Name: 2nd Ground
Studio Type: Solo
Time: Apr 26 - Jun 26
Location: Germany
Context: University of Kaiserslautern, Germany
My bachelorthesis is a residential and mixed-use intervention built above the Theodor-Heuss-Brücke in Heidelberg, reimagining the bridge as inhabitable ground rather than mere passage. The project comprises 75 modular housing units across four typologies, student micro-units, collective co-living, family apartments, and barrier-free senior living, layered above a 2,000 m² permeable public ground floor with commercial and civic programming.
Central to the design is the idea that geometry itself functions as the sustainability strategy: a green edge wraps the structure, floor levels are stacked and set back to modulate light and privacy, and a curved steel façade responds to orientation and river conditions. Rather than treating sustainability as an added layer, the project embeds it directly into the building's form and structure.
The result is a piece of city suspended above water - dense, mixed, and quietly self-sufficient.
Dorian Prattes © Photo-Credits @Yusuf Yilmaz
