Location: Göttingen
Competition: 1. Prize 2009
Client: EBR Projektentwicklung GmbH
Construction Period: 2016 - 2018
Work Phases: 1–5
Gross Floor Area: 22.600 m²
The gate into the city – Groner Tor
It is a great chance for the fallow area in the middle of the city of Göttingen. Until the end of 2018, a modern office and hotel complex with an underground car park will be realized.
On the 7,700 square meters property between the main train station and the city center, the bank Sparkasse and the company “Gräflicher Landsitz Hardenberg” will let be project be realized by EBR – a project development company.
350 of the current 600 employees of the bank are working on 10,000 square meters. The new hotel by Carl Graf von Hardenberg has 120 hotel rooms as well as meeting rooms and a gastronomic offer. By this construction measure also the location receives an important support – being the neighbor of the zoology of the University of Göttingen. Within the next years it is planned to realize a science museum here.
With its analogue building volumes, the design concept refers to the existing surrounding. The new construction takes on the resolution of the zoology building and opens two differently proportioned inner courtyards. By designing the building as a block pattern and setting an emphasis on the edge, the complex is distinctively staged and presents a gate situation with the existing buildings. Starting point of the building is a five-storey corner at the prominent crossroad conferring a recognizable image and an urban accent.
The building volume stretches along the street “Groner Landstrasse” and into the deep in different heights. The design of the façade supports the urban motif through the use of a few, high-quality and sustainable materials. A continuously facing from grey-beige waterstruck brick unifies the sculpture and presents a subtly nuanced texture. The regular window openings structure the building volume and follow the rhythm of the façade thus creating an urban situation of an appropriate tranquility.