Hörler carpenter's workshop
Bildstrasse, 9015 St.Gallen
Direct commission, 1987
1987–1988
Hörler AG
DBZ, Deutsche Bauzeitschrift, 7/1989
This striking carpentry workshop is located in the far west of St. Gallen, easily seen when driving past on the A1. The office wing towers above the workshop and can be seen from far away. The projecting lift tower provides a further accent. While its use as an office is not clearly discernible, the shed roofs of the carpentry workshop hall reveal the main industrial use of the building. More
Bands of east-facing windows illuminates the large hall. Additional daylight enters through the vertical glazing along the south facade. The staggering of the volume there stems from the tapering of the site boundary. In addition to letting in light, it gives the factory a striking appearance by depicting the individual sections of the shed roof in the floor plan and thus additionally emphasising them.
Simple materials emphasise the industrial character of the building. With the exception of the west facade, the office wing gets its raw appearance from the envelope of light sand-lime blockwork. The same material also encloses the southern facade of the workshop hall. Since the hall is based on a steel frame structure, the other facades are merely light in-fills of bakelised plywood panels. With its careful and bold design, the building continues the local tradition of representative industrial buildings that largely began in the early 19th century.
Less
