18.10.2024

Housing + daycare center in Olching by hirner & riehl architekten und stadtplaner

Building design

The residential and daycare structure in Olching is characterized by its hybrid timber construction. Copyright: Sebastian Schels

In the north-west of Munich, hirner & riehl architekten und stadtplanerhave built the “Großer Berg”, a residential complex with a daycare center. The special feature is the timber hybrid construction, which offers sheltered retreats thanks to recesses. Everything about the project here.

Olching is a suburb of Munich with a population of 24,650. On Münchner Strasse, the architects from hirner & riehl architekten und stadtplaner designed a residential complex with a 7-group daycare center. The funding came from the Bavarian state government’s municipal housing subsidy program. This is because timber hybrid construction offers many environmental advantages that are supported by the funding program.

The design divides the volume into two new buildings. Bar-shaped structures are arranged in an L-shape in relation to each other. This creates a closed front towards the street, while a sheltered inner courtyard for the daycare center can be found on the inside. The buildings are staggered on the west side in the attic and on the south side towards the inner courtyard, creating recesses. The spacious terrace of the daycare center zones the open spaces between the floors.

The floor plan layout was the starting point for the daycare center in Olching. According to the development plan, an inner courtyard was already planned. By cleverly staggering the floors in a timber hybrid construction, the architects were able to create generous space as well as sheltered retreats. Both the children and the residents of the 31 apartments benefit from this.

The apartments are accessed via arcades. These serve as a noise buffer, but also offer the opportunity for distanced interaction. They all have a large front zone, creating an open, communicative atmosphere.

The exterior walls are designed as non-load-bearing timber stud walls. Thanks to their short construction time, they could be installed as prefabricated elements. The facades of the loggias and inner courtyards are accentuated with wooden panels in various colors, while the daycare center stands out with its colored floor and ceiling formwork.

The structure offers 31 barrier-free apartments, 20 of which are located in the West House and 11 in the East House. Two of these are wheelchair-accessible. Four 1-room apartments, eleven 2-room apartments, twelve 3-room apartments and four 4-room apartments are spread across the four-storey residential complex.

The daycare center offers space for seven groups with main and side rooms: four crèche groups and three kindergarten groups for up to 123 children. The building has two storeys and is a timber hybrid construction.

Melanie Wenderlein, partner in charge at hirner & riehl architekten und stadtplaner, said of the project: “The main task of the design was to accommodate the two uses, residential and kindergarten, in such a close context and also to “hide” the very busy street as much as possible. Both buildings are therefore accessed via arcades on their “noisy side”. The arcades serve as a kind of noise buffer. At the same time, however, they provide access and thus a generous communication area. In the courtyard also between the kindergarten and residents.”

The client for the project is the town of Olching. Planning began in 2018. Construction took place between August 2020 and 2023 and the apartments and daycare center are now part of the town of Olching. They are heated with district heating. A PV system on the roof provides electricity.

There is an underground garage with 44 parking spaces for residents, daycare center employees and visitors. Its entrance is innovatively designed as a playground in the shape of a ship’s bow, including a flagpole and wheelhouse. This is based on the name of the kindergarten, Noah’s Ark.

Each residential floor has its own color, creating a gradation of blue tones. The kindergarten on the first floor combines the shades of blue with its colorful façade and adds further hues. Inside, the colors of the building are reflected in the various daycare groups.

In the foyer of the nursery, there is a “touch wall” where the children can feel the imprint of the wooden boards from the hybrid timber façade embedded in the concrete. Different materials such as cork, fur and bark can also be felt there.

hirner & riehl architekten und stadtplaner is a studio in Munich. Since 1990, Martin Hirner and Dr. Martin Riehl have been developing sustainable buildings that meet formal as well as functional and ecological requirements. In doing so, they always use the conditions they find as a starting point for projects. In 2016, they were joined by three office partners, Melanie Wenderlein, Robert Härtl and Matthias Marschner. Today, the Munich-based office has over 50 employees.

hirner & riehl architekten und stadtplaner have been known for their innovative timber construction since 2001. They are among the pioneers of this material in Bavaria. In addition to the renovation and conversion of large historical building complexes, the studio focuses on the construction of new educational buildings for all age groups. In 2018, for example, the team demonstrated how important the integration process is for the creation of successful architecture with the “Bellevue di Monaco” refugee project. For the project Holzstrohbau Haus St. Wunibald, they received the award for renewable raw materials and the Bavarian Climate Protection Award.

