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Over the Top
Cologne, Germany
2004
Cologne, Germany
2004
A residential extension on the top floor of a post-war building in the city center
The project’s wrap-around geometry was developed directly and straightforwardly out of its immediate built surrounding. This approach was not chosen out of irony or in order to break down the banal but rather to productively integrate into the design – much like an open system – the outside constraints and restrictions dictated by German zoning law and at the same time stretch them to their maximum boundaries of effectiveness. In this sense, too, the project is “over the top”. For its innovative strategy of inner-city development, it has been featured in the German Pavilion at the 2006 Venice Biennale.
The project’s wrap-around geometry was developed directly and straightforwardly out of its immediate built surrounding. This approach was not chosen out of irony or in order to break down the banal but rather to productively integrate into the design – much like an open system – the outside constraints and restrictions dictated by German zoning law and at the same time stretch them to their maximum boundaries of effectiveness. In this sense, too, the project is “over the top”. For its innovative strategy of inner-city development, it has been featured in the German Pavilion at the 2006 Venice Biennale.
B&K+Brandlhuber&Co + Marc Frohn
wrap-around facade
before and after
volume and section
study models