To counteract office building vacancy and simultaneously combat housing shortage, the task of the 2025 Bachelor Thesis at HSRM was to redesign one floor of an administrative high-rise in Wiesbaden-Amöneburg into residential units. Completed in 1963 and vacant since 2025, the elegant post war slab is part of the Dyckerhoff Cement factory, located directly on the banks of the Rhine. Its spaces offer spectacular views of the river and its industrial landscape. The facade's precast concrete window segments with rounded corners create a smooth transition between inside and outside. Various Dyckerhoff products were used for wall cladding and flooring in the interiors, making the building a walk-in product catalog of the company.

Ernst Neufert, the architect of the building, was the author of the famous Bauentwurfslehre, a reference work used worldwide for all architectural design tasks. As a student at the Bauhaus and long-time collaborator of Walter Gropius, his oeuvre stands for standardization and the clear division of all aspects of life into dedicated functions with specific spatial requirements. In doing so, he made a significant contribution to well-functioning buildings, while simultaneously evoking a much-criticized conformity of the built environment.

We wanted to appreciate and challenge his work by redefining his prototypical modernist office building for contemporary housing. The students were required to envision the type of housing and its spatial program. Different apartment types could be combined on the floor, or one type repeated. Each residential unit had to have at least one area for sleeping, one for working, one for cooking, and one for personal hygiene. Materiality and design gesture had to reference the powerful architectural characteristics of the existing building. What do you say to that, Mr. Neufert?

Type: Teaching
Place: Wiesbaden
Year: 2025
Collaboration: Prof. Georg Windeck

Student projects by Yasmin Akanjour, Lucie Auth, Seinab Al-Marzuk, Celina Epp, Guiselle Gaudian, Sophie Hirrle, Tran Linh Dan La, Hannah Liebenberg, Edgar Luft, Emilia Sophie Peter, Daria Ritter, Alexander Runge, Eileen Schäffner, Peri Thomas, Miriam Wagner

Special Thanks to SEG Wiesbaden