The extension of the student housing complex in the city centre of Aachen will create a communicative ensemble consisting of a student residence, a garden house and a factory, with a spacious garden at its centre, to which all the new student apartments are oriented via common rooms and access. In the spirit of sustainable development, the existing building will be converted and extended using simple means.
A total of 134 new places will be created. The spacious green area in the central area of the inner block, with the historic terraced garden and the appropriable student garden with its enchanting meadow and characteristic trees, forms the spatial and atmospheric centre of the consolidation of the student residence. The existing building and a converted factory frame the central open space. The extension to the existing building stands as a foly-like garden house in the lower garden. The two extensions, with their access and communal areas, face the garden and form ‘cheerful’ faces towards the garden with pergola-like access balconies and a butterfly roof full of character. The complex opens up to the city and the urban community with a spacious passageway on one side and a sheltered entrance courtyard on the other side of the block.
State Competition 2024 “Building Simply”
Nachverdichtung einer studentischen Wohnanlage in Aachen-Mitte: Honorable Mention
student housing complex: gross floor area 5.670 m², 134 places
Commissioner: Ministry of Regional Identity, Local Government, Building and Digitalization of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia
Client: Studierendenwerk Aachen
Team SMAQ: Andreas Quednau, Sabine Müller, Marius Schumann, Valentin Lepley-Schuhmann, Sebastian Pitoni, Camilla Evangelisti in collaboration with nsp landschaftsarchitekten.