Multi-Purpose Hall Ingerkingen
EXPAND & EXTEND INSTEAD OF REPLACE & NEW BUILD
The concept of expanding and extending buildings has been used since the beginning of human history. Today, the con- cept is once again state-of-the-art as firstly it fulfills the wish for continuity and secondly expanding offers a pragmatic ap- proach to energy and material inputs. While in the past access to such inputs and the great effort required to make them available were the reasons for expanding existing buildings, today when we are faced with multiple global crises such as the climate collapse, predatory exploitation of resources, and the related loss in biodiversity simply make it imperative.
The municipality of Ingerkingen nr. Biberach an der Riss in southwest Germany did not specify in the competition brief whether the existing multi-purpose hall be integrated into the new concept of should give way to a replacement buil- ding. Located in the immediate vicinity of the primary school, the music association, and the Fire Dept. building, the hall is the center of village life. Alongside school sports, it also serves various local clubs as a meeting place, events and training venue. It was built in 1964 to plans by Pfalzer und Schenk as the sports hall and gymnasium for the prima- ry school that abuts the grounds to the east. The original design stands out for its great clarity and the precise legibi- lity of the construction. After completion, the sports hall was converted on various occasions and expanded to form a multi-purpose hall featuring a stage. With each conversion iteration, however, it forfeited its typological and aesthetic qualities. During the competition, Atelier Kaiser Shen’s proposal for maximizing retention of the old build won out, and thus the demolition of the multi-purpose hall and the need for a replacement building averted. The result is a building whose history is clearly legible. The multi-purpose hall that for 60 years accompanied life in the village has to a cer- tain extent been granted a new lease of life without its shape and face being given a falsely historicizing appearance.
PRAGMATIC APPROACH TO THE OLD BUILD
Even if the preserved old build does not have any notable artistic value, and the village inhabitants do not regard it as “beautiful”, for Atelier Kaiser Shen it constituted an excellent sounding board for a critical dialog. The ar- chitects sought to define a pragmatic approach. They were less interested in the original shape and more in the potential it provided for expansion and extension. Atelier Kaiser Shen took its cue from the image of a Chinese porcelain bowl that has been repaired after breaking and in that way exhibits an unmistakable poetry of its own. A similar concept was adopted for the modernization of the multi-purpose hall in Ingerkingen. Since part of the buil- ding could be simply and functionally integrated into the new concept, Atelier Kaiser Shen considered it obvious to retain the original.
To reduce demolition work to a minimum, the foundations and the floor slab, the ceilings and the solid walls in the northern section and the street-side stage wing were integrated into the planning. In this way, a total of 60 percent of the built mass was preserved. Since the length of the original hall corresponded exactly to the DIN specifica- tions for a single-span hall, only the southern façade had to be removed and shifted. As a result, a norm-confor- ming single-span hall was created in a manner that required comparatively few interventions.
INNOVATIVE LOAD-BEARING STRUCTURE FOR THE HALL
The above-described retention of a large part of the old build was only possible by developing an innovative load- bearing system. A rampant double-jointed frame made of laminated timber now rests on the axial grid of the exis- ting reinforced concrete supports. Thanks to the girder geometry and the rigid corners of the frame, 60 percent of the vertical and 100 percent of the horizontal loads are transferred onto the new foundations in the south. The hall frames therefore only transfer 40 percent of the vertical loads and no horizontal loads onto the old structure. Precisely this innovative load-bearing structure enabled the existing foundations to be retained and the loads to be borne despite the greater spans. The double-jointed frame has also been designed in such a way as to optimize materials: The supports broaden trapezoidally toward the rigid frame corners and trusses with their curved lower side follow the line of the torque. With a shadow joint, they rest slightly on the concrete supports, create a rhythm in the hall, and are elegant in appearance. Together with the hall’s walls, which are completely clad in birch plywood paneling, the hall’s design befits the cultural events that are held here.
The major roof projection out over the south façade generates a terrace that is protected from the elements and in good weather can be connected direct to the hall. Throughout the building, the wooden load-bearing structure defines the architecture and delivers a unique sense of space.
