• Architects: Bez+Kock Architekten
• Area: 5503m²
• Photographs:Brigida González – www.brigidagonzalez.de

The extension of the historic town hall in Holzwickede offered the opportunity to merge the market square in terms of urban development and to give the town hall itself a new wholeness. The listed town hall, built in 1915, was preserved and recognizable as a solitary structure. At the same time, an angular structure was added to it in such a way that a new urban solitaire was created in which the existing building is a self-evident part of the larger whole.

The new town hall develops around a central hall with square skylights, whose sculpturally modeled walls create a charming daylight situation.  The hall forms the foyer of the citizens’ hall, is the contact point of the citizens’ service, a central place of communication in the town hall, and, last but not least, a museum hall in which the historic building exhibits itself. Together with the new part of the building, it forms a functional and typological whole. From the dead-end-like short corridors of the historic town hall, a circumferential access system was created that combines simple orientation with short distances. Together with the open staircase in the hall, it has become a daily meeting place.

The colour-changing clinker facade of the new building was carefully matched to the colour scheme of the old building, thus supporting the interplay between old and new. The design-defining exposed brickwork is also found in the central hall, thus ensuring a low-threshold transition from the outside to the inside.  The carpentered interior was finished in oak, which was used here as a homely complement to the powerful masonry. The formal, large civic hall has become a lively forum for Holzwickede’s citizenry. A small bistro to the side of the main entrance enlivens the adjacent marketplace with its outdoor catering and also caters for events in the building.

The interiors of the old building were renovated in accordance with the preservation order, and the facade of the old building facing the hall was also restored with craftsmanship. In this way, the atmospheric qualities of the historic town hall, which had been lost over the years, could be made perceptible again.