Description

The parking hall of Wolf Bau AG was intended to comprise some 2,500 m² of maintenance and parking areas for vehicles. The concrete hall has the sole function of weather protection and does not afford heating, insulation, or sanitary spaces. Apart from this, the client’s main objective was to build the hall in a do-it-yourself way. As a result of its simple function the hall appears as a monolithic volume, the design drawing on the notion of a rock lying in the landscape.

The pre-stressed in-situ concrete structure has been built from regionally sourced materials like cement, water, and lime. Nine pre-stressed two-hinged frames spaced at 7.10 m form the primary structure. Sidewalls that lean slightly in­wards reduce the roof span and diminish the angle for the transmission of forces at the frame corners. To achieve the intended simple structure, the spacing of the girders was optimized in accordance with the formwork system. The walls and ceiling slabs, which were added afterwards, provide additional stiffening; the walls are also load-bearing.

The tilted side walls characterise the 3.70 m high interior space which is subdivided by a row of columns along the length of the building. Daylight enters the hall through large amethyst-blue Profilit glazings at both gable ends and through two horizontal glazed strips in the longitudinal façades. The floor area can be flexibly rearranged due to the installation of a 2.50 m x 9 m mezzanine level made of prefabricated and pre-stressed ribbed concrete slabs. These are supported lengthwise by binding beams and columns that are also pre­fabricated. The basement level is accessed via a ramp suitable for lorries. Cantilevering horizontal concrete elements protect the glazed gates and windows. The shadows cast by these elements almost conceal the glazed areas. In conjunction with the fact that the building has no actual roof build-up or expansion joint, this effect supports the monolithic character of the overall form of the building.

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