The twin project – consisting of a visitor information centre for the Sparrenburg and an information point for the Johannisberg park landscape – relates the cultural monument to the landscape monument through two related architectural interventions. Only a few structural elements of the Sparrenburg fortress have been preserved. Today's castle courtyard is defined by a tower, the main building and the remains of the castle gate. In order to make the threshold come alive again, the new building forms a new passage and entrance space with the torso of the old gatehouse, which reinterprets the historical situation. At the same time, the building figure succeeds in creating a spatial setting of the castle courtyard. The reinterpretation of historical motifs can be experienced sensually, especially in the material of the tamped concrete from which the body of the visitor centre was layered. Like the sediment layers of grown stones, the colours and textures of the castle ruins flow into the wall surfaces.
The design of the Johannisberg information point is based on the intervention at the gatehouse of the Sparrenburg in terms of form, dimension and material. While the Sparrenburg Visitor Centre is formulating a new gate space, the information point acts as a spatial echo of its configuration. In a subliminal way, the "gate function" of the house at the northern entrance to the park is conveyed. The material, which is handcrafted in individual, visible rammed layers, realises an architectural form that charmingly complements the nature of the park landscape precisely because of the lack of the usual technical perfection.
The Sparrenburg Visitor Information Centre received recognition in the db competition "Respect and Perspective – Building in Existing Buildings" in 2014 as well as the AIT Office Application Award 2014. In 2015, the twin project was honoured with the award of exemplary buildings in NRW as well as with an award at the materialPreis 2015 in the concrete & stone category.
[Source: Max Dudler] (https://www.maxdudler.de/de/projekte/zwillingsprojekt-sparrenburg-und-johannisberg/)
[Photos: Stefan Josef Müller] (http://stefanjosefmueller.de/)
