Köln-Weidenpesch „Haus Mobile“

Context

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The Weidenpesch urban district in the north of Cologne (pop. 965,000) is a densely populated area with good infrastructure, greenery and public transport connections to the city centre. The club "Neues Wohnen im Alter e.V." (new ways of living for older people) initiated a large multi-generation house here in a quiet side street.

Project description

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In the search for alternatives to common ways of living for older people, the club members set up a building and rental project beginning 1995. This gave senior citizens the opportunity to live independently in their own flats, supported by a socially mixed residential community, until the end of their days. The focus here is the continued familiar environment, even in the case of limited mobility, and the possibility that care personnel or relatives can live there should a person become a care patient. Furthermore, there are rooms for residents' and neighbourhood events.

An architect, a residential property company and the club "Haus Mobile e.V.", founded in 1996, developed the construction and finance concepts in regular meetings. The entire planning and building process was accompanied and documented by the club "Neues Wohnen im Alter e.V.", which now also advises other client and resident building initiatives.

The ecologically built complex was completed in 1997. The very broad range of living space is uncommon: from one to two-room apartments for people living alone to three-room apartments for single parents and on to three-storey maisonettes with five rooms, which are suitable for families. The four to five-storey construction consists of two parts and a connected rotunda in which there are other facilities including a café and communal room. All the flats in the top storeys and the communal roof terrace are accessible barrier-free by lifts. The ground level café serves as a place for contact with the neighbourhood and can be used for public events.

There is currently a self-administrating residential community of 60 people of all ages living in the 36 residential units. The units were financed in different ways: a third of the units as owned property, a third as rental flats in the 1st and 2nd 'Förderweg' from public finances and a third as freely financed rental units. The communal facilities were publicly subsidised, but have been financed by the residential community since completion.

Project chronology

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Year	Event
1995	Initiative for the community project "Neues Wohnen im Alter", purchase of the plot of land
June 1996	Club foundation and laying the first foundation stone
Spring 1997	Topping-out ceremony
Dec. 1997	The first residents move in
May 1998	Formal opening ceremony for the house

Aims

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• Self-organised community residential project for senior citizens, families, couples, people living alone, single parents
• Independent living in one's own flat until the end of one's days
• Maintaining a familiar environment, even when mobility is limited
• Security and support from the house community
• Possibility for care personnel or relatives to live in the house, should a person become a care patient
• Space available for contact and sociability with house residents and the neighbourhood

Types of measures

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• Combination of freely financed and publicly funded residential units as rental or owned homes
• Residential unit mix, with 36 units (one to five rooms, 36-144 m2)
• Communal facilities (neighbourhood café with terrace, communal room and kitchen, guest apartment, care bathroom, roof terrace, house garden, bicycle room)
• Wheelchair access / barrier-free construction (except from maisonettes)
• Ecological construction (low-energy standard, solar power, rain water utilisation, roof garden).

Innovations

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This multi-generation house community project convinces with its mix of housing and the nature of the financing, which led to a community of inhabitants coming together from different life situations and income levels.

Sources

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• Ministerium für Arbeit, Gesundheit und Soziales des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen (MAGS NRW) (Ministry for Labour, Health and Social Affairs for the State of North Rhine-Westphalia): Neue Wohnprojekte für ältere Menschen, Gemeinschaftliches Wohnen in Nordrhein-Westfalen (New Residential Projects for Older People, Communal Living in North Rhine-Westphalia) (Sep. 2006)
• Komes, Ursula; Hater, Katrin (2003): Gemeinschaftlich Wohnen 50+, Projekte für einen neuen Markt. (Communal Living 50+, Projects for a New Market) Aachen. p.33-38, http://www.aachener-stiftung.de/downloads/Leitfaden_Wohnen50plus.pdf (PDF, 1.2 MB)
• Neues Wohnen im Alter e.V. (no year): Haus Mobile. Final Documentation 1995-1999, Cologne

Further information

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• http://www.golonglife.de/02_2001/wohnen.htm

The projekt site ist to be found at postal code: 50737 - town: Köln - street: Hohenfriedbergstraße 9 bis 11.

Protagonists

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• Haus Mobile e.V., Board Member Heinrich Boden, Tel. 0221/9742720, eMail: nc-hausmo@netcologne.de
• "Neue Wohnformen im Alter" Regional Office Rheinland, Neues Wohnen im Alter e.V., Erika Rodekirchen and Margot Opoku-Böhler, Marienplatz 6, 50676 Cologne, Tel. 0221/215086, Fax 0221/9231887, eMail: nwia.ev@t-online.de, Web: http://www.nwia.de
• Walter Maier, Cologne (client and architect), Office Scherer, Maier & Partner, Prämonstratenserstr. 53, 51069 Cologne, Tel. 0221/6307983, eMail: info@scherer-maier.de (map)
• Freitag GmbH und Co KG, Düsseldorf (residential property company)