Abstract:

The project transforms a former district hospital in Lörrach, south Germany into housing, developed within the course Building in Existing Structures. The proposal enhances urban quality by deconstructing some parts while adding new buildings to the north.

Based on the concept of healthy living, the design integrates sustainability, inclusion, autonomy, participation, and identity. A mixed-use program of housing, workspaces, care, markets, and communal areas strengthens community life and promotes short distances. Mixed living avoids segregation by combining diverse housing types on one level, supported by flexible floor plans.

Cooperative housing forms the social foundation, fostering shared responsibility and neighborhood independence. Ecological strategies include shared rooftop gardens, retention areas, geothermal energy, solar thermal systems, and reuse of canal water. Existing structures are carefully preserved, exposing structural as well as identity-forming elements and integrating winter gardens as thermal buffer zones.

Urban interventions create courtyards, improve daylight, and reconnect east and west Lörrach through the reactivated canal and the community plaza. Reused materials from the old hospital or from local mines in basel and bio-based durable construction reduce CO₂ emissions and enable future adaptability.

“WohnWerk” represents identity through participation—creating an inclusive, resilient, and socially connected neighborhood.