Discover Top Posts Tagged with #atelier 5

Siedlung Halen, Atelier 5, 1961

“More than 50 years on, it’s one of the most successful housing estates in existence“

PARKOUR HALENSIEDLUNG (2007), SIEDLUNG HALEN (2010)

These videos offer two perspectives on the iconic Halen development - one looks at history and design detail, while in the other its massing, human scale, and playfulness are demonstrated through parkour.

The 79-home Swiss project was designed by 5 young architects on a forested site overlooking a river, 15 minutes cycle ride from Bern. The land had been intended for their own houses, until costs necessitated a higher density. Communal facilities such as the swimming pool, playground and community hall have shared ownership, and the internal streets are pedestrianised. For additional reading, this feature in Monocle (quoted above) includes short profiles of some of the residents. They reflect the fact that the buildings, arranged on a slope with high walls between gardens, seem to have found a sweet spot between community and privacy. As one resident says: “You can sunbathe on the top floor balcony as God intended without anyone seeing.”

Perhaps part of Halen's success lies in how well it resolves two areas of tension in our relationship to spaces. Firstly the public/private balance, something like what Le Corbusier referred to as "silence, solitude, but also daily contact with mortals.” And secondly, Prospect Refuge theory, in which we crave immersion within nature, but also shelter from it - a view of the surrounding landscape, but also a feeling of enclosure and protection.

#siedlung halen #brutalism #urban design #planning #parkour #atelier 5 #le corbusier