Allmende

Restricted competition for a residential development

Lörrach, Germany, 2013

SECOND PRIZE

 

Allmende is a German term, used since the 13th century to define a community space with a special system of appropriation: no one single person in the community had exclusive control over said space but they all had the option to temporarily use it. The cattle breeders could graze their cattle there, and throughout the year alternate the land for use as a crops field.

In the suburban context of the small city of Lörrach, we propose to reinterpret the concept of Allmende as the structure of a new residential neighbourhood.

 

 

We use private gardens and public squares as support for the building: a wide variety of small buildings ‘grow’ around the gardens, whilst the more defined buildings, taller and with facilities for the neighbourhood, are arranged around public squares. Among them, a green space for the community, low maintenance, reprogrammable over time and a place where the residents can get involved through temporary renting, productive use (urban gardens) or collective design of the community space: the allmende.

 

 

 

>collaborators:

. Guillermo Ramírez camarero, architect

. Salas Montes mañas, architect

. Kerstin Pluch, architect

>consultants:

. documentation: Ignacio Medrano

. models: Gilberto Ruiz Lopes