wulf architekten
Bavarian State Police
best architects 25
office/administrative buildings
Place
Stuttgart, Germany
Studio
Photos
Brigida González
Description
The new building complex for the Bavarian State Police lends a higher profile to its urban setting with its clearly defined staggered contour running parallel to Karlsbader Strasse. The scale and shape of the building convey its overall importance. Height graduation and horizontal structuring of the façade create an exciting dialogue with the elongated, sloping site with its slight bend, making an emblematic impression. An outdoor stairway leads to a prominent sheltered main entrance. A courtyard typology was chosen as a way of organising the complex spatial programme and dividing the police yard with its vehicle fleet from the public space. The main building houses five police functions (local police station, criminal police with a new cybercrime department, border police, central emergency services and technical services) as well as central spaces for daily police operations and a public area on the ground floor. The employee canteen as well as parking spaces for all police and visitor vehicles are situated in and around the annex. These two building wings are each arranged around a courtyard for adequate daylight. Horizontal bands of ribbon windows that continue around the corners, alongside bronze-coloured slats, articulate the façade. The interplay between these horizontal elements and vertically grooved render in midnight blue gives the building complex its unique appearance.