D - 34246 Vellmar-Nord: The urban design, with around 550 residential units on a 16-hectare site, envisages a mix of detached single houses and houses in a more compact design using semi-detached and terraced houses and multi-storey housing. In terms of size, it will be one of the largest plus-energy housing estates in Germany. The plus-energy concept takes into account heat, electricity and mobility. Start of construction: from April 2020. Completion: ~2024
Thema: _ Ecology
Newly built districts with space-efficient mobility offers
NL - 3526 KM Utrecht: On the west side of the Merwedekanal, a new sustainable urban district is being built in a central location not far from Utrecht's main railway station. The plan is to create a mixed-use district with 6,000 flats for approximately 12,000 residents. The area is to become a showcase for healthy and sustainable living with innovative concepts for recycling, energy production, climate adaptation and mobility solutions. Planned completion: by 202464287 Darmstadt: On the Mathildenhöhe in Darmstadt, a unique architectural ensemble consisting of buildings, landscaped gardens with sculptures, interior architecture and design was created within 16 years. Darmstadt developed into a center of Art Nouveau through the artists' colony on the Mathildenhöhe. It was founded by the Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig and the publisher Alexander Koch. During the time of its existence, 23 artists belonged to it. The work of these members and other important personalities in Darmstadt from 1898 to 1914 set the tone for subsequent developments in art and architecture far beyond the events on Mathildenhöhe. Art Nouveau, with its ornamentation and organic building forms, continues to have an influence on the design of ecological settlements or sustainable neighbourhoods to this day. Construction from 1899. Completion: 1914
D - Frankfurt a.M. Ginnheim: The 342 existing apartments in the 19 three-storey row buildings will be renovated to improve energy efficiency (insulation and new windows) and two storeys will be added. A total of around 680 new, mainly smaller apartments are being created. 300 apartments are being built in 15 new buildings in so-called gate and bridge houses. Architecture: Stefan Forster (Frankfurt). Construction began in 2017. Completion of the storeys: End of 2019. Completion of the new buildings (post-densification): 2023.
D - 50181 Bedburg Kaster: Around 150 residential units on 5.6 hectares are planned in the first resource conservation housing estate of the town of Bedburg and RWE Power. The conservation of natural resources is at the forefront of this project, which is being developed under the name "Factor X", already established in specialist circles. Further key data: 55,500 square metres of living space, around 110 building plots and an extension of the forest kindergarten are planned.
12619 Berlin Marzahn-Hellersdorf: Mietersonne Kaulsdorf, Germany's largest tenant power project with almost 3.4 megawatts (MW) of capacity, is being built by Berliner Stadtwerke for the Berlin housing association berlinovo in Marzahn-Hellersdorf. Tenants of 4,300 apartments will be able to benefit from the green electricity generated directly on their roofs.
42279 Wuppertal: The exhibition with 19 show houses in the "Efficiency House Plus" building standard on the 18,000 square meter site is a model project of the prefabricated construction industry for the development of energy-efficient settlements, sponsored by the BBSR. All model houses are networked with each other and have a central storage battery so that energy can be generated, stored and distributed collectively. Completion: 2013
DK - Copenhagen-Örestad South: 475 units as large-format buildings around two courtyards forming an 8. Mix of uses: apartments, terraced houses and commercial use (offices, shops and a café on 10,000 m²) with a total of 62,000 m² of usable space. A special feature is a public access path, whereby one can climb up to the roof. As a result, one does not even have to leave the building ensemble to go jogging. Architect's office: BIG. Completion: 2012
NL - Culemborg: With 240 houses, it is the largest permaculture settlement in Europe and worldwide. It was built with the aim of living there in the most environmentally friendly and self-managed way possible. The founder Marleen Kaptein was convinced from the beginning that people should have the opportunity to shape their environment and take responsibility. Completion: 2009
51545 Waldbröhl: the wooden house settlement on the Panarbora site has five tree houses, which are located at a height of up to seven metres. The tree-top apartments offer overnight accommodation with 6, 4, or 2 single beds. Overnight stays can be booked through the German Youth Hostel Association. Completion: 2015
