MVRDV has broken ground on its Traumhaus Funari development in Mannheim, Germany. The new residential neighbourhoud will combine affordability, individuality and diversity, while prioritising pedestrians and greenery over cars.

Set to be built on a former US Military barracks, the project takes a new approach to suburban development, which incorporates a series of options and rules, promoting diverse architecture and allowing future residents to make meaningful choices about their own homes.

The groundbreaking for the project was held on last week, attended by MVRDV founding partner Winy Maas alongside the mayor of Mannheim Peter Kurz, the CEO of Traumhaus Otfried Sinner, and the leaders of MWSP, the district manager for the area.

Funari is one of five new districts in the redevelopment of Mannheim’s Franklin quarter, an area developed from one of the United States’ former bases in Mannheim. 

MVRDV’s partner in the project, Traumhaus, is a prefabricated housing maker and developer with a track record of delivering affordable, high-quality housing thanks to their system of mass-produced, standardised elements. 

The Funari design expands on this standardised approach, creating a catalogue of dwelling typologies – a huge set of variations on Traumhaus’ original design, with a variety of materials, sizes, interior layouts, and connections to the outside with each offering a variety of options that future residents can choose from. 

To target a range of budgets and demographics, the catalogue mixes the original Traumhaus offering (“Traumhaus 1.0”) with variations that offer wider material choices (1.1) and different sizes (1.2), and finally a wide selection of Traumhaus 2.0 designs with more bold and individual styles, from stilt houses to colourful printed façades.

MVRDV said that the project will "encourage a range of different inhabitants to live in the area and to transform the typical suburban experience into a more richly diverse community where individuality and quality of life are paramount." 

Houses designed with green façades that appeal to the budding eco-family, bright colours and patterns - which are on offer for people with highly individual tastes. MVRDV uses more traditional materials such as wood may suit those who are more reserved. 

The project contains stilt houses, which open up the ground floor for a more outdoor lifestyle, while single-storey houses are designed for the elderly. 

Two larger apartment blocks are aimed to encourage diversity, offering homes suitable for students or the disabled, among other demographics. In the first phase of the project, the masterplan will add a total of 124 single-family homes and 26 apartments to the Franklin district.

"Traumhaus has already shown how a systematic construction approach can increase affordability and accessibility in housing”, says MVRDV founding partner Winy Maas. 

"With Traumhaus Funari we want to take the next step, creating a model that retains this affordability while challenging the expectations for lifestyle, and the and variety of ways to inhabit, a suburb or village." 

"In Funari we are creating something that is more sustainable and more social – a model that can be replicated across Germany and beyond, to the benefit of everyone. From Traumhaus to traum world," Maas added.

Greenery encircles and permeates the Funari site, with a park surrounding the development that ties into a network of footpaths through the neighbourhood. 

Car parking is relegated underground, allowing the entire ground level to be pedestrianised – an approach that is controversial in Germany – with open spaces such as sports parks, eco-spaces such as fruit alleys or butterfly gardens, and gardens for residents. 

The landscape design of the masterplan brings more colour, with plant species selected for their bright flowers making the neighbourhood biodiverse. 

The different housing types open up opportunities for many different styles of garden, allowing residents themselves to choose the outdoor lifestyle that suits them, from vegetable gardens to play spaces for children.

In addition to Traumhaus Funari, MVRDV has also designed another neighbourhood within the Franklin district, Franklin Mitte. In this Masterplan, an area of 41 hectares will be home to a green hill constructed from the demolished barracks and four striking apartment buildings that spell out the word “HOME”. 

Within this masterplan, MVRDV is currently working on detailed plans for the green hill, ‘O’ and ‘M’ buildings; other architects are producing the designs for the ‘H’ and ‘E’ buildings and other buildings in the plan.

Axonometric masterplan

Project facts

Project name: Traumhaus Funari

Location: Mannheim, Germany

Year: 2016-2022

Client: Traumhaus

Size and programme: 2.7 hectares residential

Architect: MVRDV
Founding Partner in charge: Winy Maas
Director: Sven Thorissen, Jeroen Zuidgeest

Design Team: Markus Nagler, Christine Sohar, Philipp Kramer, Johannes Pilz, Paul Dolick, Cheng Cai, Bartosz Kobylakiewicz, Miriam Walther, Alexander Forsch

Visualisations: Antonio Luca Coco, Pavlos Ventouris, Matteo Artico

Copyright: MVRDV 2021 – (Winy Maas, Jacob van Rijs, Nathalie de Vries, Frans de Witte, Fokke Moerel, Wenchian Shi, Jan Knikker)

Partners:

Co-architect: Traumhaus

All images © MVRDV

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