Small but smart – the basic idea of modular housing is as simple as convincing. On June 8, the members of the IMMOEBS working group Rhein-Ruhr visited KZA, the architectural office in Essen, and informed themselves about the concept developed there.
In the company’s event, KZA Director Nina Bendler presented the special features of the procedure developed by KZA on behalf of Germany’s largest apartment company, Vonovia. It has now been implemented for the first time in a residential building in Bochum-Hofstede. The core idea is to assemble prefabricated modules into compact apartments of various sizes – tailored to the needs of the tenants and their surroundings. The implementation is currently under review for 40 locations across Germany; others will follow. A second residential building in Dortmund is already under construction.
„It is about creating a good, affordable living space and to integrate as much of what is needed in everyday life on a small area,“ emphasized Nina Bendler. Clever space solutions made it possible to use existing space efficiently – an approach that attracted great interest among the IMMOEBS members.
The association offers a platform for former graduates and sponsors of postgraduate and master studies in the real estate economy at the European Business School and the University of Regensburg. The aim is to build up a network for real estate employees – and in this way to provide expertise and career opportunities. About 2700 members are active in a total of nine locations in Germany, some 600 of which are in the Rhein-Ruhr working group.
„Once a month, we inform ourselves about topics that move the real estate sector – from commercial leases to tax changes to new objects,“ said Raoul P. Schmid, who heads the work group together with Diana Schumann and Bodo Dicke. The evening at KZA gave the members exciting insights and initiated many discussions, emphasized Schmid. „The Ruhr area is a low-wage country and has accordingly low rents – the topic of modular housing construction answers this question. Now it’s about making this innovative approach even more popular.“