CH - Winterthur: Das Mehrgenerationenhaus Giesserei liegt in Oberwinterthur, im Stadtzentrum Neuhegi unmittelbar am Eulachpark. Es verfügt über 155 Wohnungen und 14 Gewerbebetriebe. Die Gebäude sind in ökologischer Holzbauweise erstellt und erfüllen den Minergie-P-Eco-Standard. Die Giesserei gilt mit nur 0,2 Parkplätzen pro Wohnung und 480 Veloständern als autofreie Siedlung. Grundstücksfläche: 11 000 m². Fertigstellung: 2013
CH - Tobel: The PlusEnergy development in the Thurgau municipality of Tobel with three multi-family houses (MFH) and 32 apartments was built to the Minergie-P standard. The PV system has an installed capacity of 351 kWp. They generate a solar power surplus of 76'000 kWh/a with which each apartment can use a solar-powered electric car which can drive 12'000 km CO2-free per year. Unique are the rents, which are 20% below the quarterly rents for comparable apartments in the Wil/SG region. Swiss Eurosolar Prize 2018. Completion: 2017
73728 Esslingen Neue Weststadt: A "showcase neighbourhood" with 600 flats, office and commercial space as well as a new building for Esslingen University of Applied Sciences is being built on 12 hectares. The total investment volume is around 190 million euros. 30 per cent of the district's use is earmarked for commercial use. Construction of individual building blocks began in 2016 and will continue until around 2022. Planned completion: 2022
NL - Heerhugowaard: With 2,900 apartments on 123 ha of building land, the settlement is the largest sustainable settlement in the world. The total area with park and water areas covers 177 ha. The photovoltaic system on the roofs has a capacity of 3.75 MW. Another PV system with 1.25 MW, as well as three wind turbines on the site are the active components of the CO2-neutral energy supply. Car-free zone. Planning: Ashok Bhalotra of urban design bureau KuiperCompagnons, Rotterdam. Partner of the European Sun Cities project. Completion: 2016
D - 52249 Eschweiler: the municipality of Eschweiler has designated a second Factor X housing estate with 34 plots on 3.1 hectares in the development plan. Construction of the first houses can begin as early as April. Resource- and energy-efficient single-family houses will be built on around 30 plots and four multi-family houses will be built according to the Factor X concept. Further elements of sustainable urban development, such as extensively greened roofs and a central heat supply using wood pellets, are planned. RWE Power is the landowner and developer. The development was completed in spring 2019.
D - 52459 Inden-Altdorf: The municipality of Inden has designated a further Factor X housing estate with 50 plots in the development plan. Construction of the first houses can begin as early as April. Resource-efficient single-family homes, semi-detached houses or terraced houses based on the Factor X concept will be built. RWE Power is the land owner and developer. The development was completed in spring 2019.
D - 15806 Wünsdorf:
Konzept einer ökologischen Modell- und Zukunftsstadt für das 21. Jahrhundert. Seit 2017 entwickelt ein Team von Pionieren des ökologischen Städtebaus um Prof. Dr. Ekhart Hahn eine neu zu errichtende Campus-Eco-City am Standort Wünsdorf bei Zossen (ca. 40 km von Berlin). Die ehemalige "verbotene" Stadt Wünsdorf mit einer Fläche von insgesamt 600 ha bietet ideale Bedingungen für die Realisierung dieser Vision, die auf ca. 100 ha realisiert werden soll. Fertigstellung: ~2030
D - 73262 Reichenbach an der Fils: In the district of Esslingen in Baden-Württemberg, a new neighbourhood is being built with a so-called "cold local heating network", which will not only heat the 41 houses in an environmentally friendly way in future, but will also contribute to the temperature control in summer. Photovoltaic systems, including storage, which will supply the neighbourhood with home-generated solar power around the clock, round off the energy concept. An innovative local heating supply based on geothermal energy takes centre stage.
12487 Berlin: HOWOGE is building 314 apartments, a large daycare facility for children and a neighbourhood garage on a 2.6-hectare site on Straße am Flugplatz. 156 apartments will be rented out as subsidized housing in accordance with the cooperation agreement with the state of Berlin; the remaining units will cost less than 10 euros per square meter on average. After completion, 50 percent of the apartments will be subject to occupancy restrictions, costing 6.50 euros per square meter cold, and will be sold to prospective tenants with a certificate of entitlement to housing. Planned completion (as of 12/2020): Spring 2021
60326 Frankfurt: Mainova has built a photovoltaic (PV) plant with a total output of around 1,500 kilowatts peak (kWp) in Frankfurt's Friedrich Ebert housing estate. This means that Germany's largest housing estate photovoltaic plant will be fully connected to the grid at the beginning of 2019. The locally generated, climate-friendly solar power from their own roofs can be used directly by the tenants on site.
