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0097 Wentzsche ×

The dental laboratory Wentzsche was erected on a single plot on an inner-city industrial estate in Cologne, together with the carpentry workshop 0074 Cramer I. An important premise for the feasibility of both buildings, jointly named “standard+,” was a cost-effective design that would be affordable for medium-sized craft businesses. The standard+ design caters for the economic and functional needs of the clients by working with ready-made pavilions. As a result, the dental technician’s building is smaller (455 square meters) while the carpenter’s building contains 860 square meters. In addition to the wood workshop, rooms in the larger building can therefore be rented out as small studios. The simple cubic volumes were constructed using a standardized steel structure. The short sides of the structure are clad with prefabricated glass elements and operable ventilation openings, produced by the local glass manufacturer Dönges (0066 Dönges I). Functions such as offices and ateliers were placed behind the glazed facades to take advantage of the sunlight during working hours. The longer sides of the building contain the workshops and laboratories which do not require daylight, and could therefore be completely closed. This system allowed the occupants to clad their portion of the facade in a way that represents their business, illustrating the installation of the different crafts around the building. The dental technician went for a fiberglass skin with golden fittings. The arrangement of the latter facade correlates with a typical dental incrustation.

Category
Realized
Place
Cologne
Year
2004
Use
producing
Collaboration
b&k+ Arno Brandlhuber & Markus Emde, Martin Kraushaar
Team
Piotr Brzoza, Jochen Kremer, Jochen Lambmann; Hundewick Projektbau GmbH & Co. KG (structural engineer)

© Brandlhuber+ Team

© Michael Reisch

© Michael Reisch

© Michael Reisch