Barbara Probst
Academy of Media Arts in Cologne. FH Aachen (Germany)
The aim, is to concentrate the haphazardly spread, inadequate facilities of the ‚Academy of Media Arts’ in Cologne (KHM), and to form its centre. The suggested complex does not form a house in the classic sense, but a succession of interior and exterior spaces by means of buildings, courtyards, bridges and paths.
The new developement formally closes the building block, while maintaining appropriate distance to the Trinitatis church. The present disfunctional parish house is removed and replaced in the new ensemble.
The resulting space is divided by the church tower into an entrance area for the KHM and a parish courtyard.
The listed Overstolzenhaus, currently the main building of the KHM, is maintained for administration purposes. It is formally and spatially integrated by addition of a new struktur and access.
A further suggested element is a new kindergarten group.
The concentration of the KHM, together with the connection of different institutions (KHM/Overstolzenhaus – Trinitatis church - Kindergarten) form the thematical backbone of the design. Behind the street-facing sides of the building in ‘Filzengraben’ and the parish hall, the teaching and seminar area of the academy is grouped around two sunken inner courtyards. The visible cubic bulk of the complex is reduced by shifting two floors below ground level. Thus the new block adapts to its surroundings in scale.
The facades are enveloped by a skin of printed glass. The grid of the facade is based on the construction grid and serves as a symbolical representation of the ensemble’s use as a`Pixelcampus'.
The skin desolves into transparency at the reading court of the library, subtly integrating the logo of the KHM. The facade, with its materiality and colour, gives cohesion to the ensemble and clearly differentiates the college as a special function, separate from the surrounding residential buildings.
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