On Hagener Strasse in the Gerresheim district in the east of Düsseldorf, 16 new apartment blocks are being created over the coming years, on behalf of WOGEDO, a Düsseldorf-based housing cooperative. The new buildings designed by Stefan Forster Architekten emerged as the winner in an architectural competition; the existing development on the site was not suitable for renovation. The new development envisages a group of three building volumes on either side of Hagener Strasse. The spaces between the buildings serve as internal communication routes within the ensemble: to the north there are direct connections into the adjacent woods, to the south to the associated courtyard areas.
Another building at the junction of Lüdenscheider Strasse and Morper Strasse completes the ensemble. The design plan is based on the idea of rhythm and articulation of the building volumes, which are to be perceived as a coherent group. Five-storey end buildings define the entrances to the housing development on the west and east sides. The clinker-clad street fronts are sculpturally modulated by means of deep-set entrance areas, projecting bays and broken eaves lines. Most of the apartments have dual aspect and outside space – on the ground floor as private gardens, and on the upper storeys as balconies, loggias and roof terraces. In total the programme comprises 188 cooperative-owned rental apartments, with floor plans suitable for a wide range of households, plus a children’s day nursery and communal facilities such as a laundry and a tea house.