Westarkaden

The district "Bahnstadt" in Heidelberg/Germany emerged in 2017 from a design concept by WWA Architekten in Munich for the conversion of an area formerly used as a railway center. 5.000 people already live and work in what has grown to become the world's largest Passive House community. The "Westarkaden" are part of this district - a three part building ensemble with mixed use for residential, commercial and gastronomy which will host among others stores and restaurants, 300 family-friendly accessible rental apartments, office space and a kindergarten. The challenge was to bring a private residential area and an access to public life together. Various loggias and balconies were designed to offer a retreat space to the residents. Almost each balcony and loggia had to be specially designed with a high level of detailed planning to minimize the thermal bridges and meet the Passive House standard. Schöck Isokorb® CXT with tension bars made of glass fiber composite material was used for the connection of the balconies and loggias thus reducing the thermal bridges to a minimum.

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