Our master plan for Berlin’s historic borough of Koepenick sought to transform an abandoned industrial district into a vibrant, mixed-use neighborhood. Commissioned by a local affiliate of the nonprofit organization Metro-IAF and the City of Berlin, our plan proposed over 3 million square feet of residential units on what had been a desolate site of derelict factories where precast concrete slabs for Soviet-style housing were manufactured after World War II.
Instead of isolated towers, we designed an urban sequence of medium-rise buildings that mix market-rate and affordable housing with an emphasis on refugee accommodation. A retail corridor would be formed by a new, tree-lined boulevard extending from the west side of the site to the Dahme River. A new waterway was planned to connect community facilities at the center of the site to the existing Teltow Canal. Located in a greensward, the proposed community buildings included a school, daycare center, community center and multi-faith place of worship.