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We are revealing this concept study now as a contribution to the ongoing discussion about Berlin Alexanderplatz in both the circles of planning experts and the local media.
In this discussion we strongly support those who are in favour of developing a new masterplan for Berlin's eastern center. The 20-year-old plan has never been realistic.
Since the fall of the wall Berlin-Alexanderplatz is undergoing substantial renovation and total conversion. It is doing so more despite of the masterplan than because of it.
But the state of society of the 21st century requires that we develop new visions for living in densely populated inner cities.
This process inherently triggers an essential confrontation of material and social values.
There is a nascent yearning for an architecture that offers a high degree of potential for community, for experience, which fosters a real sense of identification.
Which value system should underpin and direct the necessary changes? Who owns the centers of our cities?
How do we want to live?
While trying to answer the query
of how and where to house, many modern families today are torn between the desire for a pulsating urban life and the craving for a life- style in harmony with nature.
Our identification with and our
desire for a free and urban life style defined by short distances to work, excellent public transportation, and proximity to cultural and commercial amenities, does not need to end with the decision to start a family or with retirement from active professional life.
Current trends towards a ,sharing- spirit’ and a new participation in the community life counteract the anonymity and isolation in
the metropolis.
While in social networking, the border between the public and the private spheres is being renegotiated, architecture and urban planning of cities such as Berlin lags behind these significant social and demographic changes.
The unease with the global imperative of continued growth propagated
by financial markets, seems to be spreading. Confidence in industrial food production finds itself nowadays significantly eroded. At the same time also the mass production of organic and healthier food has its limits and fails to appease growing groups of customers.
The longing for self-sustaining gardening and for knowing about the origins of what one is eating, are the most important reasons for the current boom in Urban Gardening.
of how and where to house, many modern families today are torn between the desire for a pulsating urban life and the craving for a life- style in harmony with nature.
Our identification with and our
desire for a free and urban life style defined by short distances to work, excellent public transportation, and proximity to cultural and commercial amenities, does not need to end with the decision to start a family or with retirement from active professional life.
Current trends towards a ,sharing- spirit’ and a new participation in the community life counteract the anonymity and isolation in
the metropolis.
While in social networking, the border between the public and the private spheres is being renegotiated, architecture and urban planning of cities such as Berlin lags behind these significant social and demographic changes.
The unease with the global imperative of continued growth propagated
by financial markets, seems to be spreading. Confidence in industrial food production finds itself nowadays significantly eroded. At the same time also the mass production of organic and healthier food has its limits and fails to appease growing groups of customers.
The longing for self-sustaining gardening and for knowing about the origins of what one is eating, are the most important reasons for the current boom in Urban Gardening.
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| GREEN8 in local newspaper BZ |
What do these developments mean for architecture and urban planning?
How do we want to live and house in
the future?
As an integrative solution to this
dilemma, the Architects Agnieszka
Preibisz und Peter Sandhaus are
proposing project GREEN8 for a
vertical Garden City on Alexanderplatz
in Berlin.
The residential high-rise structureis based on a business model of a cooperative collective. It envisionsa self-determined community encompassing all generations.
With its generous greenhouse and community spaces GREEN8 offers to organize not only the food production but also the sport and leisure activities, as well as the care of children and seniors.
Green8 reflects a dream come true: Living in the center of the city with breathtaking panorama views, while having one’s own vegetable garden at one’s doorstep.
Thanks to its cooperative and integrative principles, this housing concept is economically efficient.This form of home ownership is free from many constraints of real estate- or land speculation, and the long term costs are lower than those of conventional homes.
GREEN8 is not a house.
It is a life form.
Deutscher Text:
Wie wollen wir Wohnen?
Bei der Frage nach dem Wie und Wo des Wohnens sind viele Familien heute hin- und hergerissen: Einerseits möchte man mitten im urbanen Leben sein. Andererseits sehnen sich Viele heute wieder nach einer Natürlichkeit, die sie mit traditionellen, dörflichen Gemeinschaften verbinden.
Kurze Wege, besonders zur Arbeit, hervorragende Nahverkehrsanbindung, die Nähe zu allen Annehmlichkeiten von Kultur und Konsum: Unsere Identifikation mit dem freien und großstädtischen Lebensstil endet heute nicht mehr notwendigerweise mit der Entscheidung, eine Familie zu gründen oder mit dem Eintritt ins Rentenalter.
Aktuelle Trends zu neuer Teilhabe am Öffentlichen und ein neuer Sharing-Spirit wirken bereits vielerorts der Anonymität und der Vereinsamung in der Großstadt entgegen. Während im social networking die Grenzen zwischen der Sphäre des Öffentlichen und der Sphäre des Privaten neu verhandelt werden, reagieren Architektur und Städtebau nur sehr träge auf soziale und demographische Veränderungen.
In breiten Bevölkerungsschichten scheint das Unbehagen mit der globalen Wachstumsideologie von Finanz- und Konsumindustrie zu wachsen. Insbesondere das Vertrauen in die industrielle Nahrungsproduktion ist nachhaltig gestört. Der Umstieg auf Bio beruhigt Viele nur noch bedingt. Die Lust am Gärtnern und der Wunsch, zu wissen, was man isst, sind die wichtigsten Gründe für den Boom des Urban Gardening.
Was bedeuten solche Entwicklungen für Architektur und Städtebau?
Wie wollen wir in Zukunft wohnen?
Zwei Berliner Architekten haben für dieses Dilemma eine integrierte Lösung erarbeitet und schlagen mit GREEN8Berlin am Alexanderplatz eine vertikale Gartenstadt vor.
Ein Wohnhochhaus als Genossenschaftsmodell und soziales Netzwerk. Die selbstbestimmte generationenübergreifende Gemeinschaft organisiert nicht nur die Lebensmittelherstellung sondern auch Sport-und Freizeitaktivitäten oder Kinder- und Altenbetreuung.
Wohnen mitten im Zentrum mit atemberaubendem Panorama-Blick und dennoch den eigenen Gemüsegarten direkt vor der Haustür.
Durch den genossenschaftlichen Ansatz ist das auch wirtschaftlich attraktiv. Die langfristigen Kosten für diese von den Zwängen der Bodenspekulation befreite Art der Wohneigentumsbildung sind niedriger als für normale innerstädtische Eigenheime.
Green8Berlin ist eine Projektkooperation
von SANDHAUS BAUKUNST mit APCON custom property solutions
Projektidee + Konzept: Agnieszka Preibisz
Konzept + Entwurf: Peter Sandhaus
von SANDHAUS BAUKUNST mit APCON custom property solutions
Projektidee + Konzept: Agnieszka Preibisz
Konzept + Entwurf: Peter Sandhaus