07.12.2024

Exhibitions

Touching special showcase objects in the Unterlinden Museum is permitted

Building design

Museum

"Hands-on stations" at the Unterlinden Museum in Colmar allow visitors to touch comparably crafted showcase objects. Photo: Unterlinden Museum, Christian Kempf

The Unterlinden Museum in Colmar has redesigned its archaeology department. The contemporary presentation of archaeological artifacts can serve as a model for other, comparable museums The presentation of evidence from early periods of human history is a delicate task. In many museums, this department is all too often seen by visitors as a quick passage to later epochs, […]

The Unterlinden Museum in Colmar has redesigned its archaeology department. The contemporary presentation of archaeological artifacts can serve as a model for other comparable museums

Communicating the evidence of early periods of human history is a delicate task. In many museums, this section is all too often seen by visitors as a quick passage to later eras, especially when no spectacular highlights such as gold treasures, bog bodies or princely tombs are to be expected. At the Unterlinden Museum in Colmar, an attempt has now been made to present the excavated finds in a contemporary didactic way and thus make them “speak”.

Fundamental redesign

The archaeological collection, which includes finds from the Neolithic to the Iron Age and thus covers a period from around 5500 to 50 BC, is located in an area of 250 square meters in the historic cellar of a former Dominican monastery. It had been closed since 2011 and has since been completely redesigned. The museum team at the Unterlinden Museum in Colmar has designed a trilingual chronological tour that allows visitors to explore various aspects of the history of Alsace such as housing, agriculture, crafts, household and burial rites.

At the beginning, documentation of the Neolithic settlement of Alsace

An overview is provided by a timeline that places the Alsatian finds in a European context. The new presentation in the Unterlinden Museum then focuses on the important excavation sites from Colmar and the surrounding area. To begin with, the Unterlinden Museum documents the Neolithic settlement of Alsace. In the Early Neolithic period, the region was on the border between two cultural groups from the Danube region, the so-called “Bandkeramikers”, named after the ribbon-shaped decorations on their pottery. Large Bandkeramik vessels are the focus of the first display case. Some have eyelets for handles, on which the vessels could be hung out of the reach of rodents.

Highlights of the collection

The precisely perforated sieve from the Iron Age, part of a metal crockery from a tumulus grave near Appenwihr, and a razor imported from northern Italy in the Bronze Age are further highlights of the collection. The amber beads of a necklace from a Late Bronze Age urn, found near Bennwihr in 1867, bear witness to the exchange with the Baltic coast. The arsenic copper from a necklace (4th millennium BC), which was discovered during excavations in the run-up to the construction of a factory near Colmar in 2007, is proven to come from the Austrian Alps. At the end of the Bronze Age, a custom appears that is difficult to interpret: some objects were deliberately broken or deformed before being buried with the deceased. This is often the case with pairs of bracelets, one of which was destroyed and one left intact. The function of other artifacts is a mystery: were they everyday tools or mere objects of prestige?

State tomb of Ensisheim

A highlight of the collection is the ceremonial tomb of Ensisheim. In 1873, high-quality gold jewelry was unearthed in a barrow grave alongside a spearhead. It is therefore a “princely tomb”, of which only around twenty are known in the whole of temperate Europe. These tombs, which can be dated to between 550 and 480 BC, document the extraordinary wealth of the elite of the time, who were often buried with bronze vessels from the Mediterranean, such as the Lady of Vix in Burgundy. A golden neck ring symbolized the prominent position of a Celtic prince in the second half of the 6th century B.C. This torques with embossed decoration from Ensisheim, which consists of an alloy of 98 percent gold, is the symbol of the prince’s secular and spiritual power.

