In Berlin-Köpenick, a new residential ensemble with 120 apartments has been completed according to plans by Nöfer Architekten. On the acute-angled site between Hämmerlingstraße and Annenallee, Kondor Wessels Wohnen Berlin GmbH developed and implemented a development of around 15,500 square metres of gross floor area for the investor DW Property, which fits into the heterogeneous structure of the grown quarter with different building typologies. Nöfer Architekten was responsible for the design and implementation planning.
The property at Hämmerlingstraße 132-136 is located in the northern city centre of Köpenick in a special urban environment. Residential buildings from the 19th century meet buildings from the 1920s and smaller-scale structures. The design by Nöfer Architekten takes up these different scales and architectural motifs and translates them into a contemporary residential ensemble.
“Our aim was to continue building the quarter with its peculiarities and special features at this point,” says Tobias Nöfer, Managing Director of Nöfer Architekten. “For us, a good city is created where new buildings respond to their location, take up existing qualities, but develop their own character with new impulses. The new ensemble in Hämmerlingstraße should belong to Köpenick in a natural way and at the same time remain recognizable as the architecture of our time.”
Henrik Denkewitz, Managing Director of Kondor Wessels Wohnen Berlin GmbH, adds: “With the high-quality project development in Hämmerlingstraße, we have succeeded in closing an urban gap that had been characterised by a car dealership for decades. Together with the Nöfer architectural firm and the Köpenick district office, we were able to realise a challenging development here, in which numerous approval-relevant requirements had to be taken into account. Above all, the location of the underground car park in the groundwater posed a particular challenge during planning and implementation. The fact that we were able to successfully complete this project is mainly due to the committed, trusting and cooperative cooperation of all those involved.”
“Round Corner” creates address to Bahnhofstraße
The striking corner of the building at the top of the site plays a special role. With its rounded shape, it is oriented across the diagonal to the busy Bahnhofstraße and gives the ensemble a face that can be seen from afar. A solid clinker brick base encloses the ground floor zone. Above it rise bright, plastered upper floors.
The front gardens typical of the surrounding streets are also taken up in the new building. They create distance between residential buildings and public street space, thus continuing a characteristic element of the quarter. Artistically designed murals with fish as the heraldic animal of Köpenick in the lobby set additional accents and give the individual entrance areas their own identity.
Different building typologies connect the city and the neighbourhood
While the street-side development continues the more urban character of Hämmerlingstraße and Annenallee, the scale changes to the interior of the property. There, smaller-scale residential buildings complement the ensemble and mediate to the lower building structures in the northeast.
The heart of the complex is the green garden courtyard. It connects the different parts of the building with each other and is available to the residents as a communal open space. In this way, the courtyard not only takes on a design, but also a social function within the new residential ensemble.
A total of 120 apartments of different sizes and layouts were built on the approximately 6,000 square metre site. The offer ranges from apartments for one- and two-person households to family apartments. The ensemble is complemented by three townhouses and an underground car park with 67 car parking spaces.
“Hämmerlingstraße shows that new housing construction and a grown cityscape do not have to be a contradiction,” says Nöfer. “Especially when we build new buildings in existing neighborhoods, architecture bears responsibility for more than the individual building. It must make a contribution to the street, to the neighborhood and to the cityscape as a whole.”
Project data
Project: Residential Ensemble Hämmerlingstraße / “CÖ – The Good Life in Köpenick”
Location: Hämmerlingstraße 132-136 / Annenallee, 12555 Berlin-Köpenick
Client: Kondor Wessels Wohnen Berlin GmbH
Architecture: Nöfer Architects
Work phases: 1-5
GFA: approx. 15,500 m²
Apartments: 120
Plot: approx. 6,000 m²
Underground car park: 67 parking spaces
