In the district of Hohenschönhausen in Berlin, a new residential complex is being built by HOWOGE with 450 rental units. Of the nine building blocks, eight are planned in timber and timber hybrid construction. One building section is planned with exterior walls made of infralightweight concrete in fully precast construction.
The project was preceded by a research project funded by the Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt (German Federal Environmental Foundation) with the participation of the TU Berlin and Howoge. Solutions for large-format precast walls made of infralightweight concrete were investigated. The design envisages a staggered structure that is rather closed on the side facing the railroad, which is exposed to noise, but has a permeable frame structure on the other side facing the residential area. The continuous balcony strips and the use of wood as a building material are characteristic. The majority of the load-bearing structure consists of timber hybrid ceilings, which rest on timber columns and load-bearing walls made of timber and concrete. A modular load-bearing grid with a high degree of repetition is chosen for each floor. The exterior facade is a suspended timber clad construction. In the special building section, all exterior walls are monolithically made of infra-lightweight concrete. Based on the results of the preceding research project, a fully precast construction method is used here, in which room-height wall elements including the cantilevered balcony slabs are prefabricated in one piece and transported to the construction site. During the planning phase, special attention was paid to efficient use of panels and the reduction of their types. In this way, a lively facade appearance is created with a high degree of repetition.
