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Le Quartier Central

Düsseldorf

Competition 2010

Collaboration with Jo Coenen Architects

This mixed-use project (housing and offices) is characterized by severe limitations on the design. The urban layout as well as the volumes were already prescribed by a very restrictive and detailed masterplan. Therefore the core idea is, of course, to define the identity of the block within the few residual parameters - namely those pertaining to the facade. Even though only the sketch of a facade certainly is by far not enough for creating architecture and although all the other elements of the design have been elaborated precisely, in this project the west facade of the tower becomes the key element for the whole layout.

Even if at the first glance the shape of the balconies seems to be arbitrary, the whole composition follows a few strict rules. In principle, the arrangement of the balconies reflects the distribution of the different apartments behind. Each flat has a single balcony with a maximum cantilever in the middle. Thereby the resultant "wave" within each level merges with all the other contiguous waves below and above to one vertical sculpture.

Team:
Marc Anton Dahmen
Helga Falkenberg
Anna-Maria Wiedekind
René Lierschaft

Team Jo Coenen:
Jo Coenen
Geert Coenen
Bettina Saettele
Danny Bovens
Willem Lucassen
Maurice Schreurs