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Warehouse / Admin. Building Alpha I
Am Wassermann 20, Cologne
2005 - 2006
This
warehouse and administration building, designed by the Swiss architects Giuliani Hönger, is named after the cult series "Moonbase Alpha 1" from
the 1970s,
as a "durable envelop" is connect with "weightlessness". However, the name is to be considered more as a slogan than as a characteristic name.
As the first letter of the alphabet Alpha rather signaled, that it is the first construction of the central building field. The building Alpha One and Two is located in
the new industrial area Triotop in Cologne. The Friedrich Wassermann company, based in Cologne, was founded in 1906 and has an eventful history. At the beginning
the company was specialized in sewer construction, then they expanded their activities to the road and building construction. Finally, it is the gravel extraction,
which, over the decades, made the company the owner of a gravel pit in Cologne-Vogelsang. All in all, it is an area of 28 hectares. Of this area, today about 10 hectares
are building land and 18 hectares are a protected biotope with the "Wassermannsee" on the so-called greenbelt. The precise positioning of the building reveals that here
is not simply a wasteland overbuilt, but instead there are formulated urban intentions with foresight in this problematic area located near the railway line and
the wide Militärringstrasse. As the first component of the central building strip Alpha One and the extension Alpha Two form a calm street front and an urban face
to the Ringstrasse together with the final stage of the development. The extension Alpha Two defines an optimally functioning delivery court, the final state a three-sided backyard
considered as a classical urban building typology.
The design by Giuliani Hönger had to be conceived for flexible and mixed uses according to the wishes of the client and investor. Alpha One illustrated in the best possible way
how a building can be designed and implemented with high architectural qualities, even if its usage is not fully determined. The outer shape of the elongated and
sharp-edged building structure, which at first glance appears as a three-storey building is impressive. The strictly axially symmetrical grid of horizontal windows accentuates
the character of the solid and down-to-earth appearance, while the masonry made of handpicked Wittmund clinkers, with its regular yet moving surface and with its widely
varying colors of different shades of brown, results in a shimmering dynamism. The building, with its ambition flexibility, is far from beeing neutral and yet from the exterior
it reveals neither its inner organization nor its determination. On closer inspection one notices that, the window on the top floor are larger than those of the two bottom rows,
despite the impression of a regular grid. This subtle distinction establishes a direct relation to the interior spatial organization. The interior differences are skillfully
camouflaged to the benefit of a coherent exterior appearance. The window frames are hardly visible, the more the focus is directed on the narrow rungs of the windows.
Thes inscribe the middle axes with a fine and elegant line. The deep reveals emphasize the sculptural quality of the clinker and and underline that here are created
facades with windows and not fronts with holes. The building follows in its structure a strictly obeyed grid and therefore a modular approach, which allows
the greatest possible flexibility of the floor plan. Thanks to the double row fenestration of the hall, it would even possible to abandon it and to colnstruct a false floor
when needed for a new use. In technical terms, the building has two autonomous electronic circuits and corresponding two separate water systems, what would allow
an internal separation of the building into two autonomous functioning halves. Alpha one has on each of its narrow sides a access zones with staircase, a secondary
entrance in the north-east and a main entrance in the northwest corner. Here is missing a large part of the façade, the volume is cut out in the heigt of two stories covering
the width of an axis, so that the third floor is cantilevering, yet confining to the outer boundaries of the construction. This volumetric incision creates a covered forecourt.
The largest part of the building is claimed by the column-free hall, measuring about 830 m2, which extends over two stories behind the two lower rows of windows.
The third floor with the larger windows contains the office spaces, which are grouped around two courtyards. One of them extendes the space of the hall up to the roof
and the other forms a small uncovered courtyard, which is accessible from the working spaces. The mentioned two-storey warehouse, spanned with Virendeel girders
is considered the centrepiece of the design. The elegant Vierendeel girders span over the 20-meter wide and bright hall. On the walls these girders are supported
on proportional scaled pilasters. This hall is not only illuminated by the two rows of windows but also by two light courts in the attic floor. Depending on the location, the eye
is drawn up to the bright lightcourts or obliquely upward to the glass fronts of the adjoining offices. In contrast to the outer skin the inside fully exposes its concrete structure.
The large space has the appearance of a robust but very carefully executed commercial and industrial building, in which, however, its flexibility is much more obvious than usually.
The vertical connections contribute to this impression as doe the unusually generous window surfaces. On the office floor this quality is especially striking, since the structure
allows several visual connections down to the hall as well as on the same floor. The robust and yet carefull construction of the hall is continued on this floor, but in a different way.
