The new headquarters of the city of Moers GmbH and Stadtbau Moers GmbH is located east of Moers city centre directly opposite the Moers train station in a prominent location on the inner-city east-west main traffic axis Homberger Straße, an important transport hub with connections to public transport as well as vehicle, pedestrian and bicycle traffic. Surrounded by the historic station building with the newly designed forecourt in the north and the Vinzenzpark green area in the west, the building is of great importance in shaping the cityscape.
The two main façade sides facing Vinzenzpark and the station forecourt/Homberger Straße characterise the image of the building. At the same time, the main visual axes in the direction of the city centre and the station forecourt are also located here. Essential for the design is the integration of the building into the urban space and the calming of the heterogeneous environment. This is done, among other things, by forming a clear and continuous façade structure and using clinker brick as a building material typical of the area, taking into account the colour spectrum available in the immediate vicinity.
The design mediates by taking up the heights existing in the surrounding area between the various buildings on the station forecourt. The transition to the west façade with a four-storey orientation towards Vinzenzpark takes place through a continuous cornice band and ends with the opening of the façade of the large meeting room over the corner.
The main entrance was positioned at the corner of Vinzenzpark and the station forecourt, as due to the location of the road crossings, both pedestrian traffic from the station and from the city centre are routed to the entrance and lead to a widening of the sidewalk. The entrance area, accentuated by its structured clinker brick façade, rotates at right angles to the north façade and thus determines the overarching structure of the building, which develops from the property boundaries that are not perpendicular to each other. The turning of the façade areas is consistently continued as a design element throughout the design and thus contributes significantly to the uniform appearance of the building and to the calming of the building structure. This is done in the further façade by screwing in the wall panes to the window openings. The continuous ceiling bands connect the two street-facing façades into a single unit and create a homogeneous appearance.
The uniformly designed façade of the building is integrated into the heterogeneous buildings of the surrounding area. The building has a calm but representative effect with special emphasis on the entrance and corner area. By reducing the materials and consistency of the design, the building is self-confident, yet restrained and complementary to the urban space and contributes to a strong upgrading of the station environment.
During the design, emphasis was placed on a few repetitive detailed designs. As a result, a high-quality design of the building was achieved with average economic effort. The main material of the façade consists of a thermal insulation composite system with cladding made of clinker brick slips. The window sills and roof edge cover were designed in the colour scheme of the clinker brick slips, which underlines the massive appearance. The windows were designed as an aluminium block edge system with a single-sided turn-and-turn sash and fixed parapet element in a dark grey DB iron mica colour.
Source: zweiwerk architekten Kaus + Kurz PartmbB
Photos: zweiwerk architekten Kaus + Kurz PartmbB
