House of Democracy

Detail

TYPOLOGY: Competition / Educational, Public

COUNTRY: Germany

CITY: Frankfurt

YEAR: 2025

COMPETITION: Open ideas competition according to RPW

GFA: 6.200 sqm (new) + 14.000 sqm (existing)

CLIENT: Stadt Frankfurt

NO NEW CONSTRUCTION ON PAULSPLATZ
A cohesive ensemble that offers visitors the opportunity to explore the history and significance of democracy.

THE DEMOCRATIC LOBBY
Positioned between the Paulskirche and the New Building, the foyer serves as a central link between all functions: the Paulskirche with its historical exhibition, the New Building with its event spaces, workshops, and permanent and temporary exhibitions, and the Kämmerei with its library, laboratories, and offices.

LOCATION & URBAN DESIGN
The New Building accommodates a 368-seat event hall, temporary exhibition spaces on the lower floors, and a permanent exhibition on the upper levels. Its deliberate placement along Berliner Straße preserves the openness of Paulsplatz, fostering a compelling visual and spatial dialogue with the Paulskirche.

MATERIALITY
The solid portions of the façades of both the New Building and the Democratic Lobby are clad in red Main sandstone. Walls and roof are constructed from glued laminated timber trusses in a sandwich system, with glass layers on both interior and exterior faces. The south façade integrates approximately 600 m² of photovoltaic panels, ensuring a sustainable energy contribution.

CONSIDERED POSITIONING
The vertical circulation core (8.50 × 4.80 m) is strategically placed in front of the closed eastern façade of the former Federal Audit Office building, preventing unwanted overshadowing while maintaining clear visual connections.

A greenhouse of democracy
Prison Library_JVA Buecherei_Munster_Collage

Prison Library

Detail

TYPOLOGY: Library

COUNTRY: German

CITY: Münster

YEAR: 2005

GFA: 80 sqm

CLIENT: Justizvollzugsanstalt Münster

AWARDS: Library of the Year Prize (German Library Association + the ZEIT Foundation)

PHOTOS: © BOLLES+WILSON

In 2007 the German Library Association together with the ZEIT Foundation awarded the ‚Library of the Year Prize‘ to the small but significant Prison Library in Münster (concept BOLLES+WILSON, implementation prisoners). The jury praised the exemplary, user-friendly and new interpretation of library functions and the atmosphere, an estranged relative of the nearby City Library (BOLLES+WILSON 1987–93). The single library room, jammed in the ‚armpit‘ between two Panopticon wings is simply furnished with shelves and counters in ‚optimistic‘ wood and friendly colours. Facing mirrors above and adjacent to the shelves multiply the original triangular room into a kaleidoscopic virtual hexagon. The prison in its entirety is optically reduced to a small central pavilion. Reading as transcendence or Borges‘ infinite ‚Library of Babel‘ are the unavoidable message. A leaf motive on ceiling and walls, like the new furniture, is the handwork of the prisoners themselves.

Prison Library_JVA Bücherei_Munster_Photo_Foto
Prison Library_JVA Bücherei_Munster_Photo_Foto
Prison Library_JVA Bücherei_Munster_Aerial View_Luftbild
Prison Library_JVA Bücherei_Munster_Idee
Prison Library_JVA Bücherei_Munster_Photo_Foto
Prison Library_JVA Bücherei_Munster_Plan_Grundriss
Prison Library_JVA Bücherei_Munster_Mirrors_Spiegel
Prison Library_JVA Bücherei_Munster_Leafs_Blaetter
Prison Library_JVA Bücherei_Munster_Sketch_Skizze
Hamburg, Falkenried, Foto, Christian Richters

Falkenried

Detail

TYPOLOGY: Masterplan, Residential, Office

COUNTRY: Germany

CITY: Hamburg-Eppendorf

YEAR: 2004

COMPETITION: Masterplan Competition 1999, First Prize

GFA: 34.500 sqm

CLIENT: Bayerische Hausbau GmbH, Munich

AWARDS: German Urban Planning Award 2004

PHOTOS: © Christian Richters

The anatomy of redundant bus and tram workshop/sheds was co-opted as the organising template for this 1999 premiated Quartier Masterplan. An east west piazza focusses the networked block interior.

