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Dutch firm MVRDV, in conjunction with the Frankfurt-based AS+P Albert Speer and Partner (son of the famed Nazi architect of the same name), and the Stuttgart-based haas cook zemmrich STUDIO 2050, has unveiled plans for an ambitious, highly whimsical, 41-hectare residential neighbourhood, to be carved out of a former US Army Base located on the outskirts of Mannheim, Germany. Designed to include an architectural spelling of the word "HOME," the project will incorporate a mix of several residential and public buildings, four of which will be used to spell out H-O-M-E, with each one forming a separate letter.
In order to breathe new life into the defunct base and its monotonous rows of empty barracks (the site was vacated in 2011), all but a small handful of structures will be demolished to make way for the new development. The former chapel and a selection of barracks structures will be retained throughout to add some historic context and to reduce the project's carbon footprint through adaptive reuse.
Centred around The Green Hill, what will amount to a human-scale Hobbiton will contain remnants of several former barracks buildings, while the top of the hill and public green space will provide panoramic views of the HOME development and surroundings.
Lead architect MVRDV will design the 12,380-square-metre, 120-unit "O" tower and the 17,890-square-metre, 185-unit, "M" tower, while AS+P Albert Speer and Partner will design the "E" tower, and haas cook zemmrich STUDIO 2050 will design the "H" tower. While keen observers will be quick to point out that perhaps "HAUS" or "HEIM" might be more apt, given the development's German locale, "HOME" has been selected instead, most likely a nod to both English's international appeal, and to the fact that the former US Army Base, with streets such as Washington Street and Jefferson Street, would have been an English-speaking zone during its lifetime.
Reimagined as a lively affordable housing village, HOME will soon become one of the most whimsical corners of Mannheim. The historic German trade city's roots go back as far as 1606, making this development plan only the latest in its 400-year history.
SkyriseCities will be sure to return to this project as progress continues. For more information, check out the associated Database file and Forum thread, and as always, feel free to join the conversation in the comments section below.
