Mad Arkitekter and Mud Landscape Architects, have won the international competition to design a vertical city quarter in Kreuzberg, Berlin. Selected from 14 submissions of well-known European architecture firms taking part in the contest, the proposal re-interprets the district in a vertical configuration. Set to be 98 meters high, with 29 floors, the Woho project will become Germany's tallest three-hybrid construction, once completed.
Centered on climate and social sustainability, the Woho project is a high-rise building with a diverse program and a distinct social profile. Designed as a small district in itself, the building is located in Kreuzberg, a central, diverse, and unconventional district in the German capital. Reflecting these spatial qualities, Mad Arkitekter designed a proposal that re-interprets the typical Kreuzberg quarter, in a vertical configuration. Selected out of 14 offices, Mad Arkitekter impressed the jury with its design that fits into the urban context and at the same time solves the requirements of the special WoHo program.
Focused on residents, users, and neighborhoods, the wooden intervention generates various urban spaces, connected to surrounding parks and streets, which together with an actively programmed ground floor invites the city in. Moreover, the final program will be further developed in close collaboration with the developer, district, and stakeholders in a participatory process.
Our competition proposal is a utility building where residents, users, and neighborhoods are in focus. By breaking up the building into several smaller volumes with different heights, the building is adapted to the neighboring buildings and existing streets, and creates a recognizable scale, while at the same time building high. -- Mad Arkitekter.
Developed by UTB Projektmanagement GmbH, the structure consisting of four individual volumes, stacked vertically, takes on an exterior public staircase that connects the city floor to the roof terraces. Housing a multitude of functions, the project will include housing collectives, apartments - rental, social housing, student housing and freehold housing, kindergarten, cultural school, bakery, workshop, industry, and several publicly accessible areas both outside and inside the building.
Berlin is an exciting city and has been an important source of inspiration for us as architects and offices. […] When we at Mad Architects develop urban projects, we have two main focuses; to create good and sustainable city life, and room for a good everyday life for users and residents. Here we have proposed a utility building where the residents, users, and neighbors will be in focus. It has been important to create something that is perceived as recognizable to people, despite unfamiliar heights and volumes in this area. -- Jonny Klokk, architect and responsible partner in Mad Arkitekter.
The Woho project
- Floor Space: 18,000 square meters
- Program: 25% commercial/ 60% apartments, 1/3 of which are rent-linked, privately financed, and owned/ Forms of housing for social organizations, dementia patients, and student studios
- Team: Jonny Klokk, Martina Ellsel, Emil Pira, Kirsten Welschemeyer, Donatas Grinius, Lasse Lyhne-Hansen, Stian Vestly Holte, Victoria Gullestad, Elise Berg Tichy, Mud: Niklas Mayr, Elin Henricson
