Living inside a Glass Seedling Trayby Annette Romming | 11.04.2011

Wohnwerft

When thinking of a harbor people usually have things in mind like boat trip, freight, cranes or shipyards. These associations were also kept for the new Rheinauhafen in Cologne. The "wohnwer[f]t" (a pun consisting of the German words for “to reside”, “shipyard” and “value”) completed in 2007 also belongs there. It is located at a first-class location right next to the Kranhaus Süd.

Seen from the street the residential buildings designed by architects Oxen and Römer don’t meet the eye directly. However, when looking from the Rhine shore the "wohnwer[f]t" opens up to its fullest and doesn’t need to hide from its famous neighbors at all. A narrow allay separates the two buildings from each other, visually, however, both appear as a single 176 meters long glass wall.
When looking at it the thing that meets the eye first is the unsettled façade letting the visitor believe that the whole building consists of many blocks of various sizes put together in a chaotic manner.

One believes to be looking at a seedling tray made of glass. This creates the impression that one believes to know exactly from outside where the apartments have been put. That this is not at all the case the visitor realizes when entering the openly cut apartments. The units of sizes between 75 and 178 square meters are distributed across seven floors. The first room one enters is the open open-plan kitchen, granting a view across the Rhine through the nearly end-to-end glass fronts. In order to be able to enjoy the view from the Severin bridge down to the Rodenkirchner bridge all you have to do is push the loggia’s glass front aside. 

When looking from the outside, it might appear very promising – however, when being inside one feels safe and unobserved. No wonder that even before completion most of the 72 apartments were sold already. This may be due to the supposed freedom communicated by the generous glass façades, but maybe also by the near-downtown location granting an uncomparable view.  Another criterion could also be the in-house shopping mall on the first floor. According to the Duden (German dictionary) the German word “Werft” is Frisian and means nothing else but “who builds by the water“.  

Further projects from Cologne…