Living

Residential Buildings Isoldenstraße, Munich

2007 bis 2012

The living area „Isoldenstrasse“, located nearby the Munich Green Area Luitpoldpark, the “Mildred-Scheel-Bogen” and the Nymphenburg Biedersteiner Channel, completes - in well developed inner urban areas - existing residences between the large spatially appearing green islands. It is a specific example for the urban differentiation of private land in built form and in spatially adjacent open spaces.The concept gained the 1st prize of an invited two-phases competition, 2006. The prize was given to the architects Schultz-Brauns & Reinhart in cooperation with Rainer Schmidt landscape architects and urban planners.The privacy of the area and the quietness for living are structurally equally guaranteed by the arrangement of built form, architecture and open space design, as well as the integration of the living yard into the urban context is structured by a crossing and linking net of public paths. The yard is accessible via the generous layout of the common spaces of the inner yard. Access on paved paths is opened from two opposite sides by strong, differently structured, gate-like frameworks. The south-east gate at Isoldenstrasse is symbolized by a three-floor high archway on columns between oriels of the two-sided built form. The north-west framework is integrated into the one-sided seven-floor high built form with a lowered groundfloor at the “head” of the yard. One is visually pulled into the depth of the yard. Entrances and exits of deep garages are located “outside”, along the local streets, car parking for visitors is placed in the surrounding streets as well. House entrances with semi-private front-gardens and private gardens in front of the terraces, facing South-West, are opposite to each other in the groundfloor areas. Balconies and loggias are above the terraces, framing the semi-private character of the through leading paths and the common spaces in the inner yard. The open spaces link the overall site and make it become a spatial unit for view and path connections. Three meadow fields, thematizing the polygonal arrangement of built form, are planted with old species of fruit trees. Partially, the grass surfaces are fixed by honeycomb lawn in order to guarantee the needed access for the fire brigade. Two pergolas of dark metal with integrated seats and a low water basin with a bright concrete edge increase the attraction of the yard for staying and for the fauna, nearby the basin. The spatially divided common garden yard is clearly perceivable as “core” of the residential area, finding its center in the offers for playing and staying nearby the seven-floor building. Playground equipment of wood and seating elements of concrete are subordinate in color and structure to the framing design. The open spaces in the common area are unified and space-building by means of pruned book hedges, the entrance-areas reflect on the times of the year by a colorful and representative Entrée of different shrubbery, perennials and grasses.