By Michael Haake, Dipl. Ing. (FH)
Architect/Sales Manager
Buchart-Horn GmbH

One of the design proposals for the U.S. Embassy staff housing developed by Buchart-Horn GmbH.

One of 48 homes bought by the State Department. Please click on the images above to see a larger version in a new window.

With Berlin once again the capital of Germany, the German government is moving back to that city. In fact, Parliamentary Sessions are already being held in the renovated German Bundestag, the former Reichstagsgebaude, renovated by the famous Sir Norman Foster.

Following this shift in government operations, the United States Department of State (USDOS) is also relocating to this former capital city in northeastern Germany, and must secure adequate housing for U.S. Embassy staff and their families.

Berlin was previously capital of Germany and Prussia. Located in what was East Germany after World War II. The city was divided into East and West sections separated by the Berlin Wall in 1961 and reunited when the wall fell in 1990. On June 20, 1991, Germany's Parliament voted to move the seat of government from Bonn to Berlin. Since that will be an expensive shift, it will take more than a decade to complete the move.

With housing for the embassy in mind, the State Department acquired 48 buildings in an historic residential area. The structures were constructed in the early '50s for the U.S. Army Berlin Brigade in Berlin Wilmersdorf between Clay Allee and the Grunewald, named Waldtiersiedlung.

An early '70s renovation project in the area bogged down when renovation of the former U.S. Army buildings grew too costly.

To best utilize these properties now that Berlin is again the seat of German government, the USDOS asked Buchart-Horn GmbH to study twenty of these buildings and submit various options for renovations and reuse as embassy housing. Buchart-Horn team members Ulrike Page and Anne Fischer presented five options ranging from one that calls for complete demolition of all twenty structures to one that would renovate most of the structures for reuse.

The plans would create 52 family housing units in ten Stadtvillas (townhouses) for people who will work in the relocated U.S. Embassy in Berlin.

All five proposals represent approximately 35 percent of preliminary design, complete with floor plans, sections and presentation renderings. All five options offer various kinds of housing facilities. The options are currently under review by the Office of Foreign Building Operations in Washington, DC and by John Kornblum, U.S. Ambassador to Germany.

The design options all emphasize energy efficiency, since the German government promotes low energy designs and will subsidize the project if it meets tight energy-saving standards.