Description

The workshop for the sewage treatment department was built in order to improve design and logistical performance of the Großklärwerk Köln plant’s premises. The new building covers various uses: all fitting, welding and repair works as well as a wide range of fine-mechanical works and maintenance of heavy duty vehicles and large-volume pumps require respective spaces. The clear architectural language ties all the different functions together and comprehensively defines the building as a new part within the compound.

As an addition to the existing building, the new workshop by Wolfgang Felder forms a linear ensemble with various exterior spaces following after each other. It consists of a two-storey hall with an attached workshop space. The respective parts of the building have been clearly differentiated from each other. The hall, which has its access to the west, is a massive concrete cube. The bearing structure with prominent skylights made of satin-finish glass creates very good day light conditions for the interior workspaces and a characteristic appearance of the building from the outside. The low-rise single-storey workshop wing is orientated towards a park-like space to the east and is fully glazed on this side. This façade provides sufficient daylight for the workbenches and workplaces and a link to the exterior. The use of timber profiles for the glazed façade and chipboard facings for the partitions creates an intimate interior atmosphere.

As a result of the tight budget the designers had to resort to prefabricated building elements: a steel skeleton and a curtain wall of artificial stone sandwich-panels. The colored surfaces of the slabs contain a high amount of green granite chippings within the dark screed. Consequently, the surface changes depending on the light and humidity: when it rains the entire façade of the hall is almost black. Industrial standard details and the use of simple building materials like chipboard and cement screed helped to reduce cost without compromising quality.

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Originally published in: Jürgen Adam, Katharina Hausmann, Frank Jüttner, Industrial Buildings: A Design Manual, Birkhäuser, 2004.