(D)	Since it was founded in Cologne in 1996, b&k+ has been working regularly with artists, composers and scientists, housing them "in residence" in their agency, and thus showing an openness to different disciplines, but incorporating them as fully-fledged partners in their projects. For b&k+ architects are no longer those great general practitioners, but rather "positive dilettantes", striving to propose greater freedom of action through their own capacity of incorporation. This is why they often resort to a modular basic structure, which is enhanced by new applications and extensions suggested by users themselves. As the authors of several award-winning housing units in Cologne, b&k+ combines formal research with the use of the most extreme restrictions, like this housing complex in Cologne whose façade does not exceed 3 metres. The Am Kölner Brett housing project is a combination of L-shape modules which can be arranged vertically or horizontally thus giving rise to invariably different inner configurations. The system of outside circulation, through terrace-balconies -suspended above the ground using a special technical feat- is aimed at turning it into an area of communication. This building contains offices and housing units, and can be repeatedly reconfigured by its residents.
b&k+ Brandlhuber (Arno Hans) (1964), Kniess (Bernd Georg) (1961) • New Loft/Am Kölner Brett Cologne, réalisé 2000