© Tobias Kern
By removing the two upper levels of a 1960s parking block and topping it off with new dwellings, an awkward relic of the “car-friendly city” has been successfully turned into a paradigm of urban densification. After more than 50 years, the multistorey garage in the Alte Wallgasse in Cologne was in need of refurbishment and was thus underused. Today, the four remaining parking levels and a three-storey residential development facing the street comprise a lively hybrid building that blends seamlessly in height with its surroundings. The two tracts of the structure, with a total of 31 dwellings, flank an introverted, elongated circulation court with a southern European touch to it.