Housing
State competition for new hall of residence decided
Minister Scharrenbach: A win for Aachen as a university location - new affordable housing for students is being built as part of the 2024 state competition
Creating more affordable housing for students in Aachen and strengthening North Rhine-Westphalia as a university location through innovative construction is the aim of the State Competition 2024. The winners of the competition have now been announced. Under the motto “Einfach Bauen: Compaction of a student housing complex in Aachen-Mitte”, plans were sought that would simply and sustainably redensify and expand a student housing complex in Aachen's city center. The aim is to create a total of around 120 living spaces for students as well as communal and ancillary areas. 24 teams from the fields of architecture and landscape planning took part in the competition with their designs. An independent jury discussed all the competition entries submitted and selected the best work.
The prize money totaling 107,000 euros is divided into three prizes and three commendations:
- First prize:
Aretz Dürr Architektur BDA PartmbB, Cologne (building planning) with Lill + Sparla Landschaftsarchitekten Part mbB, Cologne (open space planning) - Second prize:
BHSF Architekten GmbH, Zurich [subcontractor: SIMA | BREER GmbH (open space planning)] - Third prize:
Konrath-Tebartz und Wennemar Architekten PartmbB, Düsseldorf [Subcontractor: studio grüngrau GmbH (open space planning)] - Recognition:
SMAQ Architektur und Stadt GmbH, Berlin [Subcontractor: nsp Landschaftsarchitekten Stadtplaner PartGmbB (open space planning)] - Recognition:
kister scheithauer gross architekten und stadtplaner GmbH, Cologne [Subcontractor: Rehwaldt Landschaftsarchitekten (open space planning)] - Recognition:
H2R Architekten und Stadtplaner PartG mbB, Munich [Subcontractor: raum + zeit Landschaftsarchitektur Stadtplanung Tobias Nowak und Yvonne Hammes PartG mbB (open space planning)
Ina Scharrenbach, Minister for Home Affairs, Municipal Affairs, Building and Digitization of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia: “How can a student housing complex in one of the most sought-after student cities in Germany be redensified in a simple and sensible way? This was no easy task in this year's state competition, but it was nevertheless mastered with flying colors. Congratulations to the prizewinners and many thanks to everyone who took part in this year's state competition: Many great solution ideas have emerged for a major construction task.”
The 2024 state competition is organized by the Ministry of Regional Identity, Communities and Local Government, Building and Digitalization of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia together with Studierendenwerk Aachen, the City of Aachen and the Chamber of Architects of North Rhine-Westphalia.
Ernst Uhing, President of the Chamber of Architects of North Rhine-Westphalia: “The Aachen state competition has developed solutions for a major challenge in our university cities: providing affordable housing for students. At the same time, the competition entries show what inner-city redensification and resource-saving, simple and sustainable planning and construction can look like. A regulated competition procedure is the right method of choice here, as it allows the best solution to be found for the location and the task at hand from a large number of designs.”
Sebastian Böstel, Managing Director of Studierendenwerk Aachen: “We student unions have set ourselves the goal of designing modern, resource-efficient living space that meets the needs of young people today. We want lively residential areas for students that not only meet functional requirements, but also promote a sense of community and social interaction. I am therefore delighted that the winning designs from the competition have created the basis for such a project in Aachen's city center. I am convinced that the new hall of residence in Rochusstraße will offer significant added value both for the city and for Aachen as a university location. My heartfelt thanks go to a very committed jury of experts as well as the organizers, the Chamber of Architects of North Rhine-Westphalia and the Ministry of Homeland, Municipal Affairs, Building and Digitization of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia."
Frauke Burgdorff, City Councillor for Urban Development, Construction and Mobility: “Two thirds of the entries relied on existing buildings and boldly took on the task of ‘simply building’. The work of the first prize winners is incredibly precise and also uses the existing resources to continue building. All the better that they are relatively young architects trained in Aachen!”
The award winners will be officially honored in January 2025. All submitted works will be on public display in the auditorium of Aachen University of Applied Sciences at Bayernallee 11 from 3 February to 14 February 2024. The exhibition is open from Monday to Friday between 8 a.m. and 7 p.m.
Background:
The jury for the State Competition 2024 is made up of professionally qualified and expert judges:
- Prof. Dr. Volker Droste, architect, Oldenburg
- Dr. Felix Hoepner, architect, Ministry of Homeland, Municipal Affairs, Building and Digitization of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia
- Rebekka Junge, landscape architect, Bochum
- Karin Schmid, architect and urban planner, Munich
- Ernst Uhing, Architect, President of the Chamber of Architects of North Rhine-Westphalia
- Sebastian Böstel, Managing Director of Studierendenwerk Aachen
- Frauke Burgdorff, City Planning Councillor of the City of Aachen
- Johannes Hucke, Alliance 90/The Greens, Chairman of the Planning Committee of the City of Aachen
- Jannik Hellenkamp, Student, Deputy Chairman of the Administrative Board of Studierendenwerk Aachen
The motto of the 2024 national competition, “Einfach Bauen”, refers to the life cycle and should include building operation, maintenance and repair. Simple building cannot be “worked through” like a certification system, for example; rather, it is about an attitude that is reflected in the architecture. This applies to the design of the building as well as the choice of materials and the technical fittings.
The Ministry of Regional Identity, Communities and Local Government, Building and Digitalization of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia has been holding regular state competitions at different locations for many years. The competitions are held in cooperation with the North Rhine-Westphalia Chamber of Architects and partners from the field. They make an important contribution to planning and building culture in North Rhine-Westphalia and provide alternative solutions and transferable impulses for new forms of housing and innovative construction methods in subsidized housing construction.