Team
MLA+ / Studio M³
Reza Al Kaabi, Christoph Michael, Maximilian Müller
Landscape Design
GRIEGER HARZER DVORAK
Model Making
mhk21 Modellbau und Konstruktion
Concept
The Hammersmith Barracks, once part of the largest concentration of British forces outside the UK, was decommissioned in 2015 and returned to German authorities. As part of the British Army’s full withdrawal from Germany by 2020, the site is now being reimagined as a vibrant residential quarter. The competition’s objective is to reintegrate the previously isolated area into the surrounding cityscape, creating space for approximately 350 new homes and 350 student residences.
The design builds upon the site’s existing character — defined by mature trees and historic structures — using these qualities as a foundation for future development. The large residential blocks in the south are repurposed for student housing, while the former stables in the north serve as architectural anchors for a new garden-city-inspired neighbourhood with smaller-scale building typologies. Between these poles, new three- to four-storey buildings are arranged around shared courtyards, offering a sensitive transition between the various scales.
A central, linear public space links the green area at the site’s northeastern edge with the new university campus to the south. This hybrid space evolves from a park-like landscape in the north into a more urban square in the south, activating the adjacent ground-floor retail and commercial uses.