Riehle+Assoziierte

The project comprises the replacement of the existing town hall from the 1970s, which is no longer suitable for rehabilitation, and the reorganisation and redesign of the surrounding public space to create an activated and identity-forming town centre for Waldkraiburg. The guiding principle for the urban reconfiguration is to create a series of clearly defined public spaces with specific functions and differentiated characters: As a prominent free-standing element and ‘first house on the square’, the new town hall building forms a clearly defined town square to the south and stands as an urban figure with a slightly conical form in dialogue with the polygonal Christkönig church at the opposite end of the town centre. To the north of the new town hall building, three precise complementary buildings occupy gaps in the existing surroundings to create a protected, collective central open space. On Sartrouville-Platz, currently a predominantly hardscaped square, these new ‘filler elements will in the future demarcate a green, park-like centre from the two paved, tree-covered squares in front of the new town hall and Christkönig church. At the scale of Waldkraiburg’s urban layout, the ‘green urban carpet’ of the new town centre offers the unique opportunity to complete the existing ‘green ring’ around Waldkraiburg. The proposed master plan, in conjunction with supplementary trees in the feeder roads, creates the ‘ring closure’ of the new green town centre with the green belt around Waldkraiburg. This urban concept makes an important contribution to the interconnectedness and quality of the open spaces and to the enhancement of the townscape and urban climate. The new town hall continues the transformed, public open spaces of the new town centre inside the building with inviting, generous spaces of public character. From the new town square as well the new green centre, employees, visitors and local inhabitants enter a central foyer that opens crosswise towards the assembly hall as the democratic centre and towards a communication-promoting seating staircase as a prelude to the representative vertical circulation space. The double-height foyer is conceived as an extended market square, connecting the inside with the outside and constituting an opportunity that can be used in multiple ways by the urban community. A public route through the building interconnects all floors in a direct and intuitive manner. The spatial structure promotes communicative exchange amongst employees and citizens and forms a flexible, contemporary working environment with visual connections to an inner daylit courtyard and across the new city centre.