The area “Spandauer Vorstadt” is a part of Berlin Mitte, a district known as the historical and protected center of the city. The houses along the untypical narrow and winding streets are from the “Gründerzeit” (end of the 19th century). Here, on one of the few empty spaces left, a four story apartment building with a wooden façade was developed. It is the first house of that kind in the district and still the only one. The extremely strict settings of the historical protection and the urban planning in regards of cubature, height, façade and colour had to be followed and required a approval and coordination procedure, which lasted 3 1/2 years.

On the ground floor (which contains a gallery level) the client is having her tax office. The three following stories above are built as loftlike apartments with varying heights between 3,00 m and 3,60 m. The last two stories are used by one couple and have a connecting court facing roof terrace, meaning the lower apartment has its own internal staircase leading onto the terrace above. The actual construction of the building is made of reinforced concrete walls and ceilings, partly remained “raw”. The façade itself is a cantilever wooden structure with a cellulose insulation and covered by a blackened wooden boarding.