In Feldkirchen, an independent municipality with around 8,000 inhabitants to the east of Munich, a building ensemble with 79 apartments on the site of a former Raiffeisen warehouse was completed in summer 2023. The Munich-based architecture firm Felix + Jonas won the competition organized by the municipality for the construction project.

The design had various special features that contributed to it winning first prize: First of all, the unorthodox free form of the three buildings, which are only seemingly randomly arranged on the 6,000^m2 plot, is striking. They form a green central square in the middle, which is available to the residents in the outdoor space. Further places to spend time are created by the projections and recesses of the largest of the three buildings. This north-facing block is positioned at the edge of the site so that it offers protection from the noise of passing trains behind it. The apartments on offer range from one-bedroom apartments to spacious five-room apartments.

The special feature here is that the forms of housing are based on the latest alternative developments in cohabitation. One focus, for example, is on caring for older residents - 20 apartments are reserved for senior citizens. A cluster apartment with communal areas and private retreats for up to seven residents is also on offer. This is a way of life that has been copied from student flatshares and has now arrived in the housing construction program of municipalities. All rooms are barrier-free and some are wheelchair-accessible, and each apartment has a balcony or terrace. Energy is supplied by district heating from a geothermal system. Additional facilities in the three-part residential ensemble include a community café as a meeting place and lunchtime supervision for the adjacent elementary school. There are also good public transport connections - the S-Bahn station is just a few minutes' walk away.

Even before the residential complex was ready for occupancy, it was already fully let. The triple ensemble owes its inviting appearance to its two-tone plastered monolithic masonry walls, which are plastered in a warm rust red on the base floor and white on the upper floors. The rust-red window surrounds add colorful accents. The flat roofs are covered in greenery and thus serve as a climate buffer and moisture reservoir. In order to adapt to the surrounding small-scale development, the two smaller buildings are lower than the long block, just as the position and cubature of the three individual buildings are derived from the surroundings and correspond to their axes, building edges, open spaces and squares.

www.felix-jonas.net

Photos: 

Jonas Bloch
www.jonasbloch.de

(Published in CUBE Munich 02|24)