Bilger Fellmeth Architekten

Description

The Pfaudlerstrasse residential building is part of an inner-city conversion. The new neighbourhood is being built on the site of a former enamelling plant. The building marks the entrance to the new neighbourhood. It is part of a row of houses and yet stands out as a head-end building. Due to its number of storeys, the offset in the urban layout, its square footprint and the special façade, it appears almost as a freestanding structure in the ensemble of buildings. The load-bearing structure and fenestration of the building are universally designed to enable various utilisation scenarios. Commercial space is located on the ground floor with its south-facing arcade. The outer shell of the façade is covered with ceramic relief tile. All incised façade surfaces such as arcades, loggias and window reveals are plastered white. These areas appear like light parts of the interior. The geometry of the wedge-shaped relief tile is echoed in the angled steel balustrades of the loggias. The choice of glazed ceramic tile as façade material is a reminder of the site’s previous use as an enamelling plant. Enamelling involves melting glass onto iron, glazing onto ceramics. Opposite the building, one of the old factory halls will be reconstructed using the original bricks. The entrance to the quarter will thus be flanked by the material dialogue between the old brick walls and the ceramic façade of the Pfaudlerstrasse building.