Birgit Schafranitz

The project set out to develop an internal fitness club for the Gerling company. In light of the dwindling number of plots of land available in large cities, one had to look for new spaces such as rooftops to realise projects.

The "plot of land" for this project is the roof of the city house of Gerling at Friesenplatz in Cologne.

This special location is characterised by the open view of the Cologne skyline. To highlight this, the project is divided into two spaces for different experiences; I look out of the first to conquer the world and lose myself and I persist within the other to find myself and lose the world.

Above the 11-storey house floats a massive slab of slate. The slab dissociates itself by an interstice without passing over its borders.

The two different experiences you can get at a fitness-club are the active world being dominated by adrenaline, hectic and movement and the passive world of relaxing.

The heavy slab contains the introverted function-areas and does not have any relation to the outside. You are withdrawn into your shell and you are focused only on yourself. The dents in the slab assign outdoor areas to every part of the passive world.

In the interstice between the existence and the slab, the framed all-around-view dominates the impression of the whole room. You get an impression of Cologne from above. The entire floor is one big single room dividable into different parts. It's opposite to the slab cell structure.

The illuminated interstice at night makes for a genuine eye-catcher in the Cologne skyline.

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