Studiomolter Gives a Second Life to a 1960s Housing Block with a Solar Panel–Clad Addition

The small Bavarian city of Regensburg, like other urban areas in southern Germany, engaged in a postwar building boom, which continued into the 1960s, to house the city’s growing industrial workforce. StadtBau Regensburg (SR), a city-owned development company, built over 4,000 social housing units during this period. Those now aged structures require overhauls, so, to keep the developments viable, SR has embarked on several substantial renovations to bring them up to contemporary building-performance and occupant-comfort standards.

One such project is a 14-story tower with 58 units, dating from 1967, which has undergone its own modernization and the addition of a conjoined tower, led by Munich-based architect studiomolter. Most conspicuously, the project, completed early last year, entailed cladding it in 8,300 square feet of photovoltaic (PV) panels and recycled corrugated-aluminum sheets.