Housing, mixed use, building in an existing context
2016

The project is intended to bring together and complement various approaches to the design of living space and to explore and discuss their possibilities for the future use of the Dragoner Areal.

The Dragoner Areal is one of the last large developable areas in Kreuzberg and is located in the middle of the district on the block bounded by Mehringdamm, Yorckstrasse, Großbeerenstrasse and Obentrautstrasse. Currently, the historical site of the barracks is mainly used for commercial purposes. Large parts of the area are not used intensively, since the area is partly under monument protection and its only one to two-storey buildings are largely shielded from the street by the surrounding block edges. The deficient public access in the existing condition leads to a further shielding from the rest of the quarter.

Our strategy for the new use of the area combines the local commerce with a dense residential use. This should be able to accommodate a variety of living models. In the foreground of the design is the creation of new, affordable living space, which is currently urgently needed in Berlin. In the best inner-city location in Berlin, an economic alternative to the luxury apartments that are mainly being built there is to be developed, thus providing an alternative to the displacement of disadvantaged social groups to the outskirts of the city. The desire of the citizens' initiatives for the "reappropriation of the city" was approached through selected interviews with current and potential neighborhood residents as well as with the current users of the area. The reference to the social and urban planning environment must be taken into account.