Honorable mention DOMIGIUS 2021 – WHA Kaufbeuren

• Projekt
  Wohnhausanlage Kaufbeuren

• Architekt
  wagner architekten

• Bauherr
  Gemeinnützige Baugenossenschaft Kaufbeuren eG

• Produkt
  Planum-Fassade 5300 m² RAL 9010, Champagne G12,
  Light Bronze B20

• Verarbeiter
  Friedrich Burk GmbH + Co. KG

• Fotos
  Alexander Bernhard

Built in 1969-71 in two construction phases using conventional solid construction methods, the property with its underground parking garage bore from the very beginning, due to its facade cladding, especially from its main visible side, the entrance side, the impression of a huge ‘fiber cement slab wall’ covered with seemingly countless windows, the monumentality of which was further emphasized by the building’s striking bend.
The moderate color scheme did little to visually soften this impression; over the years, the gray haze covering the pale yellow and pale pink of the surfaces contrasting with the once white-gray main facade generated a visual dreariness that no longer did justice to the property’s own comparatively high residential quality. In fact, among the tenants of the total of 84 residential units there is still a high proportion of first-time occupants, some of whom moved into the property, which had not even been completed yet, as early as 1969 and still appreciate the cleverly solved apartment layouts with their large balconies and, especially on the upper floors, the wonderful view – on clear days the Alpine chain can be seen from here, from the Bavarian Pre-Alps beyond the Zugspitze almost all the way to the Säntis.
Since the balconies with their prefabricated parapets were now showing signs of disintegration despite the ‘life-extending’ measures carried out over the years, the owners decided to fundamentally overhaul the property in 2018.
Already in 2006, another property of the Gemeinnützige Baugenossenschaft Kaufbeuren eG, the high-rise building Neugablonzer Straße 64 -66 in Kaufbeuren, had been renovated with DOMICO ‘Planum’ in the special color RAL 1035 ‘pearl beige’. Due to the long-term experience with regard to the technical and economic sustainability as well as the practically unchanged overall appearance, the property Hans-Seibold-Straße 14-22 was now also to receive a rear-ventilated metal façade.
In addition to the energetic upgrading with the removal of the old, asbestos-containing fiber cement façade cladding including insulation as well as the renewal of the roof cladding, the property was also to be brought up to the current technical standard with regard to fire protection. A material-technical examination of the balconies and parapet slabs resulted in a positive assessment of their worthiness for renovation and thus the decision to retain the existing balconies and parapet slabs in principle; these were given Alucobond parapet cladding in the same shades as the metallic color surfaces of the metal facade after concrete renovation had been carried out and the floor covering with PUR coating had been removed and rebuilt. In addition, the five elevator systems still from the construction period were to be replaced.
In order to give the building a new scale, the design concept provided for an alternation between two horizontally alternating metallic colors of different brightness values (special colors ‘Champagne G12’ and ‘Light Bronze B20’) and large-format matt white facade surfaces (RAL 9010). In addition, the perforated windows in the white surfaces on the entrance and balcony side were optically combined into bands by means of reveal cassette elements in Alucobond ‘anodized look C32’. The motif of the horizontally alternating metallic colors on the entrance side is transported via the southern gable areas of house numbers 20 and 22 with a leap in scale to the balcony side, where they find their counterpart in the lively alternation of the Alucobond parapet cladding of the balconies in the corresponding colors – Alucobond ‘anodized look C32’ and ‘metallic bronze 504’.
The requirements with regard to the special colors as well as the panel formats were clarified and confirmed promptly with great commitment on the part of both the processor, Friedrich Burk GmbH + Co. KG, Ravensburg, and DOMICO. In close cooperation with the fabricator, a façade solution was developed with ‘crisp’ flushness of the geometries and vertical butt joints reduced to a minimum, formed as shadow joints, which, like the different façade surfaces, seem to come from the building itself. In this way, the building was given a timelessly modern “garb” that stands out confidently from the cityscape.