“Architecture endures” was this year’s motto for the 20th anniversary of Architecture Day. More than 1,500 building owners opened their doors to visitors across Germany.
“Architecture endures” was this year’s motto for the 20th anniversary of Architecture Day. More than 1,500 building owners opened their doors to visitors throughout Germany. In NRW, around 38,000 architecture enthusiasts were out and about – hundreds of them in the Lohausen district of Düsseldorf alone.
The former home of Walter Käsbach, the former director of the Düsseldorf Art Academy, was very popular here. Designed by architect Karl Meinhardt in 1929, the clinker brick building, which appears relatively closed from the outside, surprises on the inside: while the entire outer shell of the reddish cube is a listed building, Sigg Architekten were allowed to carry out several conversions inside the building.
Interior walls on the ground floor and second floor were removed and the former small rooms gave way to a flowing spatial structure. The two floors are now visually connected by the new large ceiling opening. The resulting constantly changing visual relationships make the light-flooded two-storey space an exciting experience.
The white lacquered wooden staircase in the middle of the room is also one of the transformations. But there are also original objects in the house: the entrance door, the bathroom, a mosaic and the staircase from the first to the second floor, the former salon. These room elements were not allowed to be changed, this was a requirement of the monument authority.
Another building worth seeing is documented by photographer Henrik Schipper in his pictures: These are the new offices of architects Druschke and Grosser, in the city villa from 1894/95 in Duisburg, which is also a listed building. The architects have skillfully implemented their concept of “synthesis of original plus history plus new use”.
After a number of ruthless renovation measures, the former beauty of the villa could no longer be experienced as it originally was. However, when the retrofitted interior walls, the suspended ceilings and the old linoleum were removed, real gems were revealed: stucco-decorated ceilings, historic fish parquet flooring and colorful wall and floor tiles.
Lovingly restored and effectively staged, these originals now adorn the first floor once again. The original main entrance, hidden for decades by a bathroom that was added later, was rediscovered and now serves as the entrance once again. The old bathtub fitting from the former bathroom was left in place as a spolia and is an absolute eye-catcher. The same goes for the different sized “plaster quotes” on the walls, which were left out during the repainting. They are also decorative witnesses to the eventful history of the house.
Photos urban villa: Henrik Schipper</a>; Photos EFH: Jasmin Sigg
