texto en Español
Inglés (pdf) | Español (pdf)
ARQ (Santiago)
ARQ (Santiago) no.105 Santiago ago. 2020
Works & projects
Wohnregal Building, Berlin, Germany
Marc Frohn1
Mario Rojas2
1 Profesor, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology - Kit, Karlsruhe, Alemania. frohn@f-a-r.net
2 Profesor, Universidad de las Américas, Santiago, Chile. rojas@f-a-r.net
It is not very common for residential buildings to express the layout of their structural resistance so clearly. But when it comes to precast concrete systems - such as the one used by this building - the necessary dilatations between the different elements requires the load exchange to be evident. Thus, the visibility of the structural system becomes the protagonist of absolutely neutral and flexible interiors.
Keywords: resistance; housing; work; adaptability; Project
Source: © Tobias Wootton
Source: © David von Becker
Wohnregal is a 6-story building that contains residential spaces with work studios. It was built using standardized precast concrete elements that are generally used in the construction of industrial sheds: pillars, beams, and double-T beams. The use of this serialized construction system responds to two apparently contradictory challenges of Berlin's residential market. On the one hand, industrial prefabrication offers benefits such as low cost and reduced construction deadlines (less than 1,500 euros m2 and 6 weeks to complete the heavy construction of the 6 floors) that help to face the rise in home construction costs. On the other hand, it counteracts the belief that serialization automatically implies a standardization of the habitable unit; the Wohnregal building offers a wide range of different work/residential spaces, apt to cater to the diversity of new ways of urban life.
Figura 4 Site plan
The precast concrete structure - with its double-T beams, which cover a large span - facilitates that variety, offering a free space of approximately 13 meters between the two facades without the need for any structural element inside. All the interior finishes were dry, made individually on each level, considering only the two installation ducts running through the entire building.
Figure 5 First floor plan
Figure 6 Upper floors plans
A curtain wall made up of large sliding windows is used as a facade to the west and east of the building. This allows the interior to open up to its surroundings during the summer months, turning the living space into a loggia. Through these technical resources, climate conditioning is avoided.
Figure 7 North elevation
Figure 8 East elevation
The Wohnregal is characterized by the clear hierarchy between the precast reinforced concrete structure and the conventional construction of partition walls with a galvanized steel structure and plasterboard covering, which offers a high degree of resistance in the long term. Future changes in use, innovations in technical installation systems, and changes in legal and regulatory requirements may apply within the supporting structure that extends from facade to facade with its double-T beams without intermediate supports.
Figure 9 Cross section
Figure 10 Long section
Residential spaces adapt to the diverse and changing ways of living and working in everyday life. Since March of this year, some of the residents (like many others) have had to quickly move their workplaces to their homes as a response to COVID-19.This integration was favored both by the layout and by the possibility of combining the rooms. The partial commercial use inserted in the project was registered in the legal structure by means of the building permit.
Wohnregal Building
Architects: FAR frohn&rojas, Marc Frohn, Mario Rojas
Contributors: Max Koch, Ulrike Vandenberghe, Lisa Behringer, Ruth Meigen, Martin Gjoleka, Felix Schöllhorn, Pan Hu, Julius Grün, Erik Tsurumaki, Katharina Wiedwald
Location: Waldenserstraße 25, 10551 Berlín, Alemania
Client: Privado / Private
Structural engineering: Ingenieurbüro Paasche
Construction: Montage&Rohbautechnology GmbH
Weather project: Joco
Electrical system: Zwerg
Lighting: FAR frohn&rojas
Energetic efficiency: Gerdes Hubert Ingenieurbüro
Risk prevention: Ingenieurbüro für Brandschutz
Construction system: Standardized precast concrete elements
Materials: Bare concrete, curtain wall and partitions with galvanized steel structure covered with plastered and painted drywall plates
Budget: US$ 1.700/ m2
Built area: 1.088 m2
Superficie de terreno / Site area: 328 m2
Project year: 2017-2018
Construction year: 2018-2019
Photography: David von Becker, Tobias Wootton
Model: FAR frohn&rojas
Marc Frohn Master of Architecture, University of Houston, USA (2001). Master of Architecture, Rice University, USA (2004). He has collaborated with OMA/Rem Koolhaas and with b&k + brandlhuber&co. He co-founded FAR frohn&rojas in 2004. He has won the AR Award for Emerging Architecture (2007), the DETAIL Prize ArchitectureXport (2009), the Architectural League Prize for Young Architects and Designers (2010) and the RIBA National Award (2016). He has been a professor at RWTH Aachen University, Germany, at SCI-Arc, Usa, and at the Royal College of Art in London. Since 2015 he is a tenured professor at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany.
Mario Rojas Diplom-Ingenieur (Dipl.-Ing.) Architektur, RWTH Aachen University, Germany (2002). He has collaborated with gmp Architekten, Oscar Niemeyer and bgp de Bernardo Gómez Pimienta. He co-founded FAR frohn&rojas in 2004. He has won the AR Award for emerging architecture (2007), the DETAIL prize ArchitectureXport (2009), and the Architectural League Prize for Young Architects and Designers (2010). He is a professor at the Universidad Andrés Bello since 2007, and, since 2017, at the Universidad de las Américas (UDLA), Chile.
Los Navegantes 1963, Providencia
Teléfono: (56-2)-26865630
Fax: (56-2)-26865634
revista@edicionesarq.cl