Editorial 3.2022

The demand for sun, air and light for healthy apartments was a justified desire of the modern age and a reaction to the dark rear courtyards seen in large cities of the early 20th century. Nowadays, planners strive to avoid pure bedroom communities and to create lively residential districts based on mixed use. Cooperative associations have been true trailblazers here with their communal spaces, shops and cultural offers. In this issue, we introduce the Zollhaus in Zurich cooperative residential building by Enzmann Fischer, a complex that stands near the city’s main railway station and is directly by the rails. The La Balma co-op in Barcelona by Lacol occupies a previously undeveloped lot in the middle of the city. VlaySteeruwitz’ subsidized flats in Neu-Ulm, and Sophie Delhay’s projects in Dijon, also include communal areas. The privately funded residential buildings by Rundzwei in Berlin and Mars in Paris represent urban densification projects that either fill a vacant lot or give new life to a dreary-looking back yard.

Find out more in this editorial podcast and in Detail 3.2022 or in our databank Detail Inspiration.