The principles of the Masterplan were: The ‘loftising’ of one workshop shed, a brick administration building which grows into penthouses and bus garage doors which envelope row-houses.

Southward from the piazza a spatial choreography of Office Slab and Housing Tower leads over a raised terrace with a second (zigzag) office facade, past a café/bar, down an Eisenstein stair to street and canal. This perspectival sequence – an opening and closing of large scale urban rooms – is homogenised by its rich and tactile material, a ‘Hamburg-solid turf-fired brick’.

Hamburg, Falkenried, Foto, Christian Richters
Hamburg, Falkenried, sketch, drawing, Peter Wilson, handzeichnung, Skizze, Perspektive
Hamburg, Falkenried, Foto, Christian Richters
Hamburg, Falkenried, Foto, Christian Richters
Hamburg, Falkenried, Foto, Christian Richters
Hamburg, Falkenried, Foto, Christian Richters
Hamburg, Falkenried, Foto, Christian Richters
Dieze training centre, Castrop Rauxel, foto, christian richters

Dieze Training Centre

Detail

TYPOLOGY: Educational

COUNTRY: Germany

CITY: Castrop-Rauxel

YEAR: 1996

COMPETITION: 1994, First Prize

GFA: 3.000 sqm

CLIENT: GEWO, Castrop-Rauxel

PHOTOS: © Christian Richters

A branch of the Open University Hagen and a Women’s Retraining Centre – shared conference and seminar facilities. Anchor box plus geometric extensions. The alien conference element cantilevers acrobatically. Strict plan geometries evolve a three dimensional language of interlocking materials.

Dieze training centre, Castrop Rauxel, foto, christian richters
Diese training centre, Castrop Rauxel, foto, christian richters
Dieze training centre, Castrop Rauxel, foto, christian richters
Dieze training centre, Castrop Rauxel, plan, schwarzplan, lageplan
Dieze training centre, Castrop Rauxel, plan, ground floor, Erdgeschoss
Dieze training centre, Castrop Rauxel, plan, ground floor, obergeschoss
Dieze training centre, Castrop Rauxel, sketch, Peter Wilson, drawing, Zeichnung, Skizze, perspecitv, Perspektive
Shkodra, albania, albanien, football stadium, fußball stadion

Shkodra Football Stadium

Detail

TYPOLOGY: Sport

COUNTRY: Albania

CITY: Shkodra

YEAR: 2017

PHOTOS: © Roman Mensing, BOLLES+WILSON

The 2017 football stadium in the northern Albanian city of Shkodra was a fast-track project – Albania had to host the ritual skirmish with Serbia. To marshal Riotous Serbian fans corral-like platforms were built – each restrains 500 fans within the heavy steel perimeter rail. These raked platforms were as naked concrete an illustration of Louis Kahn’s statement (that a buildings sculptural essence is only visible while under construction or as a ruin). The colours of the Shkodra team are a manly pink and light blue. Finished the pink reverse side of the stadium corrals offer a dramatic backdrop for informal urban life. The new main stadium with V.I.P. deck + press box is lit from up lights reflecting on white circles (see sketch). Existing stadiums were upgraded with a wind animated screen.

Shkodra, albania, albanien, football stadium, fußball stadion, construction, konstruktion
Shkodra, albania, albanien, football stadium, fußball stadion
Shkodra, albania, albanien, football stadium, fußball stadion
Shkodra, albania, albanien, football stadium, fußball stadion
Shkodra, albania, albanien, football stadium, fußball stadion
Shkodra, albania, albanien, football stadium, fußball stadion
Shkodra, albania, albanien, football stadium, fußball stadion
Shkodra, albania, albanien, football stadium, fußball stadion
Shkodra, albania, albanien, football stadium, fußball stadion
Shkodra, albania, albanien, football stadium, fußball stadion
Shkodra, albania, albanien, football stadium, fußball stadion
Shkodra, albania, albanien, football stadium, fußball stadion