As the American military footprint shrinks in Germany, cities that were once home to sprawling bases have had to face the vexing question of just what to do with all that real estate. In the southwestern city of Mannheim, where the U.S. Army’s Benjamin Franklin Village was recently shuttered, officials are now moving forward on plans to redevelop it. For one of the major barracks in that complex, Funari, they turned to Dutch architecture firm MVRDV and housing developer Traumhaus.
That partnership has just released its plans for the future of Funari: a pedestrianized residential development, designed as a patchwork of different housing and gardens. Meant to appeal to a wide range of people, the houses will range in size and style. Each, though, will come with its own garden. The complex will feature two apartment blocks as a way to accommodate students, on one side, and the elderly, on the other.
An aerial view shows a cluster of homes surrounding a public space.
MVRDV set out to put landscape into the foreground. Different gardens—a vegetable patch, fruit orchards, ornamental flower beds, or butterfly gardens—animate the public spaces. With parking underground, Funari would be a car-free district, opening more space for vegetation. Having recently developed a landscape plan for stretch of downtown Tainan, Taiwan, MVRDV is well practiced in reimagining urban areas as green space.
For the architects, the plan isn’t just about buildings and gardens. It carries with it a political argument. “It’s a comment on the housing system today,” said MVRDV founding partner Winy Maas, adding that it provides a counterpoint to “a system where young people can’t afford to buy, where ‘affordable housing’ is of such poor quality, and where the suburban dream stamps out community spirit and individual expression.” According to him, this project will challenge those norms. “We want to show that there is another way.”
