This project presentation was created in cooperation with BAUMEISTER.

The preparatory work for this project publication was done as part of the building construction theory in the seminar FAÇADE 4.0 at the TUK through a student thesis by Fayuan Wang.

Reading Signs

At the northern entrance to the city, right next to the mighty baroque building of the episcopal ordinariate, two dilapidated old town houses were demolished in the Swabian town of Rottenburg and a competition for a new city library was announced – as if the burghers, who have historically always been under the church yoke, were aiming for a juxtaposition of knowledge and faith: The award-winning design sets a self-confident signal, but also conveys. Books and visitors make it colourful and lively.
Christoph Gunser (Review)

Right next door, Arno Lederer was allowed to build almost 40 million euros for the diocese years ago, but the city only had a good six million left for the new library. Spatial opulence and delicate details as in the neighboring building were therefore not feasible here. That also had its good side. Although Volker Kurrle from the commissioned office Harris + Kurrle from Stuttgart says he would have liked to have built a monolith all around from visible bricks, as envisaged in the competition. The idea fell victim to the red pen, like the cellar and much more. Kurrle is nevertheless satisfied. Today, the brushed plaster façade, oscillating between light grey and lilac, exudes an almost trendy "shabby chic". In the winter light, it seemed more like concrete, a ruggedly folded mountain of books in the manner of the Swiss school.

Block with kink

So there are ambivalences wherever you look. Depending on the viewer's point of view, the building is present in the urban space in very different ways: he sends the bishop a deliberate exclamation mark, a stretch gable with two slipped cyclopean eyes, which almost competes with the cathedral in the background. A few steps further, on the square, the building unwinds the narrow and broad sides together and is completely a monolith. Out of town, on the other hand, one initially sees only an inconspicuous volume about the width of a house, which does not steal the show from the brightly shining bishop's gable.

"Simple and complex at the same time"

It was above all this subtle urban integration that convinced the jury. The construction is "simple and complex at the same time," she wrote. While the competitors boasted showcases and pointed gables, Harris + Kurrle enclose a courtyard with the existing building at the rear, like two protective hands. The bend in the street front – it marks the former boundary of the two cleared houses – causes the eaves to rise towards the bishop's gable, thus mediating between the low silhouette of the old town and the high building of the ordinariate. Inside the block, a not exactly necessary, but charming passage is created, as there are many in labyrinthine Rottenburg. Inside, the kink also proves to be a successful trick. Although the floor plan is narrow and long, the floors can be easily overlooked when entering, as the conductive outer wall faces you. Contrary to what was planned, the main staircase is not located centrally, but in the narrowest part of the building at the edge. Anyone who climbs the four upper floors looks out several times at the Bolz pitch – named after the resistance fighter Eugen Bolz.

Niches with a view
The windows in general: There is actually only one format (2.50 by 2.50 meters), but that "dances" violently out of line. You may find this a bit fashionable, especially since such wild offsets are not necessarily advisable in masonry construction. But Kurrle doesn't think so much about tectonics, he says. The openings follow the principle of "picture window": where there is something to see, an interesting neighboring house or a view of the nearby Alb landscape, the vineyards or the old tiled roofs all around, that was framed.

*Source: BM 05/19 - GLAS *
Photos: Roland Halbe
Parts of the drawings + isometrics: Fayuan Wang in the seminar FACADE 4.0 a.d. TUK
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