Aalen, Germany
With great sensitivity to the local architectural history, a+r Architekten integrates historical building fragments into present-day architecture while developing a cultural center for the 21st century, in their Kulturbahnhof Aalen project.
Kulturbahnhof Aalen has recently been awarded a 2023 International Architecture Award by The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies.
In the past, the area now known as Aalen’s Stadtoval was occupied, among other things, by railway tracks.
As part of the inner-city expansion, the Kulturbahnhof takes a central position: the building, which now accommodates a cinema, a theatre, the music school, high-quality function halls for cultural events, and premises for catering, is intended to have a radiant effect throughout the region.
After a fire in 2014, fragments of several historical groups of buildings with distinctive sandstone façades and short cross gables could still be found on the site.
The guiding idea behind the design was to carefully preserve this heritage and to further develop it into a forward-looking cultural center for the 21st century.
The extensively destroyed façade was replaced in a stylized manner using colored fair-faced concrete — and where possible, the historical character was revived.
The roofs of the short-side gables were also rebuilt according to the historical design.
The longitudinal gable, by contrast, followed a different concept: it was replaced by an elongated cuboid-shaped volume clad in folded perforated plate, thereby creating a spatial reference to the urban edges of the neighboring area to the south.
In contrast to the historical sandstone façade, which has an ornamental, handcrafted, and massive appearance, the superimposed cuboid is simple and restrained.
The historical façade provides the shell of a generous space.
New boxes were placed inside this completely gutted space, zoning the interior for different uses.
These boxes also support and brace the new load-bearing structure.
The large halls and the public uses are housed in the old building.
The rooms of the music school and the theatre workshops are housed in the new volume, the cuboid.
These rooms “serving” cultural production and education symbolically arch over the show stages for the culturally interested public.
It was important to us to create an authentic and independent ambiance for the different cultural venues with historical components such as materials, windows, and a visible roof construction.
According to the town of Aalen, the now shared building for the diverse cultural venues, which were previously spread across several locations, is expected to contribute to optimizing resources, pooling synergies, and ensuring cost savings in the long term.
Project: Kulturbahnhof Aalen
Architects: a+r Architekten
Design Team: Hellmut Schiefer, Simon Knöner, Sybille Schmid, and Stefan Hofmann
Landscape Architects: G+H Ingenieurteam GmbH
General Contractor: Otto Heil GmbH & Co. KG
Client: Town of Aalen
Photographers: Brigida González
