This striking building rests on seven double supports that allow views of the surrounding green and access to the six building entrances. Niemeyer, who was influenced by Le Corbusier’s ideas of “modern living”, created a design with generous floor plans, loggias, and light-filled spaces. Niemeyer’s original design had to be altered in order to meet the Berlin government’s requirements for social housing. The communal area planned for the fifth floor was abandoned in favor of six 3-room apartments along a narrow corridor (recognizable on the western side of the building by the row of windows). Niemeyer created a building with several apartments that cut through the building from east to west. This means that the apartments cannot be reached by long corridors, but rather via six interior stairwells and the elevator tower. For reasons of stability, the building has a top floor with a roof of reinforced concrete as a “lid”; this floor only receives daylight through narrow slits.
Building
- Seven-storey slab high-rise on seven double supports
- Length 70 m, width 15 m, height 27 m
- Ground floor 2.2 meters above ground
- 78 apartments between 38 and 91 sqm
- Tower accessible via ramp with two elevators that stop on the fifth and eighth floors
- Apartments cut through the building from the east to west side
- Six entrances on the open ground floor
Construction
- Reinforced concrete cross wall construction, cast on site, with open façades behind loggias (western side) and continuous strips of windows (eastern side)
- Closed top floor to stabilize the building
