CHA20

CHA20 explores how dwellings can be placed in a nature reserve on the outskirts of Berlin without dominating it. Instead of a spread-out settlement, the project concentrates the program in compact, vertical volumes that occupy a minimal footprint and leave the forest floor largely untouched.

Each building is structured by a deep, regular frame of cast stone or concrete, filled with generous glazing. The frame acts as structure, sun protection and balcony at the same time, and gives the facades a strong, almost archaic presence among the pines and oaks. From inside, the grid frames views into the treetops at every level. The architecture adopts the rhythm of the trunks around it: repetitive, calm and quietly monumental, it makes the forest the true protagonist of the project.