Ellener Hof

Bremen, DE

What can renewable raw materials mean for urban development?

Bremen

Ellener Hof

In the east of Bremen, the Bremer Heimstiftung housing association aims to realise a new, sustainable neighbourhood, with approximately 500 apartments and ground-level homes: the Ellener Hof.

In this place, a colourful community, centred around interaction, will be made up of older and younger people, average and exceptional people, people with (and without) disabilities, and students. The aspiration to build the neighbourhood in wood as much as possible is remarkable and will help the area to develop into a model socio-ecological community. De Zwarte Hond drew up the urban development plan and is supervising the architects involved.

Renewable materials

Model of the plan area

The area will develop into a model socio-ecological neighbourhood

The design pursues the image of a gradually growing village, dealing responsibly with the environment, which in this case consists of beautiful, mature trees and a few existing buildings.

Building volumes, building heights and principles for the roof landscape have already been developed on an urban scale. These are in line with the particularly strict regulations for wooden constructions and sustainable insulation materials. In addition, work is being done on an innovative mobility concept for a car-free outdoor space, and also on a completely natural, decentralised concept for collecting rainwater.

Ellener Hof

The Ellener Hof is a new sustainable neighbourhood consisting of approximately 500 apartments and houses in the German city of Bremen. The district will be almost entirely built of wood. De Zwarte Hond drew up the urban development plan and supervises the architects involved. The starting point in the design process was the image of an organically grown village that relates to its surroundings in a sustainable way. Just like in a village, the houses are sometimes close together and sometimes far apart. Sometimes there is a green field between the houses, sometimes a row of trees. Informal places and paths invite you to play, communicate and live in community.

To make timber construction a success, De Zwarte Hond organised workshops with four architectural firms. The first designs were developed here, as prototypes. The workshops provided knowledge about the impact of regulations and the options available to the architects, among other things. The concrete result: a design manual that clarifies quality standards, construction heights and construction methods, while at the same time offering as much space as possible for creative solutions from individual architects.