Courtyard Block
Living in Berlin - Rethinking Europa City
MA Projekt, UdK - Winter 2018 Berlin
In collaboration with Adolfo Del Valle Neira, Lise Monnier
From Studio Jean-Philippe Vassal
Elements of the dense 19th century Berlin Block, such as the subdivision of plots and buildings, the diversity of courtyard use and the central building, are reworked to address the deficiencies of the perimeter blocks employed by a woefully low dense masterplan for a high dense cityscape.
The aim was to work, not just within an offset perimeter of the block, but across the whole parcel as such, in an effort to create more mass from a larger diversity of housing types. The qualities of light, of generous interior space, adjoined to shared outside circulation, blurring the shared and private, and a more nuanced distribution of units was meant to break the typical model of the Europa City block.
