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Architects: NEUME
- Area: 970 m²
- Year: 2022
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Photographs:Daisuke Hirabayashi
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Manufacturers: Terrabloc
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Architecture and Design: Team Neume
Text description provided by the architects. Living is an essential part and basic need of human beings. The living conditions in the form of a dwelling should, therefore, be as pleasant as possible, providing protection from the harshness of nature and ideally serving as a haven from the hectic moments of urban life. The apartment should be easy to use and beautiful, allowing for identification and offering room for development.
Urbanistically and architecturally, the residential building should be well thought out and address the most essential human needs through the economical use of resources. It should provide security on the outside while emitting an appealing atmosphere on the inside. Through the deliberate staging of materials, a vision should emerge of how resources can be used sustainably for the best benefit of the inhabitants in the future. Cooperative housing models are one way to bring together people who want to live and work together, and who wish to counteract the anonymity of the city with a sense of community and solidarity.
Dirty Harry. In the St. Johann neighborhood of Basel, located in the district of Lysbüchel near the French border, the Habitat Foundation, purchased a former warehouse area of a trading company, while also leasing parts of it for construction. In which the architects of the building are involved as initiators, planners, and residents as part of a cooperative. The "Dirty Harry" residential building is located in an urban block with a free inner courtyard. Coming from the city center, the facade is designed with raw materials like clay bricks, concrete, and wooden roller shutters.
A four-story-high bay window turns towards the arriving visitors with a slight turn and creates an inviting entrance. Behind this appearance lies not only an urban gesture that distinguishes this building within the block perimeter. More than a well-considered facade design, it is a pronounced expression of a sophisticated floor plan that meets the demands of contemporary living space. As one approaches the building and follows the rising sidewalk, one passes a low, thick concrete wall that belonged to the former inventory of a warehouse. Precisely placed cuts, to maintain access to the entrance and a comfortable height as a boundary marker, have created cut surfaces in addition to the patinated concrete surfaces, which make the historical layering of the site apparent.
To the street side, the residential building has seven stories, and due to the difference in terrain level, it has eight stories facing the courtyard. The vertical order of the facade is determined by the strictly arranged high-rectangular windows, which gain even more vertical emphasis from the aluminum guide rails. The facade is loosened up by the beautiful large wooden frame windows and the lively color of the clay bricks used for the non-load-bearing double-shell walls.
In total, eleven apartments are housed on five regular floors and a recessed top floor, which can contain between 2.5 and 4.5 rooms depending on their arrangement via switching rooms. In addition, the basement level contains storage rooms and a laundry room, while the top floor includes a commercial kitchen for shared or rental use, a guest room, and a covered rooftop terrace. The building core, stairwell, and ceilings are made of exposed concrete, which serves as the horizontal dividing element of the facade.
The bay windows facing the street and courtyard are part of a space layer that runs through all floors, also housing the building's circulation system. The slight 10-degree twist from the two firewalls creates unexpected spatial arrangements within the apartments. Upon entering the apartment and looking towards the balconies, one does not realize that they are looking through the kitchen. It is these perspective gems and spatial trickery that make living here enjoyable.
The levels of the apartments that form the boundaries between rooms are made up of hard concrete, screed, and clay brick surfaces. Light birchwood surfaces act as an antidote to this hardness. These full-height surfaces, slightly offset from the ceiling and floor, are used as room dividers, doors, or even form entire rooms. All installations are built-in, and the enclosed space is cleverly utilized, leaving no space wasted. The eye wanders undisturbed over concrete and wood surfaces towards the exterior walls and windows, towards the light.
