My.Garage – Our.Space

Developing Open Spaces in Terraced Housing Areas

Semester Project, M.A. Landscape Architecture, Winter Semester 2025/26

Topic
Garage courts are an often-overlooked element in suburban areas. Originally planned as simple parking spaces, many now serve informal functions: workshops, storage, play areas, or meeting points. These spaces reveal creative and social potential that could help aging single-family housing (SFH) areas adapt to changing social needs.
SFH areas expanded rapidly in 20th-century Germany, driven by urban growth programs and abundant land. Today, 16 million SFH units make up 85% of all residential buildings, though only about one-third of the population lives
in them. These areas are increasingly criticized for their high land use and limited response to current climate and social requirements. Still, demand remains high, even among younger generations. At the same time, around 25% of residents are open to densifying or sharing their property, raising questions about space use, sealing, and the balance between private, semi-public, and public space.
Transformation is needed. Public and semi-public spaces can take on new and shared uses, supporting interaction and cooperation. This can break up homogeneity and encourage more diverse use patterns. In this context, garage courts hold great potential for development.

Task
Students develop design concepts for terraced housing areas in the Munich region, with a focus on transforming garage courts into multifunctional neighborhood spaces. The process begins with analyzing two sites in terms of structure, use, access, open space, and social aspects. Based on this, students propose detailed designs that support climate adaptation, shared use, and social interaction. As part of the integration, students develop a new mobility concept for their planning area, which forms the basis of their design.

Dates
regular supervision days Thursdays 13:30 - 18:00h in O5.

Excursion
24.10.25 – 25.10.25 to Chemnitz

Supervision
Prof. Regine Keller, M.A. Lena Kruse, M.A. Daniel Wolfram
Integration: Dipl. Ing. Ulrich Glöckl (Chair for Traffic Engineering and Control)

Registration
max. 15 students, registration for „Master Project Landscape Architecture I + II + III“ via TUM Online until Monday, 13.10.2025 18:00h