Final Review of the Master Project (Landscape Architecture) My.Garage – Our.Space - Developing Open Spaces in Single Family Home Areas at the Chair of Landscape Architecture and Public Space.
About the project:
A largely overlooked urban design element in single-family housing areas is the garage court. Originally planned solely as parking spaces, these places now show a multifaceted, often informal mix of uses.
Garages are no longer just storage for vehicles – they serve as hidden workshops, storage rooms, play areas, or meeting points. Not least, the origins of legendary companies and bands such as Google, Apple, or Nirvana can be traced back to garages, revealing the creative and social potential these spaces hold. This very potential can be harnessed to adapt aging single-family housing areas (SFH areas) to the needs of a changing and, above all, aging society.
Urban SFH areas expanded significantly in Germany throughout the 20th century, driven by targeted urban development programs and the influence of seemingly unlimited mobility and available land. Today, around 16 million SFHs account for roughly 85% of the country’s residential building stock, although only one third of the population actually lives in them. It is therefore unsurprising that these settlement structures face increasing criticism: they consume a disproportionately large amount of land relative to their population, and are poorly adapted to contemporary climatic and social requirements. While experts consider this traditional settlement type outdated, the aspiration to live in a SFH remains unbroken, even among younger generations. At the same time, one quarter of the population can imagine densifying their property and sharing their house with others. These developments may further increase soil sealing, heat accumulation, and destabilize the balance between private, semi-public, and public spaces.
It is within this field of tension that the transformation of SFH areas must be addressed. A key role in the restructuring of these settlements can be played by public and semi-public space. These spaces can accommodate old and new functions, encourage collaboration, and foster social interaction. In doing so, they enable the creation of socially diverse neighborhoods, breaking away from the prevailing social homogeneity and functional monoculture (purely residential use) in favor of more varied patterns of use.
This is why garage courts hold such great potential for development.
Guest critic:
Ulrich Glöckl, Stefan Gruhne, Valerie Kronauer, Christian Hepf, Ann-Kathrin Ntokalou, Agnieszka Kade, Sonja Rube
When:
Thursday, 05.02.2026
13:30-18:00
Where:
Room O5
Emil-Ramann-Straße 6,
85354 Freising (Campus Weihenstephan)