BAUGRUPPE BREHMESTRASSE | Berlin, Germany | 1780 m² | 2015

The site, in the course of the former wall strip, is divided into the private gardens of the first-floor apartments, a communal garden behind the house, and a communal front garden on the street side. A staggered planting, consisting of trees, shrubs, hedges, perennials, and grasses, structure the site. Waist-high clipped hedges and well-defined perennial beds subtly separate the private from the common areas. This intensive planting concept is inspired by the adjacent fallow area. The perennial beds in the south-facing garden are planted with semi-natural dry perennials and grasses. Matching the areas are butterfly bushes, olive willows, vinegar trees, and buckthorn shrubs. At the communal seating area in the east corner of the property is a kitchen garden with two large herb beds and several fruit trees. The front garden on the shadier north side of the building is characterized by a woodland planting of green groundcovers, ferns, and magnolias. When residents step into their garden it is the first step into a vast wilderness that continues behind the property. Only the unobstructed view of the city’s landmark, the television tower locates at the site in Berlin.

CONTRACTOR: Baugruppe Brehmestraße, SC1 GmbH | PHOTOS: © Hanns Joosten