Quality that you can afford

The students in the university city of Bielefeld need high-quality, affordable living space. This residence hall packed maximum living space onto a small lot, while remaining casual and airy thanks to the design of the façade.

"We must imagine which material would ultimately do the job and how its surface and colour would evolve against the backdrop of light, joints and processing." - Rübsamen Partner Architekten BDA

Affordable accommodations of the highest quality

Students are not a very financially strong target group. And so providing affordable accommodations is more of a social endeavour than a profitable business move. Bielefeld is a university city in northwestern Germany where about 23,000 students live every year. Temporary residents need affordable, furnished living space that also makes possible a high quality of life.

This type of living space has now been built in the north of the city, about 10 minutes by bicycle from the University of Bielefeld, in a quiet residential area. The available construction site is situated in an area of single-family homes and flat blocks, bringing with it strict urban development requirements for the architects. The facility was to be built on a limited lot of 7,000 m2. And so a very compact structure was created, consisting of five different buildings with 163 barrier-free residential units for 235 students.

To keep the structures from becoming too weighty, the architects developed a special design concept for façades and open space: Intervening spaces between the individual buildings and details on the façade lighten up the overall appearance.

Interplay of light and shadows

The design is based on a bright reddish brickwork with a hand-made look. In the opinion of the architect Boris Biskamp, finding the correct construction material for project like this was the essential task: “We must imagine which material would ultimately do the job and how its surface and colour would evolve against the backdrop of light, joints and processing.”

Together with the builder, they decided on the Terca water-struck brick Moran from Wienerberger. Red-orange pastel shades with white slurry were chosen for the rough, rustic-looking brick, which in combination with brightened and darkened joint areas makes the façade look lightweight and effortless.

The interplay on the façade of open, closed and ornamented surfaces varies its appearance and softens the blocky volumes of the buildings, which became necessary due to the compact layout. The details and texturing on the façade create atmosphere and help integrate the buildings into their surroundings.