CONTINUITY: DIALOG BETWEEN OLD AND NEW
Thanks to their respective structures and materials, the old and new structures can be clearly distinguished. The solid existing walls were insulated and then plastered using the original rendering. The addition in height and ex- pansion using a light wooden frame construction is clearly legible thanks to the back-ventilated wooden facade. The narrative of the hall’s construction history is thus told in particular on the west and north facades. The existing gable wall has been extended southwards and covered by the two countervailing shed roofs over the raised structure and by the hall’s roof. In the north, the seamless line between the old and the new is only interrupted by the new doors for athletes and a light steel staircase. The setback of some 12 centimeters that results from the wooden-frame wall structure being slenderer than the masonry insulated on the outside further highlights the sculptural feel of the volume.
The wooden slats consist of untreated, standard spruce profiles not planed of 60/40 mm; these are cost-effective and can be easily replaced if necessary. The slats are always assembled running from north to south, meaning they are horizontal on the west and east gables, and are upright on the north and south facades. This further enhances the sculpted feel of the building and varies the interplay of light and shadow. The windows, ventilation outlets and maintenance doors for the ventilation system are all located behind the end-to-end battens. As a result, the now higher building and extension form a monolithic wooden volume that envelopes the rendered old build. The woo- den façade is perceived differently depending on where you stand, the more frontal your position toward the north façade, the more visible the windows become behind the wooden battens. Over the course of time, the untreated wooden façade will become greyer. This natural process will enrich the building as it emphasizes the fact that wood, unlike mineral and metallic construction materials, is organic.
MULTIPLE LAYERS OF MEANING
While the layers of time are hard to overlook on the building’s exterior, Atelier Kaiser Shen has opted for a more differentiated strategy inside. The primary objective here was to create a uniform spatial impression. On closer inspection, here, too, different layers of time can be seen. Thus, in the backstage room, the masonry from the time it was built, subsequent repair work and additions made of hollow bricks and concrete have been left without plaste- ring and simply smoothed using lime sludge. The smoothly sealed surfaces of the wooden frame walls still show the signs of the building’s added height and expansion. The stage entrance runs through the half-height former outer wall, where the plasterwork impressively tells the tale of the expansion. In this spatial setting, users and visitors experience for themselves how the hall has been widened, something that can already be sensed from the outside. The surprising visible cut edge of the former staircase in the adjacent store room for chairs likewise attests to the hall’s history.
LAYERING THE STRUCTURE AND THE FACILITIES TECHNOLOGY
The energy concept hinges on reducing the technical fit-out and making them easy to maintain. With a view to natural ventilation, the ventilation system was reduced to the absolute minimum and largely involves visible equip- ment. The metal structures for the gates, sports equipment, and stage, as well as all the technical fit-out have been painted in a uniform black and thus recede into the background. The layering of the technical equipment makes for ease of maintenance on the one hand and creates an additional design element, on the other – this is the case, for example, with the ceiling paneling in the foyer and stairwell that is easy to service and where all the electrical fittings have been positioned visibly in open joints. A purpose-developed cloakroom rail can, depending on requirements, be broken down into individual sections and stored.
CIRCULAR CONSTRUCTION
The users themselves proved the advantages of structures that can be separated. To save costs, the old hall was stripped out by volunteers from local clubs and the sanitary and kitchen fittings thus removed sold. The paneling that formed the former wooden cladding of the hall proper gained a new lease of life as the façade of a forest cabin nearby. The southwest German mindset of saving cutting costs wherever possible came strongly to the fore with the idea of circular construction – the material from edifices that have reached the end of their useful lives no longer end up on dumps or get ‘thermically processed’ and instead transition to a new use phase. It was thus only logical that for the modernization Atelier Kaiser Shen relied on materials and joints which guarantee that a large part of the construction materials can in the event of disassembly at some future point in time be completely separated and reintroduced into the circular economy.
With the Ingerkingen Multi-Purpose Hall, Atelier Kaiser Shen has demonstrated the great advantages of caring and careful modernization compared to erecting a new build by way of replacement. Alongside the grey energy tied down in the old building and the memories associated with it, the dialog of old and new generates aesthetic added value. Compared to a possible substitute new build, modernization of the Ingerkingen Multi-Purpose Hall also pro- ved to be more cost efficient. It can thus act as a role model for many halls in Germany that require modernization.
