Kleineschholz Quarter, Freiburg (DE)
New building,
Affordable housing,
Neighbourhood Development
Client: Stadt Freiburg im Breisgau
Urban planning & landscape: Dietrich Untertrifaller with Ramboll Studio Dreiseitl
Competition: 2019, 1. prize
Planning: 2019 – 2021
Construction: from 2023
Residential area: approx. 90,000 m²
Programme: West residential quarter 569 apartments, East residential quarter 194 apartments, North staff housing complex 563 apartments, 4 daycare centres, commercial and service outlets, gastronomy
Visualisation: Dietrich Untertrifaller
Team
Anke Blumenstein, Anna Hasenfuß, Teresa Hemmelmann, Eva Kukurite, Soojeong Kwon, Björn Osmann (Project management), Josef Piroddi, Günther Prechter (Project management), Michael Sohm, Jana Wörn
Text: Gerlinde Jüttner
Partners
Traffic: Stete Planung, Darmstadt
Habitat with typological and social diversity
Our concept for Kleineschholz integrates a wide variety of living and building types, with a focus on affordable housing. The typological range of the building structure and the mix of rental apartments, condominiums and building groups ensures the desirable social diversity. Families and singles, children, young and old, locals and newcomers live here. Craftsmen, self-employed professionals and service providers work here. Together, they form a stable, self-regulating social structure made up of different responsibilities, life cycles and local connections.
The western edge of the Stühlinger district in Freiburg is mainly characterised by large administrative buildings, which are well frequented during the day but leave the streets empty in the evenings and at weekends. The urban redevelopment will create dense residential neighbourhoods that will allow for diverse, lively use, enliven the district and ensure safety.
Three residential quarters and a park
The spacious public park in the centre of the area will play an important role from an ecological, functional and social perspective. The compact building block "Kleineschholz Ost" (194 flats) complements the solitary buildings of the employment agency and RiS. The Lehener Street acts as an "urban bridge" connecting the densely built-up Stühlinger neighbourhood with the new residential quarter "Kleineschholz West" (569 flats) and "Kleineschholz Nord" (563 staff flats for the university hospital) and thus becomes a lively, inner-city main access road.
Lively ground floors
The two residential neighbourhoods "West" and "Ost" integrate a wide variety of functions and housing forms, building types and structural densities. The higher spaces on the ground floor allow for flexible uses. In addition to residential units on the mezzanine floor, small businesses, service providers, shops and restaurants can also act as an important urban centre of attraction in the street space. All building entrances are oriented towards the neighbouring streets and create a high pedestrian frequency in the public space.
Car traffic will be routed along a neighbourhood road. In future, only cyclists, inline skaters and pedestrians will use Sundgauallee through the park, which used to be an inner-city dual carriageway. The majority of the 500 parking spaces in the area West are housed in a multi-storey car park in the south and an underground collective garage in the north. Both are accessed from outside the neighbourhood.
Residential quarter West – City of gardens and gardeners
The West quarter has the character of a garden city. Point blocks, rows and townhouses (stacked maisonettes) with five to eight storeys form a chain of green residential courtyards. These semi-public spaces divide the quarter into social neighbourhoods for 300 people each. The increasingly small-scale development with urban villas and tower blocks also opens up spacious views of the greenery to the flats in the second and third rows.
The four green courtyards inside the block create meeting places for the socially and age-mixed resident community of each block, around 300 people each. The greenhouses on the roofs offer socialising opportunities and individual recreational spaces.
Residential quarter East – Typological mix
The block in the south-east of the site is composed of related building types. In order to make their presence felt at the intersection of two main roads, the buildings of the east quarter are two storeys higher. Two inner courtyards, one green and one urban, create semi-public spaces for the residents. In the piazza with restaurants and cafés, city administration employees, residents, hospital staff and schoolchildren mingle during breaks.
An urban square with local suppliers creates the social centre. The adjoining communal meadow provides space for children's play, parties and urban gardening. Further garden areas are being created on the western edge of the development and on the roof of the multi-storey car park.
Residential quarter Nord – Staff housing complex
The staff housing complex for the university hospital forms a largely closed back along Lehener Strasse. Intelligent sound insulation concepts allow to utilise the southern exposure along the street for high-quality flats. With their balcony-like access and sheltered, quiet inner courtyards, the U-shaped, interlocking pergola houses with many small flats offer informal opportunities for neighbourly contact.
The selection of all building materials is based on ecological and therefore economic criteria. A high proportion of wood ensures a positive CO² balance. The aim is to optimise the building over its entire life cycle. Planting and water features, together with the green roofs, façades and car parks, improve the microclimate.
