Shelter for the Homeless / RKW Architektur +

Architects: RKW Architektur +
Location: Liebrechtstraße, 45277 Essen, Germany
Area: 4210.0 m2
Project Year: 2018
Photographs: Marcus Pietrek

Project Management: Tobias Bünemann, Silke Lange
Project Team: Thomas Zimmer, Anne van Loh
Construction Management: REICHEL Ingenieurgesellschaft für
Projekt Management: mbH, Erkrath-Düsseldorf
Structural Analysis: R&P Ruffert Ingenieurgesellschaft mbH, Limburg
Fire Safety: BSCON Brandschutzconsult GmbH, Essen
Technical Building Systems: Ingenieurbüro Blasczok, Düsseldorf
Building Physics: Ingenieurbüro Blasczok, Düsseldorf
Landscape Architecture: Raitz von Frentz und Tilosen, Krefeld-Linn
Client: City of Essen

Text description provided by the architects. In Essen (Germany) the last two blocks of a homeless shelter were handed over to the users in 2018. The three clearly structured, parallel buildings characterised by exposed concrete and sky-blue glazed bricks are the result of an invitation to tender issued by the City of Essen.

What was sought were new buildings for a homeless shelter for 119 people, as well as office space for 2 social workers and 2 housing administrators. RKW Architektur + won the public tender with its modular concept. Despite or precisely because of the tight budget, the architects were able to deliver a complex of noticeable architectural quality.