a+r Architekten

Description

The new Kulturbahnhof Aalen brings together Aalen’s industrial history and twenty-first century architecture. With great sensitivity, the historical building fragments have been successfully integrated into present-day architecture. The building, which now accommodates a cinema, a theatre, the music school, high-quality function halls for cultural events and premises for catering is intended to have a radiant effect throughout the region. After a fire in 2014, fragments of several historical groups of buildings with distinctive sandstone façades and gables could still be found on the site. The guiding concept behind the design was to carefully preserve this heritage and to further develop it into a forward-looking cultural centre for the twenty-first century. The extensively destroyed façade was replaced in a stylised manner using coloured fair-faced concrete — and where possible, the historical character was revived. The roofs of the short side gables were also rebuilt according to the historical design. The longitudinal gable, by contrast, followed a different concept: it was replaced by an elongated rectilinear volume clad in folded perforated sheet metal, thereby creating a spatial reference to the urban edges of the neighbouring area to the south. In contrast to the historical sandstone façade, which has an ornamental, handcrafted and massive appearance, the superimposed sheet metal cladding is simple and restrained.