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Architects: Baur & Latsch Architekten
- Area: 1380 m²
- Year: 2020
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Photographs:Sebastian Schels, Christian Latsch
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Manufacturers: Brick, Roof Tiles
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Construction Management: Plus Architekten Rainer Hilka | Eduard Pilz, Eduard Pilz - Plus Architekten Rainer Hilka
Text description provided by the architects. Between Frankfurter Strasse and Taunusstrasse, in the direct vicinity of Verna Park, a small-scale development consisting of seven houses was fitted into the urban fabric. On an inner-city wasteland, the site of the first electricity plant in Rüsselsheim, 50 new flats were built. All types of flats, from small flats for individuals and students to barrier-free flats, family flats as well as shared flats are distributed throughout the complex.
The competition was decided in 2016, the project was realized in two construction phases starting in 2018 and completed in 2020. The site at Verna Park with many vacant buildings is now being intensively used again according to the principle of "inside before outside" with a dense housing project. The compact quarter in the inner city area has reduced land consumption on the outskirts and made better use of existing infrastructures. Here, the pedestrian zone, Verna Park, the banks of the Main River, and the railway station are within walking distance, and motorized private transport is reduced.
The grain of the new buildings is oriented towards the neighboring structures, especially the traditional courtyard buildings of Frankfurter Strasse. The clinker facades tie in with the surrounding surfaces of the residential buildings, the walls, and the old industrial buildings, such as the nearby old Opel plant. The neighborhood between the railway tracks and Verna Park is characterized by small individual houses built around 1900 for Opel employees in a dense structure of small city blocks. These buildings are still preserved today, partly in untreated brick. The courtyard-side stable and barn buildings with their wooden gates and wooden galleries form the model for the wooden construction of the southern balconies.
The historic clinker bricks of the surrounding area are characterized by a pale, partly greenish tone that is no longer available in this form. In order to embed the façades in their surroundings, red brick was refined with charcoal firing and a light-colored glaze. The custom-made clinker bricks were broken into tiles and applied to the façades in mortar.
Closed perforated façades border the public path, while the buildings open up extensively to the south. Here, a wooden shelf in front of each building provides narrow balconies and deep loggias. Semi-public green spaces, paved recreational areas, and connecting spaces weave together to form a coherent structure. The concept is supported by the use of a uniform paving surface, which creates a flowing transition to the green areas via increasing planting and lawn joints. The typical wall enclosures of the deep plots were also retained and supplemented; these now form the backbone of the public thoroughfare.
The detached house on Waldstraße develops an independent character through a green, roughly structured rendered façade.