21107 Hamburg-Wilhelmsburg: The former flak bunker in Wilhelmsburg has become a symbol of the climate protection concept Renewable Wilhelmsburg. The monument, which has been virtually unused since the end of the war, was refurbished as part of the IBA Hamburg and converted into a renewable power plant with large-scale heat storage. The energy storage facility has a volume of 2,000 cubic metres, which corresponds to 2,000,000 litres. It supplies the 120-hectare Reiherstieg district with climate-friendly heat and feeds renewable electricity into the Hamburg distribution grid.
51063 Cologne-Mülheim: The state of North Rhine-Westphalia has named the Stegerwaldsiedlung in the Cologne district of Mülheim as the 87th climate protection estate. With 968 kWp, it has the largest roof-integrated PV system on a housing estate in NRW and the third largest in Germany. 689 residential units of the Cologne housing estate from the 1950s were refurbished for energy efficiency and the energy generation systems were renewed. Completion: 2019
The architects have created new, liveable living space from a building that was ready for demolition. Through the extension, the 629 individual residential units were adapted to a contemporary standard, in which the rooms were enlarged from 12 m² to 20 m² and equipped with their own bathroom and kitchen. In the course of the modernization, the old facade was removed. The new highly thermally insulated façade in timber construction was moved two metres outwards on its own foundations. Completion: 2003
45897 Gelsenkirchen-Schaffrath: by 2018, it was the largest German solar housing estate with a peak output of 825 kWp. The 71 existing buildings with a total of 422 apartments and 27,420 m² of living space were renovated for energy efficiency. Operator: THS Wohnen GmbH (today: VIVAWEST Wohnen GmbH). Completion: 2008
76149 Karlsruhe: Conversion of the former U.S. housing estate. 526 units of the total of 1,651 units of this existing housing estate were built as storeys in timber frame construction in the low-energy standard. The additional storeys in timber construction alone are the largest coherent timber housing estate in Europe in the last 40 years. Completion: 2000
21109 Hamburg-Wilhelmsburg: 2017 the largest wooden house in Hamburg. The six storeys consist of 371 wooden modules measuring just under 20 square metres, which are stacked on top of each other in pre-assembled form. The individual modules weigh more than nine tons and are virtually ready-made student apartments, including bathroom, kitchenette and bed. Only the foundation and the staircases are made of concrete. A furnished apartment costs around 500 euros warm rent per month. Completion: 2017
D - 28329 Bremen-Osterholz: At least 500 apartments are planned, which will offer a new home to around 1,000 Bremen residents of all ages and from different social classes and cultures. In close cooperation with the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen, the Bremer Heimstiftung, as the owner of the site, is therefore not only working on new living space. Social institutions, clubs and cultural institutions will also enrich the "Ellener Hof Foundation Village" in the future. In addition, the partners are focusing on attractive green spaces. The respectful treatment of the valuable stock of trees, bushes and vegetation on the property is the basis and an integral part of all planning. Construction began on 7.9.2018. Planned completion: 2025(?)
06844 Dessau-Roßlau: New building of the Federal Environmental Agency. Planning: sauerbruch & hutton architects. Dessau has been the headquarters of the Federal Environment Agency since 2005. Around 900 of the approximately 1,500 employees work here in a modern office building constructed according to ecological standards. Awarded the German Seal of Approval for Sustainable Building in Gold in 2009. The seal of quality awarded by the Federal Ministry of Building and the German Sustainable Building Council honors exemplary new administrative and office buildings.
D - 14055 Berlin-Charlottenburg: 665 units as a new housing estate with two-, three- and four-room flats. Also detached houses, shops, doctors' surgeries and a day care centre. Mix of rented and owner-occupied flats.
The contract was signed on 14 March 2018 after 5 years of negotiations. The company expects construction to start at the end of 2019 and the final construction phase could be completed in 2025.
Low-energy house standard, CHP, photovoltaic system, sustainable mobility concept with bicycle parking spaces outside the front doors and e-bikes, electric cars in the car-sharing fleet. Neighbourhood with Cradle to Cradle certification and healthy building materials, green roof.
NL - Rotterdam: the cube or tree house housing estate with 38 apartments was designed by architect Piet Blom and has become an architectural classic. The floor area without trunk is approximately 100 m², a cube has an edge length of 7.5 meters. The outer walls of the apartments were built using a wooden skeleton construction made of pine wood, the supporting structure and the floor slabs are made of in-situ concrete. Completion: 1984
01326 Dresden-Pillnitz: 9 residential units, 40 residents. Ecological apartment buildings according to passive house standard. Architectural partnership Reiter and Rentzsch, Dresden. Occupation: 2001