Minimalist living concepts in Hannover

New forms of living

Living in a small space? Hannover has had ideas for this for a long time. As early as the 1950s, model buildings with small apartments were constructed here. Today, even more students and professionals live in the city who need small, affordable apartments. As a result, around 300 micro-apartments, each ranging from 24 to 33 square meters in size, are now being built. Leibniz University is also giving this topic a lot of thought: there, researchers and students are focusing on the research area “Habitats of the Future,” that is, new forms of urban living.

Hannover Yesterday

On the occasion of the 1951 international architecture exhibition “Constructa,” Hannover unveiled the so-called Constructa apartment complex on Hildesheimer Straße. The complex consists primarily of two- to five-story buildings designed to house as many people as possible in a relatively small space during a housing shortage. In the 1950s, Hannover was still scarred by war damage, and refugees from the former German eastern territories were arriving in need of shelter. Rapid reconstruction was therefore particularly important. Under the direction of urban planner Rudolf Hillebrecht, the Constructa Block was initially created as a demonstration model. This resulted in 500 apartments being built on the approximately 15,000-square-meter site.

Hannover Today

Hannover, City of Singles: More than half of the city’s households consist of a single person. While they require less space than a family, small, affordable apartments have been few and far between. To address this, so-called micro-apartments are set to be built at three locations in Hannover: small units ranging from 24 to 33 square meters in size, each featuring a built-in kitchenette. The project is being led by the housing association “hanova,” which is investing nearly 13 million euros. The enercity proKlima Hannover fund is providing 66,000 euros in funding, and KfW is also supporting the plan. The goal is to have 300 micro-apartments completed by 2021. The first 113 apartments were built at Kopernikusstraße 7B, near the university. In July 2018, residents moved into their apartments in the five-story new building. As a next step, hanova plans to build two additional residential complexes with approximately 200 apartments by early 2021, this time at Klagesmarkt 17 and Körnerplatz. Students, singles, and commuters are expected to benefit most from this.

Hannover Tomorrow

What might human living spaces look like in the future? This is the question being explored by researchers and students at the Faculty of Architecture and Landscape Architecture at Leibniz University Hannover. As the challenges of living together—especially in cities—continue to grow, the faculty has shifted its focus to the research priority “Habitats of the Future.” This initiative brings together experts from architecture, urban planning, landscape architecture, environmental planning, and technical education. One of the projects is called “Urban Voids” at the Institute for Design and Urban Planning, which explores the potential of urban voids—for example, as living space, but also as areas with variable uses. The city of Hannover serves as a case study for this project.