Karrée St. Marx

Two office buildings along a busy, polluted street, together with rows of housing, containing two storey units, form the framework of a sheltered internal zone. Within this freestanding, “floating”, building volumes are positioned, with a complex variety of different apartment types. An important focus is the careful differentiation of complex, semi-public and public in-between spaces: communally used, below grade zones of the “floating” pavilions; communal spaces along a newly created access route; as well as commercial and service outlets, which are rhythmically interspersed between the foyers to the offices.

The neighbouring, green “wilderness” was used as a generator for the design of the open public spaces and is continued, in the form of the intensive green roofs, on the office buildings; the theme also flows through to the housing blocks.