As part of the 50 Solar Housing Estates in the State
of North Rhine Westphalia the city of Krefeld submitted a project for a
"Solarsiedlung" in the borough of Oppum. It was designed in 2003 on
former playing fields behind a school in the large Donk Estate. It consists of 38
housing units, mostly in short terraces, but also some detached and
semidetached houses have been included. No rental properties or social housing
in this development that is solely aimed at owner-occupiers. The average plot
size is 420 m2, the total site developed measures 19 hectares (resulting in the
very low 2 housing unit per hectare). Parking spaces have been provided on the
edges of this infill estate, with the option of turning this into a garage.
Building work started in 2015 and will finish in the spring of 2017.
Some of the terraced housing with plank-clad facades and outbuildings
(sheds) with the same treatment. The entrances have been emphasized by the use
of render in an earth colour. This isn't loam render however. The photovoltaic
array on the shed is clearly visible. There is no car-access to the houses, only
a footpath for slow traffic (pedestrians and cyclists).
The houses are built using a standard method of construction (Massivbau
in German) with large blocks of re-used concrete. On the left one of the last
houses now under construction. The detached houses have been built in a
clustered manner which results in little space in between (as seen on the right).
The style evokes the international-modernist idiom.
In contrast to the wood-clad buildings most houses are finished in the
German staple of coloured render. Here in a lovely natural yellow. The
photovoltaic array and the sun boiler are clearly visible on the roof. The
garden wraps around these semidetached properties on two sides with a wide
walking path along the front.^0 % of all warm water is created using heat
collectors and sun boilers.
A row of recycling bins along the side of a wood-clad shed shows the
efforts made to streamline separate streams of waste. The size and colour of
the lid indicates the material to be collected.. A few houses have these wooden
blinds on the outside as a design feature. The panels slide in front of the
windows between stainless steel leads.
In this short terrace each house is recognisable by the varying building
line and the slight differences in the facade. Again the water heater arrays on
the roof are very visible from some distance. They seem as an afterthought in
the design however. This is a shame as they could have been part of the
architectural statement.
The combination of brightly painted wooden elements inserted in the
rendered facade is a clear architectural statement when in front of the facade.
It gives each house in the terrace an individual accent. Another use of wood is
in these large protruding eaves supported by wooden posts that also support the
balconies.
Two of these semidetached houses next to one another The houses are
quite large, but not by German standards. This is the back of the house. The
gardens are made more private by a wild hedge along the edge. The use of such
wild mixed hedges instead of a more formal clipped hedge also aides the distinctiveness
of this development as a green Solar Housing Estate.
No comments:
Post a Comment