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Meeting the challenges of modern urban planning

How to successfully combine little building space and moderate rents while maintaining the urban identity of an area.

11 November, 2021

The room for maneuver of urban planning is getting narrower and requires fast, durable and sustainable solutions: Housing must be built cost-effectively in short construction times while meeting all safety and energy efficiency standards. To meet these demands, intelligent architectural concepts are needed to complement existing housing stock in a sensible way and to create new affordable housing. In urban planning, there is talk of adding storeys, attic extensions or redensification. While at the same time considering creating livable living space and integrating interaction areas such as cafés, stores, green spaces and co-working spaces or kindergartens.

Three projects from Xella Deutschland show how the use of energy-efficient, durable, and intelligent building and insulation solutions makes it possible to implement such concepts quickly and safely - with large-format building elements, with digital and thus resource-saving planning, and with well thought-out logistics.

Urban planning – Planning ahead and flexibly

In many German cities, affordable housing needs to be created quickly. In Kassel, a combination of construction strategies provided promising solutions: A modular construction method with prefabricated, large-format elements, planned in advance with digital services, saved significant portions of construction costs and shell construction time. The construction method also provides a long-term flexible and thus sustainable living concept. This is because the Variowohnen project, which was designed for student housing, is barrier- and support-free in its floor plans and features a demountable wall system. By making minimal changes, the living space can thus also be converted for small families and age-appropriate apartments for the elder in the future.

Neighborhood development – Improving what is already there

But what if no new properties are available? Germany's largest cities in particular are facing a population increase that they cannot compensate for with new buildings in the limited space available. Elevations, attic additions or densification – there are a few ways to sensibly add to existing housing stock. In Berlin, the courtyard of the Fennpfuhl residential complex was converted into a new residential quarter. But this was about more than just creating additional living space. Rather, the neighborhood was expanded to include useful facilities such as a daycare center for children, a bicycle repair shop and community rooms.

Redensification – Intelligent expansion of living space

The Konstantinum project in Leipzig was also about making the most of the space already available. The Graphisches Viertel was still reeling from its almost complete destruction during World War II, even decades later. Reconstructed historic buildings lined up with derelict wasteland. Until 2018, this included the 3,900-square-meter property at the corner of Kohlgartenstrasse and Konstantinstrasse. The challenge for the project consisting of 123 rental apartments and nine office and commercial units was to integrate them into the existing building landscape and intelligently connect them with each other. The project thus bridges the gap between historic and modern housing, simultaneously creating affordable living space for singles, families, and senior citizens.

Learn all the details about the three projects and more about Xella’s intelligent solutions for affordable housing here

 Solutions for affordable housing

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