Musikbox im Alten Gaswerk, Augsburg // Germany
15 april
Project: Musikbox im Alten Gaswerk, Augsburg // Germany
Architect: ARGE Johannes Eck + zimmererarchitekten, Munich // Germany
Fabricator: Schütz & Musch GmbH, Scheer // Germany
Installer: Pletschacher Holzbau GmbH, Dasing // Germany
Façade System: easy fiX 135°/135°
Year of Construction: 2022
Product: ALUCOBOND® PLUS Colorado Gold MetallicPhotos + Drawings: Sebastian Scheels + Johannes Eck
Resounding success
This artistic project is part of industrial history. It stands on the siteof the former gasworks in Augsburg. An industrial plant with longbuildings and several tall gasometers, the gasworks was an importantdriving force behind the city's economy and developmentfrom 1915 onwards. However, after the plant had to discontinueoperations in 2001, the premises were left derelict for twentyyears. Now these historic buildings are looking forward to a neweconomic era, namely, as a venue for creativity and culture. Thesite offers the arts a home and, in return, art gives the site with awhole new identity. Studios, theatres and creative design companiesare relocating to the old buildings; new buildings will fill in thegaps between them. One of these buildings, planned by JohannesEck and zimmererarchitekten, has already secured its place in Bavaria’sarchitectural history.Augsburg Music Academy’s new building, with its upper storeysset back from the ones below, was awarded a prize for prefabricatedand sustainable timber panel construction and high architecturalquality. In its interior, there are 52 rooms where musicianscan practise and a floor with office accommodation. Unexpectedbreakthroughs and the interaction triggered at the resulting faultlines, however, are what art really thrives on. This also applies toarchitecture in this case. A large gleaming, golden funnelpierces through the dark, dull timber façade and looks not unlikean oversized megaphone. The building opens up to the viewer atthis point, not only visually: the loggia actually acts as a stagewhere, thanks to the ALUCOBOND® Colorado Gold Metalliccladding, performers can stand immersed in a spectacular light.This is because the rays of sunlight and spotlight beams both refractand reflect diffusely on the ALUCOBOND® panels, bathingthe stage in a warm golden ambiance. The audience on the squarein front of the building can hear the sound of music resounding;so, the interior has an impact on the exterior, only when someoneis performing on this stage, of course.This building is not only filled with music and art, it is also a resoundingsuccess in terms of urban planning, ecology and design;from time to time, it can fill the whole area with music and acreative ambiance. Indeed, that is the true artistry of architecture:creating a building not merely relevant for urban society due to itsactual function but one in which resounds in the public sphere andresonates with people, forming a bond between them.