DETAIL Prize 2014: Wettstetten New Town Centre

Nominated for the DETAIL Prize 2014: Bembé Dellinger Architekten, Greifenberg, Munich, Germany
Wettstetten New Town Centre, Wettstetten, Germany

Bembé Dellinger Architekten's design for the new town centre of Wettstetten, located 10 km north of Ingolstadt, provides the 5000-strong community with a new identity. The ensemble adapts to the small-scale building structure of the town and creates interior spaces and open spaces for social and cultural activities. The three free-standing structures, whose design, cubature and materiality (whitewashed brickwork facades) reflect the traditional architecture of the Altmühl region, combine modern architectural language with local roots. Closely intertwined with the surrounding granite-cobbled squares, they allow relationships between the different functions, take into account existing rows and paths, and add to the historical street plan. The new town centre includes not only the council buildings, but an elderly day-care centre with a garden, a nursery and a civic hall, so that all citizens – young and old – can come together here. The new centre is distributed over several small-scale buildings to ensure the public space between the buildings is full of movement, communication and interaction.