Neue Vahr

Transformation post-war estate with run-up staircase housing Neue Vahr, Bremen, D
Public housing
Client: GeWoBa, Bremen, D
1^st prize design limited competition
2013 – 2015

The project is the result of the win of an ideas competition which was organized by the housing trust GeWoBa under the title Dwelling-on-unusually. HvdH made a design which enhances the decision making process needed to improve an estate of run-up staircase flats in the Neue Vahr district of Bremen.

Re-use tasks tend to easily confuse means and ends. Furthermore, such processes are sensitive to scope-creep, to the slow expansion of the task until it becomes unfeasible and incurs in disappointment. That is why a proper task definition is crucial. In order to steer that process a simple diagram, showing the relation between measures and objectives, between means and ends.

Diverging adjustments of the surrounding grounds and the facades, as well as new extensions and a strategy to improve the fit-out of the dwellings dynamically match the diverging local needs of GeWoBa and existing occupants. In principle, all these alterations can be implemented independently.