A new urban concept with numerous new buildings and rebuilds characterizes the townscape of Magdeburg, Germany. One measure to reach an urban revaluation of the City is an entirely renewed men’s fashion boutique at the end of the main shopping street Breiter Weg.
Main focus of planning was on development and design of high-quality selling floors over three stories of a total area of 3,500 sqm as well as on development of a new functional façade. The building was completely gutted. Only the skeletal structure of the building was preserved. Inside the building we aimed at developing as much sales floor as possible. To this end we lowered the basement floor in order to use it as sales floor, as well.
The entire renewal became necessary because of the bad state of repair of the object made of precast reinforced concrete components with a tiled façade. Moreover, the building was not modern anymore regarding optic appearance, nor complied it with the latest standards regarding building physics.
An external thermal insulation has been mounted onto the existing façade. Horizontal wooden boards from Oregon Pine that are vertically structured by upright steel profiles complement the new façade skin. On the East side, a translucent glass element is cut into the cube. Here, the ground floor houses the customers’ area of a bank. The clear façade structure combined with the materials wood, steel, and glass gives the building a new and individual appearance granting the former building made from prefabricated slabs a light and contemporary expression.