Göttingen’s civic hall provides plenty of room for culture with an events space of 2,600 m² over three floors and a total surface of approximately 5,400 m². The institution has been offering a stage for the region’s events for over 50 years. The venue hosts the Göttingen symphony orchestra and the International Handel Festival, with spaces being used for concerts, musicals, comedy shows, corporate events, conferences, seminars, meetings, social events as well as smaller fairs and exhibitions. Built between 1962 and 1964, the civic hall is currently undergoing thorough renovation.
Its colourful tiled facade is the building’s most striking feature and an architectural one-of-a-kind. The ceramic panels measure 50 x 50 cm and feature two different geometric reliefs with circles and triangles as well as various glazing in navy, blue, red and violet. Additional white tiles can also be found in the base and attic areas. Dortmund’s soll sasse architekten BDA firm won the first prize in the competition for the facade's redesign in 2018 and renovations began in December 2019 with the removal of the existing ceramic tile cladding. The award-winning, sustainable facade design entails reusing the existing tiles in addition to using new, specially produced tiles by the manufacturer m&r (Saarbrücken). Dach Schneider Weimar GmbH (Umpferstedt) was commissioned as the facade construction specialist.
The load-bearing base of the original building envelope consists of reinforced concrete and undefined masonry. The ceramic panels fastened to this base with mortar and brass strips were fully dismantled by hand before being cleaned to be stored for reuse. The concrete on the exposed facade was renovated to restore the partially insufficient concrete cover of the reinforcement. The rear-ventilated facade was fitted with new thermal insulation according to energy requirements. While designing the ceramic tile cladding, volumetric differentiations were made between the hall body and extensions. The extensions (logistics and canopies) are now clad in white tiles while the hall body is tiled exclusively with the colourful tiles. The new tiles (antique pink, pigeon blue) have been kept in the same colour style as the existing tiles (navy, blue, red and violet), while the square relief adds to the geometric shapes of the existing tiles (triangle and circle).
“This is how we connect the past with the present. Architec-ture has a lot in common with identity, and here we’re demonstrating this in a sustainable manner”, emphasises Heiko Sasse, partner at the soll sasse architekten BDA architecture firm. The fischer BWM all-in-one solution for the rear-ventilated facade was attached to the refurbished reinforced concrete. “Permanently and securely fastening the facade is particularly important to preserve it for the future”, reports Jan Zimmermann, Head of Market Management fischer façade systems of the fischer SystemTec GmbH. “To do so, we have already successfully accompanied the planners and facade construction specialists through the construction phases so far and will continue supporting them until the project’s successful completion”. The technical support has ranged from consultation and design to architectural planning and support with obtaining approval for particular cases (“ZiE”) and supplying a suitable all-in-one system consisting of a substructure, frame fixings, injection anchors and undercut anchors from a single source. The on-site support has also included countless construction site tests with the fischer frame fixings and chemical fixing systems as well as construction assistance.
As both the old and new tiles are not made of a construction material approved for rear-ventilated facades, an approval for particular cases (“ZiE”) was required. The fastening was carried out with Zykon panel anchors FZP II in the 11x21 M6/SO/9 Carbon version. Although the tiles measure small dimensions, each panel was installed with four fastenings to prevent the facade from rattling in the wind. The facade structure was surveyed by the expert and surveyor Prof Dr Alfred Stein. Once the ZiE was obtained the facade elements were attached with the fischer BWM aluminium substructure. “The system enables a secure yet concealed fastening”, explains Christoph Plautz, Head of fischer façade systems at the fischer SystemTec GmbH. “This will preserve the building's original look for generations into the future”. The particular distancing substructure was carried out vertically with the ATK 100 ZeLa. The use of a thermally optimised ZeLa bracket with a stainless steel bar enables adherence to the thermal protection requirements with little setup. The horizontal profiles consisting of the ATK 103 P20 system for concealed clasp fastenings together with P20 horizontal profiles were installed onto this base structure. fischer frame fixings and injection anchors were used to anchor the substructure’s wall brackets in the supporting structure. The visual elements with the restored and new tiles were securely fastened to the substructure with concealed fischer undercut anchors, resulting in a distinctive and pioneering ecological facade with a sixties charm and a new hold.
