Inselquartier is the winning entry for a competition in Stuttgart in the framework of IBA’27. The competition was organized to transform a former industrial site into an urban area: mixed and lively.
The proposal consists of 7 blocks on a promising location in Untertürkheim that is flanked on two sides by the river Neckar.
In total 136 dwellings are planned in relatively simple and thus relatively affordable structures. By grouping the required innovative typologies into coherent urban blocks of different sizes and heights each building will have distinct ‘personality; the intrinsic organizational logic of dimensions, circulation and shared space leads to ‘character’.
The blocks together will form a diverse urban setting with courtyards of different sizes, an accommodative checkerboard if you like, a responsive, porous network of connected open spaces, both generous and intimate.
The former office building of Daimler was actually nominated for demolition. But we think it is worthwhile investigating if it can be transformed into a residential structure. It could perhaps provide the spacious and relatively cheap ‘shelf’ for a collection of experimental housing types and new ways to live together.