M17 Building / zanderroth

closed

In this context, m17 is both a facilitator and conciliator, repairing the urban fabric. It is an avant-corps at the end of a block, a residential building with a commercial ground floor. It hews to the historical street line with one perforated stone facade in theBerlintradition while offering a bridge to the landmark-protected Plattenbauten with its radically modern frontal facade. It is an attempt to continue building at a site of negation.Solar shades enable lower energy costs in winter, and the storage capacity of the mass-wall construction ensures a pleasant indoor climate in transitional seasons. Floorplans follow the urban design: living rooms face the frontal facade, while smaller rooms run along the perforated facade.Lightweight concrete is the material of its stone facade. One wall, one material. The concrete is insulating and load-bearing; nothing is hung or clad in front of it. The stone solidity functions as both relief and insulation, while the timber-frame windows offer light, warmth, and visibility—or not if desired.Text description provided by the architects.Situated between Alexanderplatz and Schillingstrasse, between East German Plattenbauten and the Kino International, and between Karl-Marx-Allee and a historic residential quarter, Magazinstrasse is a product ofBerlin’s urban history. Catercorner to the authoritarian grid used for planning a socialist capital, the street juxtaposes seemingly irreconcilable historical buildings from Berlin’s Gründerzeit era against Soviet prefab.