International Architecture Awards Tell a friend
ARCHIVE 2019
Architects: Meixner Schlueter Wendt
Design Team: Claudia Meixner, Florian Schlueter, Martin Wendt
Client: Evangelischer Regionalverband
General Contractor: Joest
Photographers: Christoph Kraneburg
The building at Römerberg 9 is in an outstanding position in the centre of the City of Frankfurt/Main.
It has great potential for being noticed in the urban fabric, and as such gives the city academy of the Protestant Church enormous presence in the city centre.
In terms of typology, the original building at Römerberg 9 was ambiguous – in line with its years of use as a parish hall. It hardly looked like a public building, resembling if anything the adjoining residential structures.
For the redesign of the city academy at Römer 9, the edifice was altered in terms of scale and proportion in line with its public significance. Its size and shape sets it clearly apart from the residential buildings.
In conjunction with the qualities of the surroundings, the facade/sheath transforms the qualities of the existing building.
Terms such as public sphere and transparency find their equivalent. The transparent, archetypal saddle-roof building that has emerged as a result appears to be hovering, and by means of this alienation triggers many associations.
The concrete plans for Römerberg 9 envisaged a story being added to the middle section of the building so as to extend the layout to include an events room.
The new thermal sheath covers the load-bearing structure and provides a link between the existing building and the added floor.
The 1950s load-bearing structure remains visible and indeed networks the facade with the neighboring buildings. Partial printing of the windows referencing the ornaments of the 1950’s edifice, which in turn trigger associations with the historical half-timbered structure, provides another link with the surroundings.
