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Architects: Lukas Imhof Architektur
- Area: 31200 m²
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Photographs:Hannes Heinzer
Text description provided by the architects. How to deal with the design of a technical facility, that was originally developed without any particular design requirements - but nevertheless has some aesthetic qualities? Furthermore is located in the middle of a protected nature zone and situated directly on the Rhine?
General strategy - Our strategy does not rely on contrasts or confrontation of old and new. Rather, we tried to look for the qualities of the existing, to strengthen them and to develop them further in a new form. Qualities of the existing are, for example, approaches of uniformity, an almost urban quality of the spaces and a solid execution of the buildings.
This strategy aims to ensure that a beautiful new building is not simply placed next to an unattractive old building, but that the old and the new communicate with each other, and in the best case even enrich each other. The result is easily recognizable, for example, in the case of the new EMV building and the old building directly opposite: both buildings have "moved towards each other". The existing building has been painted gray-brown under its exposed concrete roof, which corresponds to the pre-greyed wooden façade of the new building. The new building, in turn, has a concrete termination above its wooden façade that is the same height as its neighbor's, but more finely finished and profiled with a canopy. Thus, these two buildings, which are directly opposite each other, become unequal siblings - but together they span a square that has some spatial quality.
This strategy will continue to be used on the site in the future. Similar elements will be used whenever possible: dark-painted plaster, exposed concrete, and vertically articulated wood facades in pre-greyed fir. Concrete canopies are used to protect these wood facades. This element is also used again and again - for example at the EMC plant or the stacking-mixing containers, thus contributing to the uniform appearance of the entire plant. This strategy of reduction to a few elements that make sense from a technical and ecological point of view ensures that the AVA facility will gain in design quality as it is expanded in the future - and as a whole, not as a collection of individual objects.
