<div>Bytovky na Genterstrasse</div>

Three groups of houses by Munich architect Otto Steidle were completed in 1977. Since then, the greenery from the nearby park (Englische Garten - a huge garden in close proximity to the historic city center) has increasingly encroached upon the residential complex. The saying goes: what the architect messes up, the greenery conceals. Here, thin prefabricated columns blend with the trunks of trees, and colorful facade panels combine with leafy surfaces. The greenery enhances the experience of the place. Over the years, the building matures or declines due to its residents¹).
It is no harm to resist the desire to visit construction sites or houses featured in the latest foreign magazines. The apartment buildings on Genterstrasse, much like the residential district of Pilotengasse, appear more humane after ten or more years than they did when showcased in magazines at the time.
From the very first sketches, the residential structure was intended to appear unfinished, flexible, and expandable. Thus arose the idea of boxes with a lightweight aluminum facade hanging on load-bearing columns. Except for the basement and the twelve-meter stiffening core, prefabricated elements were used. Like every experiment, this building has its flaws, but the fact that the author himself and his own office reside here reflects its exceptional place in the life of Otto Steidle and prefabricated buildings in the West.

¹) "What people make of my buildings is outside my control." Kenzo Tange