Studio FGGH

Europan 17 Munich - METROpolis, 1st prize

The design aims to combine urban uses with those of the city logistic periphery to form a mixed urban neighborhood. The previous structure of the Europark district - an area designed in scale and typology for the motorized transport - is transformed by stacking the logistic halls vertically and increasing the density along Maria-Probst-Strasse. Behind this dense logistical zone one continues toward a pedestrian friendly area at the inner part of the district, with soft mobility and different offers of green areas. As a result of the structure, a district with urban density, mixed use and scale enables the symbiosis of very diversified requirements.

The examination of the five E17 themes formed the starting point for the design. They were translated into a series of guiding principles along which the neighborhood is to be developed. The guiding principle „MIXING USES“
enables a city of short distances and saving of CO2 emissions in the mobility sector. Different sizes of the building plots form the base for a range of uses: warehouses, industrial halls, workshops, offices, shops, apartments, and public buildings - such as a school and a library - can be accommodated in the quarter.

Unsealed soils and green roofs are the impetus for a quarter designed according to the „SPONGE
CITY“ model. Large warehouses are stacked vertically and therefore enable to unseal and green the free ground as well as increasing the number of trees. Instead of the previous “asphalt desert“, the permeable soils are thus able to store rainwater and give it off as evaporative coolness to the surrounding area - where targeted shady zones are formed by an increase in the tree population and corresponding seating.

According to the guiding principle „FORM FOLLOWS SUN“, solar inputs in winter are to be used by the targeted placement of the building structures and the formation of winter gardens,while they enable shading in summer. As a design principle, an identity-creating architectural language will be developed in the quarter with a mobile sunshade and greened facades from thermal requirements.

With regard to the construction of the buildings, we propose the guiding principle „RE-USE, RECYCLE OR REGROWABLE“. The existing halls should therefore be preserved as far as possible. At the same time, the neighborhood should allow for people-oriented traffic, as well as unsealing. This conflict of objectives is resolved by „cutting up“ or deconstructing the halls at specifically selected points in order to then densify them vertically. This will be achieved by adding several stories to the existing halls and by constructing new buildings along Maria-Probst-Strasse. For this purpose, existing building components are to be used - or (if not possible) a construction made of wood is to be resorted to.

Verwendung von natürlichen Materialien

Re-use of Materials from the existing buildings

Re-purposing of exiting halls

Bassersdorf (CH) competition entry

multi-family housing

Eschenbach Gemeindehaus competition entry
in collaboration with Iva Kliman and Uberto Carignani

Wohnen am Walkeweg competition entry

Europan 16 competition entry
Co-house Landshut
Student housing in a former prison

Europan 16 competition entry
La réinvention d’un territoire par la nature. Carouge

Consultation by Yannick Schauwecker

  Marta Fernández Cortés, Daniel Grenz, Anna Grimm and Benedikt Herz
  studied at the Universities of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology,
  Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya, Bartlett School of Architecture
  and TU Munich. During and after their studies, they gained
  experience in renowned planning offices in Berlin, Zurich, Basel, Stuttgart,
  Munich and Barcelona.

  They now work successfully together as Studio FGGH
  and complement each other in their respective specialties of architecture,
  urban planning and landscape architecture.

Studio FGGH is based in Berlin, Zurich and Karlsruhe.