School of Architecture Bremen, University of applied Sciences Bremen/Germany

Master of Arts, winter term 2012/2013

Isabel Carrera, © all rights reserved

Guiding professors: Prof. Stefan Rettich (School of Architecture Bremen, Hochschule Bremen) and Dr.-Ing. Nicole Uhrig (Lecturer at the School of Architecture Bremen, Hochschule Bremen).

Bremen, as other German cities, is affected under the lack of living space and the big question how to provide enough apartments for the population. The government´s target: 14.000 apartments until 2020.

The chosen area for the urban design and later for the architectural design was the quarter Lindenhof, that is located in the city district Gröpelingen and has a high potential of city development.Unfortunately Gröpelingen has a bad image regarding criminality and unemployment. The target is to integrate Gröpelingen to Bremen and design the district in an attractive and sustainable way in order to invite people all around the city to join and live in the quarters of Gröpelingen.

The design is attached to the consideration of lifestyle groups that are going to be located in the district. There are different types of problem areas regarding Lindenhof that are suitable for determined lifestyle groups and life situations after the intervention. Amongst others the idea is to set single-family houses for young families or multiple dwellings as retirement homes for pensioners in order to mix up the quarter and underline heterogeneity.

The urban design refers to two areas in Lindenhof: the first area that is located in the south of Lindenhof stands for multigenerational living and the second area that is located in the north of Lindenhof stands for young living. The selected consolidation for the further architectural design regards to the young living group. The result is a multiple dwelling located at the Gröpelinger Heerstraße, an enlivened quarter segment that has lots of different shopping facilities and good transport connections. At the moment, most of the people living the area have migrant background. Contemplating the situation from the social aspect, people´s integration to other quarters or districts is deficient compared to other areas in the city. Partial gentrification and partial combination is therefore exceptionally considered for the design in order to integrate the people and the district to others.

The LOHAS (lifestyles of health and sustainability) are the target people for the architectural design. This group stands on a healthy live, aware consumer habits and lots of sports. Most of them are educated people, economically ensured and therefore potential investors for Lindenhof. The task is to enable a living concept for this target group that offers something exciting, something new.

According to that the architectural design provides living, working and recreational spaces. It´s a four story building that integrates apartments with retail stores, provision of services, sports possibilities and leisure areas. The apartments are located in the lateral sections of the building starting from the first floor and ending in the third floor. Each apartment is about 50 s.m., consisting of one bedroom with a balcony and one living room with an open kitchen. At the ground floor are numerous retail stores, a pharmacy and a laundry service.

The head of the building has mixed uses. The ground floor offers a bio-supermarket, the first floor has a library with co-working spaces for residents or neighbors, the third and fourth floor have a fitness studio including a spa area and at last the roof terrace that offers a multi-purpose facility.

The idea pursues to integrate the neighborhood with the new residential area and it´s residents. Even the possibilities that are given through the different offerings at the head of the building improve communication and gathering of people. The project works, economically considered, charging an amount of money that is included in the resident´s monthly rent, as well as reduced subscriptions, to cover all the offered extras such as sport, wellness, library and co-working spaces.