Pragerstrasse 21-27 & 29-35

Prague courtyards (Bonn 2004-2009)

The Prager Höfe in Auerberg represent an ideal-typical living model for single people. They are study objects of individual life plans, located on the outskirts of the city. The Auerberg district of Bonn has a wide range of building types that were particularly tried and tested in the post-war years, with the row house type predominating. In addition, some point buildings set height dominants. More detached buildings can be found in modest residential buildings from more recent times. In this context, the Prager Höfe establish a city model of its own order: the courtyard, a translation of the square into the scale of the house, binds each of the houses into a self-sufficient unit and at the same time links it to the surrounding space.

The courtyard houses are each developed on a square floor plan, with the courtyard raised above street level being surrounded by four buildings arranged at an angle. Its removal supports the idea of privatizing the area that can be accessed via outside stairs, which also embodies the center of the four buildings. Each of these houses an apartment on their upper floors; analogous to the gradual privatization of the exterior by raising the courtyard, the public area of the apartment is arranged on the ground floor, while the private rooms are on the upper floor. Below the courtyard, the motif of the common center is repeated in the form of a use-neutral space that is reserved for the residents of the houses. The courtyard houses enter into a dialogue with the neighboring Prague residential courtyards Auerberg through their materiality, but also ideally. The latter also concede a living model based on the coexistence of individual living units grouped around common courtyards. While the focus there is on the variation of the terraced house model, the Prager Höfe offer an alternative model for living alone, in which each resident is assigned their own house within their shared apartment. The individual is a visible part of the city here.

The Prager Höfe are located close to the Rhine in a new development area, in a quiet residential area on the northern outskirts of Bonn, in Auerberg. Here you will find plenty of shopping facilities, higher schools and the Sportpark Nord with swimming pool in the immediate vicinity. Auerberg has good transport connections, the center can be reached quickly by bus and train. The A 565 motorway connection is only a few minutes away.

Photo: Stefan Müller, Berlin