In 2013 Jan Pietje Witt (AADipl 1999) of Studio WITT teamed up with a multi-disciplinary team of architects, engineers and consultants to jointly design a project of sustainable townhouses in Hamburg that meet the plus-energy building standard.

After winning the architectural competition to design 42 flats together with M&O and MoRe architects, the project was completed in 2019 and has since won both the first prizes of ‘Bundespreis Umwelt & Bauen’ from the German Ministry of Housing and the KFW Award 2020.

The buildings have passive house insulation and are heated and cooled with geothermal energy. The electricity for the geothermal probes is covered by a biogas CHP and PV on the green roof. Brick is combined with precast concrete elements, metal panels and stone to create a heterogeneous cityscape rather than a homogeneous whole. The townhouses, like the adjoining streets from the Wilhelminian era, are accessed via private front gardens behind a green strip of landscape where neighbors can meet to chat, play and exchange ideas.

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