public use is also injected into the private world of the backyard.
The decisive factor is the subtle reading of the already existing qualities of the place, whose special feature has always been the strange amalgamation of a mighty church building with the U-shaped residential development and its small-scale backyard façades. The project unfolds its power precisely in the ambivalence of semi-public and public space - still backyard or already city?
The light-coloured brickwork façades refer to the church building with its red exposed brickwork, but their desaturated tonality adapts to the everyday façades of the surrounding residential buildings. The wild association of the brick façades is appropriate for a backyard; at the same time, it supports the feel and plasticity of the corporeal buildings, which in turn connote the city through the generosity of their façades.
The architecture of the individual buildings is modestly restrained. The decisive factor is the atmospheric effect of the ensemble and the space that is defined by the placement of the buildings. It's just a pity that the ground-floor flats are enclosed by fenced-off terrace gardens. In the inner space, which is designed for openness, this disturbs the carefully balanced sequence of public, semi-public and private spaces. Nevertheless, no profit-based standard buildings have been created here, but rather concise architecture that at the same time offers enough possibilities for appropriation to be able to give meaning to the everyday practice of living. However, living in this sought-after location has its price. At just under 20 euros per square metre, the insurance company charges market rates.
Source: https://www.wbw.ch/de/heft/artikel/leseprobe/2017-10-kultur-des-unterschieds.html