David Chipperfield Architects Berlin has recently won a competition for the development of Schützenstraße, a mixed-use complex in the heart of Munich. The project will sit between Munich’s main railway station and the central square Karlsplatz, creating a lively urban atmosphere through its functional diversity and public green spaces.
The design combines the mediaeval small-scale urban structure of the surrounding areas and the scale of the former imperial capital into one metropolitan structure. The permeable ground floor will be a pillared hall with a visible structure made of recycled concrete that connects Prielmayerstraße and Schützenstraße streets via two passages. On both streets, arcades will invite passers-by to visit the building with its diverse public program at ground level, including cultural facilities, shops, cafes, and restaurants.
Green spaces with seating areas will open up to the street space to give structure and scale to the building complex. Building volumes of varying scales will become smaller towards the top and are situated above the ground floor. In between these volumes leafy terraces and an intensively planted, publicly accessible roof scape will provide external spaces on several levels. Office areas on the upper floors are planned as a timber hybrid construction, wrapped in a facade of green anodized aluminum profiles.
The competition winning design was developed in collaboration with landscape architect Atelier Loidl Landschaftsarchitekten and was selected from a total of eleven entries.
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