Laarstraße Estates
Siedlung Laarstraße Gelsenkirchen
The construction of real estate property for young families in the inner-city areas of the Ruhr area was an objective of the IBA family project ’Einfach und selber bauen’ [’Simple and Do-It-Yourself Housing’]. From this project arose self-built settlements of one-family houses that the residents and later owners built themselves with on-site guidance.
The Laarstraße district renovation project in Gelsenkirchen is part of the district programme ’Gelsenkirchen-Bismarck / Schalke Nord’ that had as a goal the renovation of the entire district. In 1993, the Evangelical church, the city of Gelsenkirchen and IBA Emscher Park announced a competition. The aim was the realisation of the project ’Bismarck Protestant Comprehensive School and the Laarstraße Residential Area’. The winner of the competition, plus + Bauplanung GmbH Peter Hübner, set off on a progressively expanding structural design of the school.
The principles of the school construction are also carried over to the estate. Beginning in 1996, one-family homes were erected on a 7,000 m² area in organised self-help groups that included a total of 28 builder families. Each built their own living space in concert with their future neighbours. THS Wohnen GmbH shouldered the organisational tasks while also collaborating with the architects to provide skilled labourers to supervise the work.
Terraced houses are assembled in an urban fashion on roads that branch off Laarstaße. The longer of the two roads corresponds to the axis of a juxtaposed semi-detached housing settlement from the 1980s. A total of 28 two-storey town houses have been built in five housing blocks. The housing lots are confined to areas that range in size from 140 to 250 m². Each house possesses a leafy carport at the edge of the development. Between the individual gardens lie narrow garden paths and instead of a basement, storage spaces and garden sheds were planned. At the eastern edge of the development, there is a communal area that is used as a recreational space and playground.
The wood-frame construction terraced houses offer 78 to 108 m² of living area that can be flexibly arranged. The houses feature a compact design with thrifty energy consumption in line with the low-energy-house standard, grassy butterfly roofs, rainwater filtration and solar-assisted water heating. All but two of the original builder families still live in the development today.
