Gap filler of the noble kind

The thought of Hamburg's Rotherbaum district triggers associations with white, listed villas, quiet streets with old trees and direct proximity to the Außenalster lake. And this is no coincidence, as it is not only the district with the fifth largest university in Germany, but also one of the wealthiest and most sought-after in the Hanseatic city. After demolishing an existing building in the street called Fontenay, the gap was filled with the construction of two new four-storey townhouses complete with staggered storeys and underground parking.

Project

New construction of 21 condominiums

Client

BV Fontenay 1a/b GmbH

Service

5-8 HOAI

Area

3.200 qm GFA

Location

Fontenay in Hamburg, Rotherbaum

Photography

Martin Lukas Kim

Looks like two but is one

Although the development plan called for an elongated building, the original small-scale structure of the neighbourhood was still to be taken up. For this reason, the building was conceived as a coherent block, but divided along the façade by loggias, oriels and balconies, thus becoming two individual townhouses in purely visual terms. The north-south orientation of the site was optimal for this building project: the bedrooms of the 21 flats all face north towards the quiet inner courtyard and the living rooms face south towards the street.

Maximum View

The entire structure was equipped with large window elements that can be darkened via an external sun and privacy screen. The flats on the staggered storey have balconies all around, which are accessed via the large panorama windows with sliding elements. And this component is not an off-the-shelf product either: due to the heavy weight of the glass panes, a special substructure had to be developed in order to be able to close and open the sliding glass doors safely and effortlessly.