Berlin, Germany - 2015
Status: Existing
The Baugruppen—German for “building groups”—is one model for constructing housing in this future of architect-led, collectively funded community-based living. R50 Baugruppen project embodies a fantastic wish for cohousing to ease some of the problems of the housing market.
Nineteen households built the building together, the modern way: Funds were pooled for construction and the purchase of the plot, and participatory planning catalyzed a comprehensive vision, from communal space to window fittings. The group and its architects, a collaboration between ifau with Jesko Fezer and Heide & von Beckerath.
The Baugruppen is “a solution for the moment, when the city is not acting as it should,” says R50 resident Florian Zeyfang. The bank and project manager structured a package of financing by pooling the individual mortgages for the units of future residents that would fund all the phases of construction. This unusual method of financing was made possible by specialized programs offered by Nürnberg’s UmweltBank, the self-styled “greenest” bank in the economic ecology of Europe’s financial leader. The invisible hands of the market can strum a sitar, if need be.
Per square meter, the apartments in R50 cost €2150 ($2450), and, with public space costs factored in, €2350 ($2678). The median purchase price for simply buying an apartment in Kreuzberg was €2950/square meter in 2013, according to data from commercial real estate company CBRE. R50 is a comparative bargain.
