Bezahlbar. Gut. Wohnen

Providing adequate and affordable living space for all is a core social obligation. The cost of housing is rising faster than income, and not only in sought-after locations. Parts of the population are displaced. Affordable housing is often equated with cheap construction and clichés such as small windows, poor materials or monotonous multi-storey apartment blocks.

The book addresses the question of how strategies for affordable housing can also drive innovation. New processes of planning and designing, new models for living and working together, unusual spatial strategies, more needs-oriented and flexible floor plans all have potential. The book features, among other things, the winners of the Hans Sauer Prize 2016, whose ground-breaking projects showcase significant social innovations, above all in the context of new client constellations.

Klaus Dömer, Hans Drexler, Joachim Schultz-Granberg: Bezahlbar. Gut. Wohnen.  Strategien für erschwinglichen Wohnraum, Jovis, Berlin 1st ed. 2016, 3rd ed. March 2022 >>

At the heart of the book is the systematic analysis of 17 trailblazing built projects, mainly located in Central Europe. The analysis of the projects follows an inductive approach, based on the evaluation of living qualities in relation to cost parameters, in a specially developed cost-benefit analysis. The criterion of affordability results from the comparison of the highly fluctuating actual purchase price or rental cost of the project described in relation to the local average values drawn from statistical data. The deviation from the average provides a relative and comparable indication of affordability.

This book pursues a holistic approach that takes quantities and qualities into account and presents the issue of housing as a social phenomenon in terms of cause and effect. The best-practice catalogue is expandable and offers transferable ideas for affordable housing. The examples given constitute a representative selection of cost-reducing strategies. The projects under consideration can be divided into six groups based on their characteristics: active housing models, housing as social catalyst, basic construction with do-it-yourself options, compact housing models, efficient structures, qualified large housing estates.

List of Projects

• Wohnprojekt Wien – Einszueins architektur
• Kalkbreite – Müller Sigrist Architekten AG
• Spreefeld – dZa, carpaneto, fatkoehl, BARarchitekten
• Streitfeld – Holzfurtner und Bahner Architekten
• VinziRast – mittendrin – Gaupenraup +/- Architekten
• Hotel MagDas – AllesWirdGut ZT GmbH
• Ausbauhaus – Praeger Richter Architekten
• Grundbau & Siedler – BeL Associates
• Balance Uster – Haerle Hubacher
• Schwarzer Laubfrosch – Splitterwerk
• Urban Tulou – Urbanus
• My Micro NY – nARCHITECTS
• Moerwijk – Atelier Kempe Thill
• Mulhouse – Lacaton & Vassal Architects
• Eurogate – Dietmar Feichtinger Architekten
• Transformation 530 Wohneinheiten – Lacaton & Vassal, Druot, Hutin
• Vorgartenstraße – BKK-3 Architektur ZT GmbH