Topping-out ceremony at Hoepfner dream homes

At the end of January, a festive wreath symbolising the topping-out ceremony on the Hoepfner site in Karlsruhe marked the completion of the structural shell of the three ‘dream houses’ designed by schneider+schumacher on behalf of Hoepfner Bräu. The apartment blocks house a total of 49 flats for rent, all sharing an underground car park. They are staggered in height – ranging between two and five storeys – and arranged around a common courtyard.

In the course of the celebrations, the last nails were symbolically hammered into the ridge, see photo right (from left): Lord Mayor of the City of Karlsruhe Dr Frank Mentrup; the client, Dr Friedrich G. Hoepfner; Joachim Wendt, managing partner at schneider+schumacher; and Johannes Adomeit, managing director of the general contractor Peter Gross Hochbau.

Sustainable materials were employed both for the structure and the façade, as well as the interior finishes. The apartments were largely prefabricated in the factory in solid timber construction, and then erected over the concrete base of the underground car park. The materiality of the surfaces is consistent with the construction method, with exposed concrete in the stairwell and split wooden shingles on the façade.