Wohnanlage Krummer Weg

With its subsidised rental flats in pure timber construction, Stadtbau in Pforzheim shows that climate protection and affordable housing go well together. As an old rafting town in the northern Black Forest, Stadtbau GmbH Pforzheim is predestined for timber construction. On Krummen Weg on Wilferdinger Höhe, three houses were built in pure timber construction within 14 months. Two four-storey and one five-storey building provide space for 49 flats. The three apartment blocks are connected to a residential complex built by Stadtbau Pforzheim on Tannhöfer Weg in the 1970s. They are connected to this via a green area with mature trees, on which there is the possibility of building another apartment block with 20 flats.

The new buildings comprise 25 one- and two-bedroom flats and twelve three- and four-bedroom flats ranging in size from 30 to 94 square metres. The complex is integrated into a park landscape with car parking spaces, a children's playground and covered bicycle parking spaces. Barrier-free flats on the ground floor are equipped with showers, while the other units have bathtubs. Flats on the upper floors have spacious loggias, while there are terraces on the ground floor. The construction method uses wood for load-bearing walls and ceilings, with concrete only being used for the basement floors and pergola access. A total of 1,200 cubic metres of solid wood from the nearby northern Black Forest was used, resulting in a saving of 47 tonnes of CO2 per year.

The semi-finished wall and ceiling elements were delivered together on a lorry, as were the interior fittings, which were prefabricated on site, e.g. metal skeletons for installation shafts were pre-assembled. The carpenter installed the wall and ceiling elements and hung the pergola elements. The pergola elements coated with KEIM Concretal-Lasur were then hung in the finished supporting structure and finally the facade was completed. This consists of several layers, including an installation layer, plasterboard fire protection boards, mineral wool, cross-laminated timber boards with insulation layers, gypsum fibre boards and silver fir boarding. These were coated with KEIM Lignosil-Verano so that they would age more beautifully. The architects had previously commissioned KEIM to produce the desired colour for the silicate greying stain as a special colour. The carpenter applied it in the factory so that no further treatment was required on site. 

The building project received funding from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the state of Baden-Württemberg and the European Union due to its ecological construction method and its model character for the development of Pforzheim's Nordstadt district, impressively demonstrating how climate protection and affordable housing can be combined.