Stairs and lifts relegated to the building exterior
Based on the premise that it should be possible to achieve a basic rent of less than €10/m2, ABG FRANKFURT HOLDING, in cooperation with schneider+schumacher, is launching a showcase low-cost housing project in Oberrad. The project includes two residential buildings with a total of 46 residential units offering a mix of two, three, and four-bedroom apartments. A foundation stone ceremony is scheduled for the end of the year. “Overall, we are building marginally less comfort at a much lower cost", says Junker, head of ABG.
Professor Michael Schumacher explains: “The core concept is to minimise the building volume that first has to be built, and subsequently heated. This is achieved by placing the staircases on the outside of the building.” This approach has the advantage of lowering costs, since the staircase is not enclosed. At the same time, running costs are lowered by heating only habitable areas. The basic concept in this low-cost housing is a module composed of two standard apartments, placed adjacent to each other and stacked up in various constellations to suit the local context. “In this way, we can design a different building for each site”, says Schumacher. Building quality is not compromised since brick construction employs a long-lasting and sustainable material. The use of bricks is made possible by planning the masonry walls to exact brick dimensions.