LOVO Building / Christoph Wagner Architekten + Wenke SchladitzSave this picture! Eric TschernowApartmentsBerlin, GermanyArchitects: Christoph Wagner Architekten, Wenke SchladitzAreaArea of this architecture projectArea:1200 mYearCompletion year of this architecture project Year: 2018 PhotographsPhotographs:ManufacturersBrands with products used in this architecture project Manufacturers: AGROB BUCHTAL, Carl Stahl, Cinca, SOLTIS Lead Architects: Christoph Wagner, Wenke Schladitz Architectural Designer: Stefan Tietke, Rainer Krautwurst, Nabih Alshaikh, Eyal Perez More SpecsLess SpecsSave this picture!Text description provided by the architects. LOVO is a 6-story residential building focused on the LGBTQ+ community, including inhabitants with refugee background. Located in Berlin's Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg borough, it was designed and developed by the Berlin based architects Christoph Wagner in collaboration with Wenke Schladitz, together with Schwulenberatung Berlin, an organization providing psychosocial counseling to gay, lesbian, bisexual, transsexual and intersex people. In 2014 Christoph Wagner and his partner, the artist Ulrich Vogl, found a plot next to the very central Ostkreuz train station. When a large refugee influx hit the city in 2015, the couple felt the need to help this population. Combining this wish with their own life experience in the LGBTQ+ community, they partnered with Schwulenberatung Berlin, who brought in new programmatic ideas and input on ways to deal with the property.Save this picture!Save this picture!Save this picture!The project's main intent was to create a way of living where people would cohabit and interact in spaces as randomly as in a city's neighborhood, instead of traditional community models where life tends to be restricted to the privacy of apartments. Due to its innovative spatial configuration and social agenda, even before opening its doors in 2018, LOVO was presented at the 2016 Venice Architecture Biennale as part of the German exhibition "Making Heimat. Germany Arrival Country." With 1200 m2 total, 31 shared units and 3 maisonettes, the building program is organized in 6 floors, evolving from shops and a caf where city and building dwellers mingle and community-oriented spaces at ground level to barrier-free assisted living on the first floor. The three floors above house 14m2 private rooms and common spaces, such as lounge, balconies, kitchen, bathrooms and laundry. To assure LOVO's inclusivity while also providing financial support for maintaining the building, the upper two levels contain rental duplex apartments for anyone wishing to inhabit such diverse environment.Save this picture!Save this picture!The East-West orientation unfolds in a strong interface with the street and the backyard, which is activated by the ground floor storefront and 200m long balcony strips covering the entire length of the facades. A public passageway connects the sidewalk with the garden at East, leading to a partially screened staircase facing the surrounding urban space. In a continuous flow, this vertical circulation extends towards communal loggias and kitchen one each floor, inviting dwellers to interact with each other. Atop the building three maisonettes are bordered at East by a spacious collective loggia, also having private balconies facing both the street and the backyard, assuring a direct relationship with the cityscape. Structured on concrete foundation, load bearing walls and slabs, the building exterior highlights large-format and light steel mesh balustrades. Contrasting ros and blue tones are blended with gray accents, imprinting a pleasing atmosphere, both inwards and outwards. Complementing these layers, pale red blinds create a distinctive yet harmonious combination, which reflect the mixed nature of LOVO.Save this picture!Save this picture!Save this picture!Save this picture!Project gallerySee allShow lessProject locationAddress:Neue Bahnhofstrae 1A, 10245 Berlin, GermanyLocation to be used only as a reference. It could indicate city/country but not exact address.About this officePublished on December 24, 2024Cite: "LOVO Building / Christoph Wagner Architekten + Wenke Schladitz" 24 Dec 2024. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/1002093/lovo-building-christoph-wagner-architekten&gt ISSN 0719-8884Save!ArchDaily?You've started following your first account!Did you know?You'll now receive updates based on what you follow! Personalize your stream and start following your favorite authors, offices and users.Go to my stream