A property featuring a villa in an exclusive residential quarter at the edge of Frankfurt's urban forest. In this enviable location, a new residential neighborhood has emerged comprising a total of 33 rental apartments, complemented by the low walls characteristic of Frankfurt architecture. Here, wörner traxler richter Architekten collaborated with Mijaa Raummanufaktur Architekten to complement the existing villa on the approximately 3,900 m² site with four new buildings.

In developing the masterplan, the architects adhered to two principal guiding concepts. First, they sought to preserve the exceptional quality of the park-like setting. The foundational idea was thus "Forest Park." The site is interwoven with green spaces, and the buildings are positioned such that a shared outdoor plaza emerges at the center of the property. Second, the villa itself served as the controlling design element: "both in urban design terms and with respect to scale, building height, and structure," the architects explain, adding: "The building articulation references the villa in both plan and facade design, translating it into contemporary architectural language. This guiding principle permeates the entire design of the buildings." Of course, the surrounding context of dispersed and elongated single-family homes up to three stories tall was equally considered in the planning. The new residential buildings thus adopt the building alignment lines established in Frankfurt's 1911 setback ordinance and continue existing typologies. The "Belvederchen" (rooftop pavilions with roof gardens, a distinctive feature of Frankfurt villa architecture), for instance, reference their setting through the locally typical slate cladding of the pitched roofs.

The rendered facade, with its horizontal cornices, not only creates a visual connection to the villa's facade but also meets stringent acoustic performance requirements. Due to proximity to Frankfurt Airport, the property falls within the designated "Red Noise Protection Zone." Consequently, the architects equipped all apartments with mechanical ventilation systems that ensure fresh air supply without opening windows. The ventilation system simultaneously leverages heat recovery technology for energy efficiency.

www.wtr-architekten.de
www.mjrm.de

Photography Credits:

Frank Blümler
www.frankbluemler.de

(Published in CUBE Frankfurt 02|21)