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Architects: Atelier Kaiser Shen
- Area: 1584 m²
- Year: 2024
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Photographs:Brigida González
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Lead Architects: Kilian Juraschitz
Text description provided by the architects. The concept of expanding and extending buildings, is once again state-of-the-art as firstly it fulfills the wish for continuity and secondly expanding offers a pragmatic approach to energy and material inputs. This concept was used as the basis for the renovation of the Ingerkingen multi-purpose hall. The architects were less interested in the original shape but rather the potential for further construction. Since part of the building could be simply and functionally integrated into the new concept, Atelier Kaiser Shen considered it obvious to retain the original. To reduce demolition work to a minimum, the foundations, the floor slab, the ceilings and the walls in the northern and western section were integrated into the planning. In this way, a total of 60 percent of the built mass was preserved.
The above-described retention of a large part of the old build was only possible by developing an innovative loadbearing system. A rampant double-jointed frame made of laminated timber now rests on the axial grid of the existing reinforced concrete supports. Thanks to the girder geometry and the rigid corners of the frame, only 40 percent of the vertical loads and no horizontal loads transfer onto the old structure. Precisely this innovative load-bearing structure enabled the existing foundations to be retained and the loads to be borne despite the greater spans. Throughout the building, the wooden load-bearing structure defines the architecture and delivers a unique sense of space.
Thanks to their respective structures and materials, the old and new structures can be clearly distinguished. The solid existing walls were insulated and then plastered using the original rendering. The addition in height and expansion using a light wooden frame construction is clearly legible thanks to the back-ventilated wooden facade. The narrative of the hall's construction history is thus told in particular on the west and north facades.
While the layers of time are hard to overlook on the building's exterior, the primary objective on the building's inside was to create a uniform spatial impression. On closer inspection, here, too, different layers of time can be seen. Thus, in the backstage room, the masonry from the time it was built, subsequent repair work and additions made of hollow bricks and concrete have been left without plastering and simply smoothed using lime sludge. The smoothly sealed surfaces of the wooden frame walls still show the signs of the building's added height and expansion.
With the Ingerkingen Multi-Purpose Hall, Atelier Kaiser Shen has demonstrated the great advantages of caring and careful modernization compared to erecting a new build by way of replacement. Alongside the grey energy tied down in the old building and the memories associated with it, the dialog of old and new generates aesthetic added value. Compared to a possible substitute new build, modernization of the Hall also proved to be more cost efficient. It can thus act as a role model for many halls in Germany that require modernization.
