Berlin's largest passive house project in the starting blocks

Draft planning for the Möckernkiez model project in Berlin-Kreuzberg begins in April. Drees & Sommer will undertake project control for the new city district.

The Möckernkiez model project is in the starting blocks. Planning for the project - in accordance with the Berlin demographic concept and the European Concept for Accessibility - is scheduled to start in April. The work will be undertaken by a team of five architectural firms selected as the result of an architectural competition: Baumschlager Eberle Berlin GmbH, Baufrösche Architekten und Stadtplaner GmbH, who also worked on the urban planning draft for Möckernkiez, Rolf Disch SolarArchitektur, roedig.schop Architekten GbR and Schulte-Frohlinde Architekten. Drees & Sommer Berlin will undertake project control for the # 70 million project. Drees & Sommer was already examining and assessing possible energy concepts during the lead-up to the architectural competition.

The Möckernkiez project is conceived to allow intergenerational ecological living in a disabled-friendly environment. It is being built on a 30,000 square meter site at the intersection of Yorckstrasse and Möckernstrasse in Berlin-Kreuzberg. It is adjacent to the Gleisdreieck Park. 400 homes will be built on this site as well as some 7,000 square meters of commercial space, which will be made available for neighborhood services. The homes will be built to passive house standards and will need almost no energy for heating. This requires optimal thermal insulation of the building and controlled ventilation of living space with heat recovery. The maximum heating energy requirement of a passive house is 15 kWh - which corresponds to 1.5 liters of heating oil - per square meter per annum.

"The Möckernkiez project is the ideal implementation of sustainable urban development. The combination of passive house design, the use of renewable energy sources, and the holistic planning approach - not only to technical features but also to sociocultural aspects - make this project so special. Furthermore, the cooperative's participation model offers members the opportunity to be involved in the planning and construction process. But the overall concept is also exemplary: The systematic design of the entire project to be disabled-friendly plus the fact that the district will be car-free make the project equally attractive for people of all ages," says Oliver Beck, Managing Director of Drees & Sommer Berlin. The application for building approval for the Möckernkiez project will be submitted in autumn 2011, allowing construction work to begin in spring 2012. The project is scheduled to be completed in autumn 2013.

The Möckernkiez project is the result of a citizens' initiative which formed the Möckernkiez Action Group. The Möckernkiez registered cooperative was founded in 2009 to implement the project. It is realizing the project in 2010 and will administer it in future.

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