Sophisticated newly built Berlin row house wins the 2014 KfW Award for Construction and Housing

Frankfurt (ots) -

- Motto: "Row House Renaissance"
- Ten prizes with a total value of EUR 30,000
- Winners from Berlin, Schleswig-Holstein, Baden-Wuerttemberg,
Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia and
Lower Saxony

The KfW Group has presented the 12th annual KfW Award for
Construction and Housing in Berlin. The chosen winners are building
owners who have modernised or built new row houses on limited
building plots in such a way that they can be used extremely
efficiently and provide a place where people can feel good. The ten
prize winners were each presented with a cash prize from the total
prize money of EUR 30,000 by the twelve-strong panel led by Prof.
Hans Kollhoff, an architect based in Zurich/Berlin. Five out of the
ten prize winners built a new row house, and the other five each
modernised an existing one. The winning entries represent successful
architecture that satisfies the ambitious standards of KfW efficient
houses and where many smart initiatives have also been implemented to
remove barriers.

In the presence of Uwe Beckmeyer, Parliamentary State Secretary in
the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, KfW head of
department Werner Genter presented the KfW Awards to the prize
winners. "The winners of the KfW Awards have created attractive and
energy-efficient solutions for living space in urban areas.
Constructed on small building plots, they offer a lot of floor area
and demonstrate astounding design creativity in terms of their
facades and interior space," said Mr Genter.

State Secretary Beckmeyer emphasised: "With the KfW Award for
Construction and Housing, KfW sends out an important signal for
sustainable, forward-looking construction. Energy efficiency and the
absence of barriers in the construction industry are issues that are
particularly important to the German federal government as well. The
prize winners, who will this year be honoured for projects in the
field of terraced housing, are representative of forward-looking
trends in Germany. I would like to congratulate the prize winners on
this achievement".

The prize winners:

First prize (of EUR 10,000):

Michelle Howard, Lucio Auri, Caroline Eggel and Jeroen Jacobs
created their sophisticated newly built Berlin row house for two
families on a thin parcel of land but with spacious rooms. Instead of
building the usual dividing wall between two neighbouring houses,
both apartments are constructed in such a way that they interlock on
each floor.

Second prize (of EUR 6,000):

Holger Braack and Sigrid Strehler in Luebeck demonstrate that
sophisticated living and working is possible even in the smallest of
spaces. They combined romanticism with high-tech in their old
restored town house.

Third prize (of EUR 4,000):

The Maschke-Wezel family have created a town house in
collaboration with their neighbours in a new housing district in
Tuebingen. They have enhanced the look of this part of town through
their open and inviting house.

Fourth prize (of EUR 3,000):

Cornelius and Yvonne Boy have restored a 1920's style row house in
Frankfurt and made it suitable for modern-day living. The project
makes it possible to live in a family-friendly, technically
up-to-date version of an early modern house with a garden and small
roof terrace.

Fifth prize (of EUR 2,000):

Building owner Doris Theisen has enhanced the town centre of
Bitburg with her stylish new build. With 15 rented apartments and a
local business, the building is located on fallow land on the
outskirts of the town and enhances the streets and squares of
Bitburg.

The other five prize winners (of EUR 1,000 each):

- Reinhard and Uta Priebe have integrated farm worker residences
into a village terraced house in Oldenburg (Schleswig-Holstein)

- Anja and Frank Müller have recreated a typical late 19th century
"Gründerzeit" house with brick facade in Zwickau (Saxony)

- Matthias-Claudius-Sozialwerk designed the newly built
Claudius-Höfe in Bochum (North Rhine-Westphalia) as a "village
within a town"

- Gerhard and Roswitha de Buhr have adapted a listed town row
house in Emden (Lower Saxony) to meet today's requirements

- The Schulte Kellinghaus family in Freiburg (Baden-Wuerttemberg)
have created a new build with a glazed gallery space

The panel of experts led by Prof. Hans Kollhoff comprises urban
developers and energy experts, architects and representatives from
the construction and housing sectors, media and KfW. As one of the
largest funders of home ownership as well as energy efficiency and
the reduction of barriers in residential buildings, KfW launched the
construction and housing competition in 2003.

Through its promotional programmes, KfW helps building owners meet
the requirements of modern construction. For information on financing
opportunities, visit www.kfw.de or contact us on 0800 539 9002.

Further information on the prize winners and photos from the press
are available at www.kfw.de/award. The daily newspaper "Die Welt" is
the media partner of the 2014 KfW Awards.

Contact:
KfW, Palmengartenstr. 5 - 9, 60325 Frankfurt
Kommunikation (KOM), Sybille Bauernfeind,
Tel. +49 (0)69 7431 2038, Fax: +49 (0)69 7431 3266,
E-Mail: presse@kfw.de, Internet: www.kfw.de