5_Cooperative Building Stadterle | Buchner Bründler Architekten

NAME

Project title: Cooperative Building Stadterle

Recommending party
The project has been submitted by: Buchner Bründler Architekten

LOCATION
Country: Switzerland

City: Basel

Address: Erlenmatt Ost, Basel

AUTHOR

Designer or design team architects:

Buchner Bründler Architekten

DETAILS  

Plot Area: 1014 mq

Gross Area: 5619 mq

Of which residential: 53,8%
Public/communal areas: 6,3 %
Facilities for the public: 0%
Business/trade: 0 %
Offices: 0 %

Number of residential units: 36
Typology of users: Families, Old-aged people, Students, Foreigners/immigrants, Temporary residents, Other
Total building costs Euros: 12.500.000,00 €
Building Cost = Total Bulding Cost / Gross Area: 2224,00 €
Floor area ratio = Gross Area / Plot Area: 5.54
Work started on date: Friday, 1st August 2014
Work completion date: Wednesday, 1st November 2017

OWNERSHIP 

Promoter: Wohngenossenschaft Zimmerfrei
Allotment rule: hereditarily leased
Reduction cost percentage compared to the market value:
– assignement % not known
– rent % not known

ECONOMIC SUSTAINABILITY

Cost of construction max:
-Hybrid construction composed of a solid concrete structure with a wooden facade.
-Using long-lived Industrial materials with minimal maintenance needs
-Realisation and material selection respects the financial aspect of a cooperative building
-Around 90% less compared to average values (estimated)
Rental/sale cost compared to market price: not known

SOCIAL SUSTAINABILITY

Rules of allocation:
-Interested parties have to agree with the ideals of the cooperative community.
-One flat is rented by the state’s social assistance, others are recommended by the canton Basel-Stadt.
-Minimal occupancy obligations for every flat secure reduce private space consumption
Protection of fragile categories:
-The building reflects the cities demographic composition and offers apartments for families, shared flats, cluster apartments, social assistance apartments all of them age-appropriate. This creates an including atmosphere for students, migrants, families, and others.
Involvement of inhabitants in the building process:
-Project initiated by the cooperative community with an architectural competition and realized in a participative process. Architects involved co-op in the process by organizing monthly meetings to discuss concept, planning steps and materiality.
Community accompaniment in the life of the building:
-The board of the cooperative community organizes every 3 months an assembly, where inhabitants (16+ voting power) discuss current topics. The co-op is sub-divided in various groups with different building and social life related tasks and responsibilities.

ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY

Functional mixitè: –
Common spaces and shared living:
– The Stadterle has a communal space where the co-op meetings take place, a communal kitchen (i.e weekly lunch is offered), a roof terrace, a lobby, a workshop, communal veranda and guest rooms that are open for all residents.
Techniques and strategies for environmental saving:
– The project aims 2000-Watt-society, is built with long-living industrial material, central-heating system and photovoltaic system for energy. 4 parking spaces for almost 100 inhabitants, but a big room for bikes provided. Reduced heated, private space.

Description of the project: 

Formerly a freight railway station, the eastern part has been developed into a residential area called Erlenmatt East with several buildings bordering a park. Erlenmatt East was initiated by the Habitat Foundation. The building rights to one lot were allocated to the cooperative “Zimmerfrei”, which it aimed to use to create affordable living space with a focus on community, sustainability and modesty. The planning and building process involved participation of the members of the cooperative.

The aim was to create a community through the residential house and to encourage a natural exchange among residents. Apartment floor plans are modest, yet create a sense of spaciousness, due to their simple structure and two-sided orientation. Living is private towards the Erlenmattpark, and socially active towards the Erlenmatthof, because the apartments can be reached via access balconies. These are intended for social interaction and are to be frequented by the residents, much like a personal veranda. The rather small-sized apartments are supplemented by central communal spaces such as a lobby, roof terrace, workshop, music and laundry rooms as well as guest rooms. A consistent simplicity of the circulation through the access balconies, and optimal utilisation of the prescribed sizes of the apartments by doing without corridors, has produced sustainable housing. This design offers a large number of accommodation types for various phases of life and urban life styles and includes classical family apartments as well as cluster structures for residential communities.

From the socially as well as architecturally connecting access balcony, apartments are entered directly via an eat-in kitchen facing the yard. The level of privacy increases in the direction of the adjoining living area and bedrooms towards the quiet park. The financial aspect, which is of importance for a cooperative building of this kind, was respected in the realisation and material selection of the building. The multi-layered facade is dominated by industrial materials that are long-lived while requiring minimal maintenance. The original character of the place is reflected by industrial-grade aluminium, corrugated fibre cement panels, galvanised elements and corrugated acrylic panels. For cost reasons, the house itself is a hybrid construction composed of a solid concrete structure with a wooden facade.