Volksbank-Areal | Germany
20 september 2022
Project: Volksbank-Areal, Freiburg | Germany
Architect: Hadi Teherani Architects GmbH, Hamburg | Germany
Fabricator & Installer: Siegfried Wölz Stahl- und Metallbau GmbH & Co. KG, Gundelfingen a. d. Donau + Henke AG, Hagen | Germany
Façade System: Tray panels special design
Year of Construction: 2021
Product: ALUCOBOND® A2 anodized look C34 + special colour C35
Photos: Jochen Stüber
NORTHWEST VIEW
Different uses come together in this Freiburg building complex: The Volksbank on the right, hotel on the left. The main claims to fame for Freiburg im Breisgau are its idyllic old town centre, its unconventional, eco-friendly housing projects and the nearby Black Forest. However, Freiburg can also lay claim to a cutting-edge urban character as exemplified by the tall stand-alone buildings in the area around the railway station. A new complex has been added to these buildings. On the drawing board, the project seemed to be an almost impossible task owing to the disparate range of purposes. The plot of land was approximately 9,000 m² in size and set in an extremely prominent position. A really large site, you might think; but in fact, considering all the different premises located on it, the plot is not big at all. It is the location for the Volksbank offices and client service areas, a grammar school annexe (comprising an assembly hall, music rooms, school chapel and kitchens), an entire hotel, a supermarket and a food hall. The design submitted by the Hadi Teherani architectural office was the competition winner. The architects, on the one hand, came up with exactly the right dimensions and formats in response to the very diverse and somewhat fragmented surrounding architecture; on the other, their project communicates a modern, urban and self-confident image. In addition, they managed to make provision for diversity in the interior yet fuse the individual parts of the building into an overall coherent entity. They bundled sections together by stacking and attaching wings and storeys. They set the bundles side by side or on top of each other, they shifted some to the fore and others to the rear. The result is a perfect example of how disparate components can be unified in one place. By adopting the method of stacking storeys into bundles and varying the height of the different sections, the architects were able to integrate the building into the neighbouring architectural milieu. Finally, they clad the whole complex of buildings in a single, uniform façade. They selected a dark ribbon façade made of glass and ALUCOBOND® in anodised look C34 and special colour C35. The effect is reminiscent of classic, international modernism, like the American skyscrapers designed by Mies van der Rohe, and bears no relation to any traditional southern German style. The architects, however, believe there is an unmistakeable local motif: because like the fir trees in the Black Forest, light-coloured ALUCOBOND® strips stretch upwards towards the sky against the background of the dark façade. Wall and ceiling elements which feature in the classic yet modern building interior are made of wooden slats and refer to tall, slender fir tree trunks. One thing is certain: thanks to all the vertical and horizontal straight edges found in the interior and on the exterior, the whole building complex is well rounded and successful in terms of function, design and urban planning.