BelForm has received seven awards at the German Design Award 2027. These accolades include six residential projects, ranging from student accommodation to premium micro-apartment buildings, as well as a serviced apartment building. The projects demonstrate BelForm's expertise in the repositioning of existing properties, conversions, and new build developments, with a focus on user-oriented design.
A prominent example is the Little East project in Frankfurt. For this apartment building with 276 units in Frankfurt's Ostend, a repositioning was achieved through a new concept and adapted interior design, without altering the floor plans or the facade. The redesign included bright colour schemes, zoned floor plans, fitted kitchens with optimised storage space, and the creation of a living lobby and a rooftop terrace. This resulted in an occupancy rate of over 95 percent and a doubling of the average resident stay duration from six to twelve months.
Comprehensive design expertise
The spectrum of awarded projects ranges from the repositioning of existing structures, to conversions of former office buildings, such as the ELA 105 in Frankfurt am Main, to new builds with extensive units, for example a high-rise with 485 apartments in Berlin. BelForm supports these projects from initial market and location analysis through architecture, interior design, and furnishing, to digitalisation and leasing. The awards confirm the approach that the design of the entire property – from the entrance areas, hallways, and communal spaces to the individual apartments – must be considered as a coherent whole.
Benjamin Oeckl, Managing Director of BelForm GmbH & Co. KG, emphasised that the era of blandly furnished apartments is over. He stressed that residents in smaller spaces, such as 20 square metres, do not have fewer needs, but in some areas even heightened needs, which require well-thought-out solutions. This begins at the building's entrance door. The recognition by the German Design Award underscores the success of this concept, as projects are consistently developed from the perspective of the future residents, in close collaboration with teams for location analysis, realisation, and leasing. The fact that six of the seven awards went to residential projects shows that this approach works from student accommodation to the premium segment.
Diversity of awarded properties
- —Little East, Frankfurt am Main: Repositioning of an apartment building with 276 units, increasing occupancy rate and length of stay.
- —Blue Gate, Aachen: Design of 500 square metres of communal areas for 300 student apartments, opening for the winter semester 2026/27.
- —behomie, Düsseldorf: Conversion of a city villa into 46 premium micro-apartments, focus on high-quality materials and space-saving solutions.
- —Serviced Apartment Building Levelingstraße, Munich: Design of a building with 90 serviced apartments, including lobby, hallways, communal areas, and a rooftop terrace.
Further awarded projects include Krautstraße in Berlin with 485 furnished apartments, Wohnen am Gleis Park in Berlin with 76 apartments, and the conversion of the former office building ELA 105 in Frankfurt am Main into 77 high-quality micro-apartments. The award ceremony will take place on 29 January 2027 as part of the German Design Award Show at Messe Frankfurt.