The narrow ventilation wings of the windows are hidden from the outside views within a fold behind the reveal. When opening the ventilation wings, the beautiful executed
masonry becomes visible, and the fresh air enters around the corner into the interior. This artifice allowed the architects to create the ideal order of the four elevations,
without affecting their strict by the fragmented nature of additional ventilation wings.
as a "durable envelop" is connect with "weightlessness". However, the name is to be considered more as a slogan than as a characteristic name.
As the first letter of the alphabet Alpha rather signaled, that it is the first construction of the central building field. The building Alpha One and Two is located in
the new industrial area Triotop in Cologne. The Friedrich Wassermann company, based in Cologne, was founded in 1906 and has an eventful history. At the beginning
the company was specialized in sewer construction, then they expanded their activities to the road and building construction. Finally, it is the gravel extraction,
which, over the decades, made the company the owner of a gravel pit in Cologne-Vogelsang. All in all, it is an area of 28 hectares. Of this area, today about 10 hectares
are building land and 18 hectares are a protected biotope with the "Wassermannsee" on the so-called greenbelt. The precise positioning of the building reveals that here
is not simply a wasteland overbuilt, but instead there are formulated urban intentions with foresight in this problematic area located near the railway line and
the wide Militärringstrasse. As the first component of the central building strip Alpha One and the extension Alpha Two form a calm street front and an urban face
to the Ringstrasse together with the final stage of the development. The extension Alpha Two defines an optimally functioning delivery court, the final state a three-sided backyard
considered as a classical urban building typology.
The design by Giuliani Hönger had to be conceived for flexible and mixed uses according to the wishes of the client and investor. Alpha One illustrated in the best possible way
how a building can be designed and implemented with high architectural qualities, even if its usage is not fully determined. The outer shape of the elongated and
sharp-edged building structure, which at first glance appears as a three-storey building is impressive. The strictly axially symmetrical grid of horizontal windows accentuates
the character of the solid and down-to-earth appearance, while the masonry made of handpicked Wittmund clinkers, with its regular yet moving surface and with its widely
varying colors of different shades of brown, results in a shimmering dynamism. The building, with its ambition flexibility, is far from beeing neutral and yet from the exterior
it reveals neither its inner organization nor its determination. On closer inspection one notices that, the window on the top floor are larger than those of the two bottom rows,
despite the impression of a regular grid. This subtle distinction establishes a direct relation to the interior spatial organization. The interior differences are skillfully
camouflaged to the benefit of a coherent exterior appearance. The window frames are hardly visible, the more the focus is directed on the narrow rungs of the windows.
Thes inscribe the middle axes with a fine and elegant line. The deep reveals emphasize the sculptural quality of the clinker and and underline that here are created
facades with windows and not fronts with holes. The building follows in its structure a strictly obeyed grid and therefore a modular approach, which allows
the greatest possible flexibility of the floor plan. Thanks to the double row fenestration of the hall, it would even possible to abandon it and to colnstruct a false floor
when needed for a new use. In technical terms, the building has two autonomous electronic circuits and corresponding two separate water systems, what would allow
an internal separation of the building into two autonomous functioning halves. Alpha one has on each of its narrow sides a access zones with staircase, a secondary
entrance in the north-east and a main entrance in the northwest corner. Here is missing a large part of the façade, the volume is cut out in the heigt of two stories covering
the width of an axis, so that the third floor is cantilevering, yet confining to the outer boundaries of the construction. This volumetric incision creates a covered forecourt.
The largest part of the building is claimed by the column-free hall, measuring about 830 m2, which extends over two stories behind the two lower rows of windows.
The third floor with the larger windows contains the office spaces, which are grouped around two courtyards. One of them extendes the space of the hall up to the roof
and the other forms a small uncovered courtyard, which is accessible from the working spaces. The mentioned two-storey warehouse, spanned with Virendeel girders
is considered the centrepiece of the design. The elegant Vierendeel girders span over the 20-meter wide and bright hall. On the walls these girders are supported
on proportional scaled pilasters. This hall is not only illuminated by the two rows of windows but also by two light courts in the attic floor. Depending on the location, the eye
is drawn up to the bright lightcourts or obliquely upward to the glass fronts of the adjoining offices. In contrast to the outer skin the inside fully exposes its concrete structure.
The large space has the appearance of a robust but very carefully executed commercial and industrial building, in which, however, its flexibility is much more obvious than usually.
The vertical connections contribute to this impression as doe the unusually generous window surfaces. On the office floor this quality is especially striking, since the structure
allows several visual connections down to the hall as well as on the same floor. The robust and yet carefull construction of the hall is continued on this floor, but in a different way.
The narrow ventilation wings of the windows are hidden from the outside views within a fold behind the reveal. When opening the ventilation wings, the beautiful executed
masonry becomes visible, and the fresh air enters around the corner into the interior. This artifice allowed the architects to create the ideal order of the four elevations,
without affecting their strict by the fragmented nature of additional ventilation wings.