Balcony access homes

The term refers to a type of housing block not very common in Germany, where a series of rental apartments is accessible from a balcony open to one side and running across the front of the building. This simple idea cut building costs by moving the staircase and apartment doors outside, a familiar feature of American motels. The walkway is shared by all tenants on that floor, usually with a guard railing and leading to an open staircase at the side of the house. A similar example is Otto-Rudolf Salvisberg's bridge house at the White City estate in Berlin-Reinickendorf, and at the south-east end of the Siemensstadt estate in Hans Scharoun's extension from the 1950s.

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