Aegidienhof, Community housing project in Old City, Lübeck, Germany
Aegidienhof is a residential complex of 12 brick buildings arranged around a central courtyard between St. Annen Street and Weberstrasse in Lubeck's Old City. The site contains 52 housing units plus 10 studios, offices, and workshops, equipped with a shared combined heat and power plant and a rainwater collection system.
The site was founded in 1301 as a Beguinage, a medieval women's community with a chapel featuring large window openings and a bricked-in pointed arch doorway. Over centuries, the place evolved and was eventually transformed in the early 21st century into a modern communal housing project.
The courtyard brings together residents of different ages and backgrounds who share living spaces alongside studios, offices, and workshops. This communal approach shapes everyday interactions within the complex, where neighborly exchange and shared resources are visible parts of daily life.
The complex is best explored on foot, with easy access from the surrounding Old City streets. Visitors can walk through the open courtyard, but should respect that this is an active residential space where people live and work daily.
The buildings preserve portions of the original medieval chapel, including the distinctive large window openings and the bricked-in pointed arch entrance. These architectural remnants from the Beguines are subtly visible within the modern residential spaces, revealing traces of the site's long past.
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