Contemporary presentation: “hands-on stations” in the Unterlinden Museum

One of the main problems with the presentation of archaeological artifacts is that they are often not vivid enough. In Colmar, an attempt has been made to achieve this with watercolor drawings by Jean-Claude Goepp, which serve as background panoramas to illustrate the use of the objects on display in the showcase in people’s everyday lives. The manufacturing techniques of the Bronze and Iron Ages are made tangible in a concrete sense by means of replica objects. The new presentation is a great asset for museum education. Guided tours of the Unterlinden Museum can now be made much more vivid and the urge to touch everything, which is so strongly rooted in all people, can now be indulged uninhibitedly with the numerous replicas. These so-called hands-on stations are designed with well-crafted tools and using authentic materials. They focus on working an arrowhead made of flint, ceramic production, spinning and weaving as well as bronze production and processing. At the station for glass processing, for example, a glass bead necklace can be touched. This gives the visually impaired an impression of the comparably crafted showcase objects. The amazing technical know-how of prehistoric and protohistoric people becomes clear.

Read more in RESTAURO 6/2020.

21.12.2024

Community center restored: Kinning Park Complex, Glasgow

Building design

The Kinning Park complex is a multi-purpose space for community, creativity, education and comfort. Photo: Will Scott Photography

New Practice, an architecture studio based in Glasgow and London, has refurbished the Kinning Park community center in Glasgow. The result is a multi-purpose space designed to promote community, citizenship, creativity and wellbeing. More about the project here.

The Kinning Park Complex was originally built in 1910 as an extension to the then Lambhill Street School. Today, the complex is a community center. Since 2017, architecture studio New Practice has been working with the Kinning Park team on a design, which ultimately won an award from the National Lottery Community Fund Scotland. A total of £1.2 million (€1.39 million) was awarded to the project. In March 2019, additional funding was also secured from the Scottish Regeneration Capital Grant Fund.

This enabled New Practice to carry out the urgently needed refurbishment and restoration work at the community center. ArmourConstruction Consultants, David Narro Associates and Max Fordham LLP also contributed to this.

Work was due to start in March 2020. However, as the UK entered lockdown instead, the plans had to be changed. New Practice was able to carry out the work between August 2020 and March 2022. The reopening of the Kinning Park Complex took place in April 2022.

The Kinning Park Complex has a long history of education and activism. It has held the neighborhood together for over 100 years. In 1976, the school closed. Its building became the Kinning Park Neighbourhood Centre, organized by Strathclyde City Council to provide residents with an important space for meetings and learning opportunities. However, this facility closed in May 1996.

Mothers who benefited from the childcare and other supporters, including former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, organized a protest and blocked the entrance. The building was occupied around the clock for a total of 55 days. In the end, the city council decided to hand over the center to the neighborhood for a symbolic price of one pound. Resident Helen Kyle and her organization called Scotland in Europe took care of the center from then on. Artists and organizations that rented old classrooms at low cost supported the project and generated income.

Over the last 20 years, the repair and maintenance costs for the building have risen steadily. The heating, electrics and roof all had problems. The neighborhood team was unable to find the resources to make repairs to a rented building. But thanks to the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015, it was possible to buy the building and then fundraise and send out applications for financial support.

Since 2018, New Practice has been working on designs to prepare the building for the future. This has included an approach that both showcases the history of the old school and offers new ways to make better and more flexible use of the existing spaces. Through an internal reorganization, it is now more possible to combine valuable community events and resources, a café and learning opportunities. Conferences, sports classes and cultural events can now also take place in the Kinning Park Complex.

New Practice’s designs have visually opened up the spiral staircase to make the building safer and the space easier to understand. There is now also more natural light. As many users of the complex have accessibility requirements, a priority was placed on making the building as accessible as possible. This includes a new elevator with a ramp to the entrance. In addition, there is now a new quiet room for praying, breastfeeding and as a sanctuary for anyone who wants peace and quiet. A maximum of three people can use this room at any one time.

This work has succeeded in maintaining or even enhancing the community feel of the Kinning Park Complex. The center continues to serve as a safe place in the neighborhood that provides comfort, education and activism for all.