Leineaue quarter in Hanover with grey-brown brick-clad buildings facing the street and green point blocks towards the landscape

Between city and nature

Not a conventional residential quarter

On the southern outskirts of Hanover, between Hildesheimer Straße and the Leine meadows, the Max Dudler office has built a quarter for living and working. From the outset the aim was not to design a conventional residential project, but a quarter with an identity of its own.
Eight structures, two facade materials: grey-brown brick facing the city, green-glazed ceramic facing the landscape. Lisenes, cornices and half-columns give the facades depth.

From design to execution

A piece of city on the edge of the city
The Leineaue quarter was developed on a 1.5-hectare site on the outskirts of Hanover.

Photo: © Stefan Müller, Berlin, DE
Between road and landscape
On one side a road with heavy traffic, on the other the greenery of the Leine meadows. The buildings act as a mediator between the two. This has resulted in a graduated height profile and three clearly distinguishable facade types.
The design
Eight offset buildings vary in terms of height and form depending on their orientation. The tall structures face the street, six shorter point blocks face the landscape.
Photo: © Stefan Müller, Berlin, DE
The plaza as the entrance
A set-back in the buildings creates a public plaza. It opens up the route into the quarter.
Photo: © Stefan Müller, Berlin, DE
Solid construction with a durable facade
The buildings are each designed as a solid concrete structure. Insulation materials of varying types and thicknesses insulate the walls while shaping the facade at the same time.
Photo: © Stefan Müller, Berlin, DE
The cornice with a second job
The insulation is considerably thicker in the area of the cornices. Non-combustible mineral wool is used there, acting as a fire barrier between individual floors.
Photo: © Stefan Müller, Berlin, DE
A plinth that does not want to be one
A fire barrier also had to be formed at the plinth, without it looking any different to the cornices. The seamlessly rendered surface conceals the change of insulation material.

Photo: © Stefan Müller, Berlin, DE
Half-columns
On the three buildings closest to the Leine meadows, half-columns structure the facade. Their render is the same as on the cornices. This creates a grid pattern. StoDeco Light.
Photo: © Stefan Müller, Berlin, DE
Gateway to the city
The neighbouring buildings to the south have eight floors. The quarter picks up this height and develops it along the main traffic axis into a landmark structure with 11 storeys.

Photo: © Stefan Müller, Berlin, DE

Collage of cover and inside pages of the [ark] case study on the Leineaue quarter in Hanover

Get your free Case Study now!

20 valuable project [insights] pages about a quarter between city and nature. Find out everything – from design to construction, to comprehensive detailed solutions.

Request your Case Study

Rethinking the urban edge

Wülfel is a district on the edge of Hanover. Here a road with heavy traffic, sizeable freestanding buildings and the greenery of the Leine meadows come together. What was called for was more than a housing development: an urban place with a character of its own.
The planning was anything but simple. Fresh air corridors, noise prevention, odour assessments and environmental surveys all called for close coordination with the City of Hanover.

A balancing act on the edge of the city

Covered roof terrace with brick walls, benches and a view across the Leine meadows — Photo: © Stefan Müller, Berlin, DE

Between urban density and green landscape

Facing the street, the quarter presents itself as urban. Two tall brick-clad buildings form a clear edge, and the landmark structure marks the entrance to the city. Towards the rear the buildings become lower. Six point blocks are staggered against one another and open up views into the Leine meadows.
The ground floor of the buildings on the street contains retail and hospitality, with offices and dwellings above. The point blocks behind are set aside solely for residential use.

Passageways, squares, gardens

Photo: © Stefan Müller, Berlin, DE
Urban density and robust facades define the character of the quarter’s spaces. Photo: © Stefan Müller, Berlin, DE

The quarter extends as far as the green spaces of the Leine meadows. A total of 165 dwellings have been built, plus offices, retail and hospitality on the street. Photo: © Stefan Müller, Berlin, DE

Two materials, three facades

Only two materials, and yet no facade is like another. Max Dudler developed three facade types. On the tall brick-clad buildings, lisenes highlight the vertical lines; at the top, a “crown” with a slightly indented facade line gathers the upper three floors. The lower residential buildings behind them carry continuous cornices.
Despite the austerity of shape, the facades have a heterogeneous, sometimes even playful look to them. They also improve orientation within the quarter.

Depth from the construction

The depth of the facades comes from the construction. On the brick-clad buildings the system changes: a ventilated cavity wall construction with a brick facing gives way to an external wall insulation system with brick slips. This is how lisenes and recesses are created, while the facade still reads as a single material. It also simplifies the details and leaves more usable floor space. On the green buildings the insulation does this work. StoTherm Mineral and StoTherm Vario sit on the wall in varying thicknesses. Cornices and half-columns are rendered in a light shade.

“The city side features darker stone. Its hue harks back to the former feudal estate. The estate brewery is still standing, and we adopted the shade of colour we found there. The green-glazed brick slips pay homage to Nature, creating a contrast but without disrupting the coherent impression.”

Silke Meier zu Evenhausen, Max Dudler GmbH, Berlin, DE

Depth through insulation
On the green facade the 3D aspect of the design is achieved by a change in insulation thickness. The small recesses and projections are evident to a greater or lesser degree depending on how the light falls.

Photo: © Stefan Müller, Berlin, DE
The lisene, rethought
On the green buildings the facade reiterates the motif of the lisene from the brick-clad buildings, here without a second wall leaf.
Photo: © Stefan Müller, Berlin, DE
Nature as the leitmotif
The green glaze pays homage to the adjacent natural environment. StoCera with an individual surface.

Photo: © Stefan Müller, Berlin, DE
Grey-brown brick
With their matt, grey-brown brick slips, the buildings facing the street embody cool austerity and urban sophistication. StoBrick with an individual surface.
Photo: © Stefan Müller, Berlin, DE

The column, reinterpreted

Visualisation of a passageway between residential buildings with green ceramic brick slips, light-coloured cornices and half-columns in a regular grid

Lasting quality as a design principle

Brick and ceramic are robust surfaces. Together with the solid concrete structure they create a resilient yet finely articulated impression. The transitions between the materials were developed through samples and a mock-up.
Depending on the facade, insulation is 16 to 20 centimetres thick, with U-values between 0.12 and 0.18 W/(m²K). The buildings therefore meet the KfW 55 standard. Photovoltaics on the roofs and retention areas on the roofs and the underground garage deck complete the concept.

“You only realise at second glance that this is actually render. We intentionally included irregularities in the rendered surface. It’s not supposed to be perfect but […] is designed to create shadow effects.”

Silke Meier zu Evenhausen, Max Dudler GmbH, Berlin, DE

Construction sign

Country: Germany
City: Hanover
Building owners: World Investment Group, Hameln, DE
Architecture: Max Dudler GmbH, Berlin, DE
Specialised trade: Vrajolli Bau GmbH, Gifhorn, DE (facade insulation system) / Muric GmbH Bauunternehmung, Eislingen, DE (facade claddings)
Sto proficiency: Facade insulation systems (StoTherm Mineral, StoTherm Vario) with varying insulation thicknesses, rendered surfaces (StoSignature Fine 40; StoMiral® MP, RAL 7030); half-columns and three-quarter columns (StoDeco Light), ceramic slips (StoCera; custom surface); brick slips (StoBrick; custom surface)
Photos: Stefan Müller, Berlin, DE