The gate in the urban fabric has long functioned as a threshold space, a place of anticipation and encounter. It welcomes arriving guests, offers protection, and marks the boundary between inside and outside. Pius IV, the patron, opted for the most economical of the three designs for the Porta Pia drawn by Michelangelo. Here, a residential building with affordable rents is to emerge. Its robust structure, simple cubic form, and cost-efficient façade make this possible. When the rolling gate opens, the scent of freshly prepared food from the comedor drifts through the green alley, and residents and visitors gather for a shared lunch. On warm days, the communal spaces on the ground floor extend into this sheltered outdoor area, and all neighbors understand: the open gate is an invitation to the entire neighborhood.

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The Courtyard

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​The courtyard forms a microcosm of blue and green infrastructure. Water features create a pleasant microclimate, while reflections on the tiled undersides of the access galleries bring additional light into the apartments. During heavy rainfall, the basin in the courtyard expands, allowing rainwater to infiltrate near the surface and creating a habitat for flora and fauna. Have you spotted the hedgehog yet? On warm days, frogs perform their concert beneath strings of lights in the more secluded areas of the courtyard, accessible via small walkways.

Through the natural evaporation of water, temperatures in the courtyard are significantly reduced on hot days, making it several degrees Celsius cooler than the surrounding streets. The gate not only regulates access for visitors but also helps to control the courtyard’s microclimate.

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Green Alley & Roof

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​The green alley becomes a lively fairground, a shared urban space that residents can appropriate and make their own. On the permeable surface, beer benches, toys, and parasols are arranged throughout the day, only to be stored away in the passage like in a cupboard by evening. Groups of trees along the green boulevard create a sense of privacy, reminiscent of front gardens.

Collective life extends beyond the ground floor into the areas around the three stair exits on the roof. Sheltered from the wind, residents gather behind the elevated structure in a summer room above the rooftops. Pathways weave through the solar fields, where energy is generatedconnecting these spaces with one another.

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Prefabrication

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The façades are flat, quite simple and made in the factory. Industrial production, pragmatism, prefabrication and structural efficiency are embraced and articulated as a clear architectural approach. Affordable rents are thereby made possible. With tiled timber façade elements, prefabrication undergoes a renaissance, moving beyond purely economic constraints through precise architectural responses.

At the prominent volume along the green boulevard, the construction is openly expressed, with windows set flush within the façade. Toward the street, the building presents itself with a pronounced sense of flatness. Within the courtyard, by contrast, the outer planar surface dissolves into a linear system of columns and slabs, offering space for appropriation.