Deutzer Hafen, located in Cologne’s city center, with its listed mill buildings, is being transformed from a commercial area into an urban, mixed-use district for living and working. Apartments for around 6,900 residents, around 6,000 jobs, educational facilities, gastronomic and cultural offerings, parks, squares and waterfront promenades along the 8-hectare water area are being built on almost 38 hectares.

Building site east 03 is one of the first building blocks of the new quarter and is located directly next to the Ellmühle and the Essigfabrik. The “Deutzer Block” typology defined in the “Quartiersbuch Deutzer Hafen” provides clear urban planning guidelines, whilst providing plenty of scope for architectural design.

KREER Development GmbH had announced an invited structural engineering realization competition for the construction site, which has now been decided. Our entry was awarded 2nd prize. First prize went to JSWD Architekten and third prize to HildundK Architecture – congratulations to both teams on their success.

The solution we offered shows four buildings that are deliberately different in their architectural language, but are connected in pairs by a shared base level. The two eastern parts of the building on Siegburger Strasse are offices use, while the two western parts are residential.