Cluster apartments in Berlin as a future living model
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2020
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Abstract
"Berlin is attractive for its career and study opportunities, many green spaces, mobility, leisure, and cultural facilities. The majority of Germany's citizens still want to live in the city. However, living space capacities are becoming rare and rent prices are increasing. The fact that merely 15.6% of Berliners own a condominium reveals that only a small population can afford property (Investitionsbank Berlin, 2019). The housing market has hardly adapted to demographic changes in recent years, including an aging society and a shift away from the nuclear family household structure. Most of Berlin's inhabitants live on their own. Of a total of 2,026,300 households in Berlin, there are 1,0719,12 single-occupant households (Investitionsbank Berlin, 2019). Due to the lack of alternative housing forms and the desire to design something according to individual ideas, initiative projects evolved. These projects were mostly realized in cooperatives. Group-initiatives develop personal responsibilities and identification with the place. Building communities often accept collective liability for spaces beyond their individual living spaces. This creates lively neighbourhoods that can offer new opportunities to all residents (Ring, 2013). A good example is cluster apartments. This special form of housing could be considered as a housing concept for Berlin. A cluster apartment is an assembly of living units in a communal flat. It combines the advantages of private living with those of a shared accommodation Wohngemeinschaft (WG). These flats consist of several private residential units with one or more rooms, including a private bathroom and optionally a kitchenette. Additional communal areas consist of one or more living areas, cooking and dining areas, and bathroom as well as guest rooms for flexible usage. Each cluster apartment is an experiment in terms of planning, organizing, and building. The current projects are testing alternative approaches and transforming living models, experiences future projects can profit from. However, as these projects are at an early stage of development, there is little long-term experience and little evaluating research at this time (Prytula et al., 2019). Therefore, it is the aim of this bachelor's thesis to investigate how cluster apartments correspond to the current and future economic and ecological needs of Berlin's inhabitants. Beyond that, this thesis will examine how the interiors of cluster apartment spaces can be designed both conceptually and spatially to contribute quality living spaces in Berlin."