Architects Datafile - 02.2020

PANEL INTRICACIES

Each brass panel within the undulating curved facade

has to be individually designed, and each had its own

pattern of perforations

Images (above and facing page) © Cloud 9

Photography

I

n the midst of a large urban

redevelopment project in the centre of

the German city of Wuppertal in North

Rhine-Westphalia, sits City Plaza, a

dramatic new five-storey store for the

clothing chain Primark, has uplifted a

rundown district.

Set among a mix of building styles,

including modern, post-war developments

alongside historic architecture, and next

to improved public space linking the

railway station to the city, the project has

been created as a striking centrepiece to a

busy urban hub. The area is used by tens

of thousands of rail and bus passengers

every day.

Despite such a complex backdrop,

project designers Chapman Taylor were not

required to follow any local vernacular

building styles or special regulations,

allowing them the freedom to design a

consciously modern and striking building,

with the aim being to avoid creating a

“pastiche of Wuppertal’s heritage,” as lead

architect Yvonne von Salm puts it, “but

rather to add to the city’s build legacy with

a new layer, firmly rooted in the present.”

Through this artistic licence, the

architects have formed a distinctive curved,

undulating facade, clad with alternating

brass panels and glass curtain walling,

lifting the area’s look and feel alongside the

major ongoing works in the surrounding

public realm.

The contract

It has taken six years in order to get to this

point however, as von Salm explains. She

tells ADFthat in 2014, the City of

Wuppertal launched its largest post-war

urban renewal project to date – the

redevelopment of the down-at-heel district

around the railway station. The City of

Wuppertal orchestrated a competition to

develop the brownfield land here, with the

process requiring interested investors to put

in a financial offer for the site, supported by

an architectural proposal.

Says Yvonne: “Based on the financial

strength of the investor, Signature Capital,

and the architectural quality of the

proposal, the City then selected us as the

winning team to design the area’s

regeneration.”

Having worked with Signature Capital

elsewhere, they were asked in this instance

if they would be interested in developing an

existing urban design scheme for the wider

site, which was created by another firm.

Complications

After winning the contract, the architects

were presented with a series of challenges,

beginning with the site, which required

complex and expensive works before

undergoing the building’s actual

construction.

Once construction started, one such early

challenge for the project was that the site

sits on solid rock, which had to be

dynamited to allow for an underground

level of car parking, service access and

other facilities. “This was a time

consuming, expensive, and tricky process,”

tells Yvonne.

Another site challenge that followed this

was to redesign the connection between the

railway station and the city centre. “The

railway station was previously severed from

the city centre by a dual carriageway, and

pedestrians had to walk through an

unwelcoming underpass,” says Yvonne.

The project architect in charge of a new architecturally adventurous flagship retail store

in the German city of Wuppertal explains to Jack Wooler how the practice went about

revitalising a large brownfield site, and created a unique retail environment.

Bold as brass

CITY PLAZA PRIMARK STORE

WUPPERTAL, GERMANY

BUILDING

PROJECTS

If it wasn’t for our BIM

capabilities, it might not

have been possible

PROJECT REPORT: RETAIL DEVELOPMENTS 53

ADF FEBRUARY 2020 WWW.ARCHITECTSDATAFILE.CO.UK

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