The new town hall in Remchingen, on a prominent site between federal highway B10 and the green space along the river Pfinz, is conceived as a new center for encounters and communication. Its immediate vicinity is dominated by the Remchingen Cultural Center and a nursing home, which are discrete, self-referential freestanding buildings that do not form an urban spatial relationship to each other.
In order to sustainably improve this situation and establish clear edges to the public space, the building was designed as a honed, pentagonal urban element that has no rear sides and shows its architectural presence both to the newly designed market square and to the two street fronts.
Given the building’s prominent location, its impact to the townscape when viewed from a distance was an important consideration in determining its dimensions: the height of the new four-story building takes its cue from the surrounding buildings, yet it manifests itself as a discrete object that excitingly enhances them. Its rigorous facades made of insulating concrete strengthen the feeling of solidity and anchorage to the site. Within this uniform outer shell, whose mineral-based wall construction is fully recyclable, the large, regularly spaced windows with deep reveals are clearly distinguishable.
The diverse uses of the town hall are already apparent from the outside: the lobby with the municipal services office and the extensive restaurant area on the ground floor, the wedding hall with its urban loggia on the first floor, and the large, two-story council chamber on the second floor with views of the nearby river Pfinz all have impact on the urban surroundings. In order to bring the character of an open house to life for the citizenry, a free plan with fluid spatial boundaries was established around a central atrium.
Completion: 2019
Competition: 1. prize
LPH: 1-8
BGF: 6.360 m²
BRI: 25.880 m³
Builder: Community of Remchingen
Place: Remchingen
Photos: Steimle Architekten / Brigida González
Townhall Remchingen
