2 Harbour Buildings

By Redazione The Plan - 7 January 2010

Urban and architectural renewal has transformed Münster’s canal-harbour into a typical post-industrial neighbourhood. The loft floor plan of the new buildings at numbers 14 and 16 have the same functional versatility as the warehouses that populated this area and the same expressive elevations looking south over the canal or north onto the street.
No. 14 is a sharply sculptured building. Large windows with flush mounted blinds and brick cladding create deliberately flat, linear surfaces. Inside, the loft layout does not constrain interior usage. The stair well and lift shaft rise centrally on the north façade. Plant and services are grouped in a central column.
No. 16 has different style façades and a roof garden. The south facing elevation overlooking the harbour is characterised by the horizontal lines of glass fronted balconies running the full length of the building. The projecting 4th floor balcony adds a further horizontal note. The wide glazed surfaces are shielded by a series of modular louvers that create an intermediate space between inside and out.
The north, street-side elevation is a mosaic of glass squares - either fixed or operable - and anodized aluminium slabs whose muted colours change with the light. The flat façade is relieved by a box volume cantilevering out from the first floor to signpost and provide a protective canopy for the main entrance.
The box’s glazed sides and fair-face concrete interior provide an ideal showcase for art installations. The 22 metres deep plan houses one or two units per floor, alternating enclosed cells and open spaces. Service boxes are fitted centrally against the walls of the short side.
The last two floors are occupied by the Bolles+Wilson practice. Walls and all ceilings, without cable ducts, are in fair-face concrete and offer uniform, reflecting surfaces for freestanding lighting. Partition walls are in frosted glass. A curved, acoustically insulated, wooden wall (made magnetic by...