Georg • Scheel • Wetzel Architekten

Located at a crucial intersection of Wiesbaden's city centre and its lesser-developed Westend the redesign of the Platz der Deutschen Einheit is intended as an initial step in the city's urban development programme. With our rearrangement of the quarter we aim to restore the specific identities and qualities of the surrounding spaces and to elaborate their urban impact. The programme is calling for a hybrid building structure combining the three functional aspects of a sports hall, retail areas as well as office spaces into one inclusive building, the design of which is consequently being based on both the urban presupposition and those functional demands.

From an urban point of view, but also with regard to the future users a close relationship between the new sports hall and the neighbouring Elly Heuss School represents a major concern. The dialogic vis-à-vis of school and sports hall is going to constitute the formal and functional frame of the new city square. The intended use as a tournament place for the German Volleyball League demands a certain public presence of the sportive events and consequently a relation with the city square that go beyond conventional degree and yet don’t impede with the building’s further designations. This is being achieved through a generous opening of the façade oriented towards the Platz der Deutschen Einheit with a semi-public terrace above the city level while retail areas and gastronomic facilities are located on the ground flour, directly addressing the surrounding spaces.