Rehabilitation of Police Station in Chemnitz

A shimmering silver skin has been drawn over this police station in South Chemnitz to create a bold cubic form. Erected at the beginning of the 1980s for the East German People’s Police by a company that specialized in reconstruction and repair work, the building was used as a centre for trainees, and these circumstances were reflected in the quality of the construction. The external walls, for example, were not plumb, but bulged out by as much as 12 cm. When the structure was later declared to be obsolete, a new building was out of the question for cost reasons. A decision was therefore taken to subject the station to a complete rehabilitation. To simplify the confusing existing conglomerate of buildings, all projecting elements and extensions were demolished, and a large part of the budget was invested in the facade in order to lend the complex a striking, yet uniform appearance. The cladding is in the form of composite aluminium panels milled on the rear face and bent down at the edges, which allowed a concealed form of fixing. In the space left between the new skin and the old walls, metal bearers mediate between the irregularities of the existing structure and the outer cladding. The facade was opened at one corner to form an entrance in the rich green colour of the police. Internally, the modest office spaces were economically renovated, and any walls that were out of line were left in that state.