VILVIF – Senior residence Riviera, Berlin

The new building project Vitalresidenz (Senior residence) Riviera is located in an idyllic location at the historic Olympic regatta course in Berlin-Gruenau. It is framed by a well-kept garden area with a riverside path. While preserving the historic Riviera Ballroom and façade of the former Gruenau Gesellschaftshaus (Society house), both dating from the late 19th century, a modern senior citizens' complex with over 200 barrier-free apartments was built on the property on the Dahme River and a street-side lot on Regattastrasse. TCHOBAN VOSS Architekten planned two new buildings on the water side and two more on the land side of the property. With their differentiated façades, the four buildings consciously continue the design and typological heterogeneity of the neighbourhood. van geisten.marfels architekten from Potsdam are responsible for the extensive refurbishment of the listed buildings.

In addition to the senior-friendly apartments, a wide range of services were created for the residents, such as a spacious reception with concierge, gastronomy, rooms for fitness and wellness including a swimming pool as well as communal rooms in the U-shaped building at the Riviera Hall. An outpatient assisted living community and a day care centre in the buildings opposite round off the neighboorhood’s offerings.

Adjacent to the Riviera Hall is the U-shaped main building that forms a courtyard towards the street. Its two-winged structure has three full storeys and a staggered storey in the southern section and two staggered storeys in the northern wing. The main entrance and reception are located directly next to the hall as a central point of contact for the entire residential complex. The motif of structure of the Riviera Hall with regular window axes and pillars is continued and reinterpreted in the adjoining new building: In regularly alternating axes of projections and recesses with small recessed loggias.

To the south of the historic, renovated and repurposed Gesellschaftshaus, another new building was constructed, which incorporates the storeys and some design elements of the U-shaped neighboring building. Here, however, the cornices are more flat and a monochrome white colour scheme was chosen for the rendered façades with colourful accents in the form of textile sun protection and the lock elements. This area is used exclusively for residential purposes.

The plot opposite was developed with two further residential buildings. Both are arranged one behind the other in the depth of the narrow plot, with the narrow side facing the street. The front and rear buildings have similar dimensions, but different façades. They each have four full storeys and a staggered floor. Both buildings are underpinned by a shared underground car park. All three independent buildings are accessed via Regattastrasse and are designed to be barrier-free in accordance with DIN 18040 (Standard for barrier-free construction). The urban development concept envisaged great openness and public accessibility from Regattastrasse towards the water. On both sides of the Gesellschaftshaus, visual axes with passageways to the banks of the Dahme River were provided. Along the waterfront, a publicly usable pathway was created that connects the two green spaces.