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MVRDV’s Munich mixed use project named Germany’s best new building
WERK12, a mixed use building designed by MVRDV which serves as “the focal point in Munich’s Werksviertel-Mitte district,” has been named the best new building in Germany, winning the 2021 DAM Preis. This year’s award, made by the Deutsches Architekturmuseum, will see the building featured in an exhibition, which is yet to open due to Covid restrictions, and also in the German Architecture Yearbook 2021. Completed in 2019 by co-architects
N-V-O Nuyken von Oefele Architekten, WERK12 forms the “nucleus” of the former industrial area close to Munich’s East Station that is being regenerated to house creative industries, leisure and other functions. The building contains restaurants and bars, as well as offices and a three- storey gym plus pool.
It stands out thanks to a bold and expressive facade, featuring five metre-high lettering, an “urban art piece” developed by the architects together with local artists Engl&Engelmann. Expanding on MVRDV’s proposal to add lettering to the
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facade, they selected verbal expressions found in German comics to bestow a “playful attitude” to the project. WERK12 combines “a simple form, honest materials, and transparent facades.” The design’s external circulation core on the building’s north-eastern side is supplemented by 3.25 metre wide terraces that surround each floor. They are connected by external staircases that connect these generous open spaces, in a “playful reference to one of MVRDV’s early projects, the Dutch Pavilion at the Expo2000 in Hanover.”
These features create a building that is “extremely flexible,” and which can be adapted to future uses with different layouts. With storey heights being 5.5 metres, the building can accommodate mezzanine levels if required for future uses. This “design for longevity” is a key part of the client’s strategy to make a “long-term, sustainable contribution to the district,” said the architects. The annual DAM Preis award is claimed to be the most prestigious architecture
award in Germany. Each year, the museum selects a list of 100 nominees, with a jury composed of architects, critics and other experts shortlisting the finalists during a series of judging stages. MVRDV founding partner Jacob van Rijs commented, “It’s an honour to receive the DAM Preis, especially for a building like WERK12 which presents itself in such a light-hearted way.” He added, “The architecture world can be quite serious, even dull sometimes, so it’s reassuring that the jury was able to appreciate the value of WERK12’s fun addition to Werksviertel-Mitte.” The architect added, “I’m proud they were able to see beyond the facade to understand that it also deals with some very relevant topics in architecture underneath.” Anne Femmer, jury member for the 2021 SAM Preis, commented, “If architecture can speak, it cannot all be just background noise. WERK12 shouts out, but has important things to say: if you really want to, you can be flexible, universal, robust, open, sculpted, and still be cheerful.”
ADF FEBRUARY 2021
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