Imagine studying in the heart of Europe while living a rich social life, feeling connected to the environment and local history: This is what the newly opened buildings of Bard College Berlin offers. Located in the leafy Pankow neighbourhood of the German city, adjacent to Intelligenzberg Park, the German-American liberal arts college has collaborated with development and project management firm DBI Projects and New-York-based architecture and interiors firm Civilian for its student residences.
The 39 apartments situated on the upper floors — home to 120 students — and the café, lounge and study areas on the ground floor are nestled in two twin buildings aesthetically influenced by the Berlin design scene.
Set perpendicularly on a corner lot, the arrangement of buildings creates a courtyard that becomes an informal social hub while incorporating all rainwater runoff into a series of gardens with drought-hardy indigenous perennial plants.
The objective of this project was to design “a dynamic new gathering place that facilitates the exchange of ideas on campus”, says Civilian’s principal and co-founder Nicko Elliott. “Our goal was to create a range of convivial public lounges across both buildings for individual study and collaboration while designing flexible private living spaces for maximum comfort and personalization.”
The Civilian team was inspired by Berlin’s legacy of developing the progressive housing estate during the Weimar era (1919-1933), as well as German architect and urban planner Bruno Taut and the Metropolis-era masonry expressionist architecture of the 1920s. The 1970s Neo Bauhaus architecture of the surrounding neighbourhood was also one of the influences for this project.
From there, the designers reinvented contemporary communal living and introduced bright colours in the interior spaces. Made with minimally processed and sustainably harvested materials, the refinished, vintage and custom furniture — which references the pared-down utility of 1920s pieces by Dutch designers Gerrit Rietveld and Ko Verzuu, as well as artists Donald Judd and Andrea Zittel — perfectly combine.
Comprised of several study nooks, the public areas foster student learning and social exchange while the multifunctional private spaces optimise comfort and storage.
“The project shows that functional student housing can tackle sustainability concerns, be aesthetically advanced and act as a community and social hub all at once”, says Taun Toay, managing director of Bard College Berlin. “Designed with a nod to both Bauhaus and the ‘Kreuzberg brick’ in their modern facades, these highly energy-efficient units aim to honour the past while fully incorporating today’s environmental requirements.”
Chongqing is a sprawling municipality at the confluence of the Yangtze and Jialing rivers in southwestern China. The metropolis covers an area the size of Austria – 31,816 square miles (82,403 square km) – and is crisscrossed by folds of mountain ranges, valleys, gorges and caves. Chongqing is China’s most populous municipality, with about 32 million people living across its 26 districts, eight counties and four autonomous counties.
Styling by Bek Sheppard. Photography by James Geer.
The idea of living in a spacious loft in the city is something most of us would’ve dreamed of. I, for one, have definitely lusted over the idea of residing somewhere centrally located while enjoying an abundance of open living space with an edge. Yet, urban warehouse apartments, as appealing as they sound, come with an unavoidable set of challenges – from navigating heritage regulations, interior shells often left with dodgy smears of time and bad “design” decisions, a slew of issues related to structural integrity, acoustics and so forth. It takes a special kind of client to fall in love with a space riddled with problems, and see nothing but its potential, rather than focusing on the many obstacles to overcome.
This was certainly the case with this special Melbourne laneway home that occupies an entire ground floor of a 1907 warehouse built by Sir John Monash — an advocate of reinforced concrete, whose now heritage-listed building is considered a pioneering exploration of off-form concrete.
The owners, a professional couple – with backgrounds in fashion and property development — originally rented an apartment in the same building where they could “have a bit of fun” while waiting for their family home renovation in Windsor. However, they immediately realised this was their dream project, and immediately neglected the inner-city suburban home to focus their efforts on securing a whole floor in the CBD building.
Working in close collaboration with the local architecture, interiors and landscape design practice, O’Connor and Houle, whom the couple worked with previously on several projects, give rise to a special city abode that celebrates the building history while accommodating more than meets the eye.
The original concrete structure was completely concealed by plasterboard with partitions extended to the ceilings. Spaces were generic, enclosed and devoid of natural light, and the bedrooms were noisy, particularly at night during waste collection times. The artificial light from nearby bars and restaurants also made restful sleep impossible. The owners were seeking a combination of spaces that felt open, light, quiet and refreshing, and very much an antithesis of the inner-city context and the pace, noise and bustle of the city.
O’Connor and Houle’s conceptual aim was to expose and preserve the heritage concrete structure. They set a datum above which partitions are glazed, revealing the historic expanse of beams, columns and slabs of the warehouse. Principally, two ‘new’ materials were introduced in the palette – Canadian Rock Maple and steel glazing bar – chosen for their contrast to the rough and robust nature of the concrete.
The new interior distinctly contrasts the robust structural shell, so the beauty of the early off-form concrete form plays an important role in the daily aesthetic experience. The fitout also deals with all the unpleasant aspects of the urban context — excessive noise, lack of natural light, bad odours and stale air.
To combat the intrusion of nighttime noise, a garden atrium wraps around the interior, with three layers of glass in various thicknesses filtering and counteracting various sound frequencies. The internal space is now silent at 4 am while a rubbish truck upturns industrial bins full of glass outside.
A fresh and serene interior palette creates an atmosphere of calm, further illuminated with light fittings that up-light the concrete, featuring adjustable colour-temperature LED lights that cunningly mimic external light conditions.
Spatially, in accordance with client brief, this home accommodates three bedrooms, three and a half bathrooms, two study spaces, a media space, a yoga space, a child’s play area, two dining and two livings spaces, a commercial kitchen, an outdoor living area and a separate office suite with a dedicated kitchen, bathroom and entry.
Having completely changed the way the clients live, this Melbourne warehouse is not only undeniably beautiful, all spaces within are well lit, calm and quiet, with purified and odourless fresh air replenished constantly. A tranquil urban oasis that still very much feels intimately connected to the city.