Landessparkasse zu Oldenburg
18 september 2020
Treasure chest
It helps to focus on the essence or the inner core at all times, not only at times of crisis. In this country that usually means that a house is a building and, traditionally, a house has a pitched roof, four exterior walls and a rectangular floor plan. This truth also applies in Brake, a small town where red roofs hunker down beneath green trees, seeking shelter from the blustery winds and water from the North Sea which often whip across the flat landscape. Here, even more so than in other locations, pitched roofs provide people with essential protection against the elements. The small-scale development of low-rise, unassuming detached houses and rows of buildings is typical of Brake. The only things towering above the town are the steel cranes and silos in the industrial port. RKW Architekten + opted for a building in line both in size and scale with regional styles when designing the local Sparkasse bank premises. The sizeable overall floor area required was divided up to adapt its dimensions to Brake and the architects planned four long, two-storey oblong buildings with pitched roofs – four small treasure chests shaped like a house. There are glass connecting sections, which look like alleyways between the rows, uniting the individual buildings to form a whole. In the interior, the volumes combine to form spacious open plan areas and large spaces, ideally suited to a modern business environment. The fact that the small-town ensemble appears contemporary and future-oriented is mainly due to the building façade. Large-format ALUCOBOND® tray panels stretch over the building creating a building envelope without projections or ledges, without delineation between roofs and walls, but clearly distinguishing between open glazed areas and closed ones, between spaces which are welcoming and more protected ones. The monolithic Silver Metallic ALUCOBOND® façade not only reflects the rapidly changing North Sea weather, but also makes reference to Brake's industrial harbour, which has always been the heart blood of the city.
Project: Landessparkasse zu Oldenburg, Brake | Germany
Architect: RKW Architektur +, Dusseldorf | Germany
Fabricator: BOBO Produktions- und Vertriebs GmbH, Leipzig | Germany
Installer: Stallkamp GmbH, Rodenkirchen | Germany
Façade System: Riveted, Screwed
Year of Construction: 2017
Product: ALUCOBOND® PLUS metallic colours | Silver Metallic 500
Photos: Marcus Pietrek