memorial - 70 x 70 cm, 2006

memorial
70 x 70 cm, 2006

red house - 70 x 70cm, 2006

red house
70 x 70cm, 2006

stairway to heaven - 100/100 cm, 1998

stairway to heaven
100/100 cm, 1998

skyscraper at night - 100/100 cm, 1999

skyscraper at night
100/100 cm, 1999

rotation red - 220 x 150 cm, 2006

rotation red
220 x 150 cm, 2006

memorial places

 

design sketch

point alpha

point alpha was one of the most important border observation points of the nato. after the cold war the former us-base became a memorial place. moeller architekten bda was assigned to design a visitor’s centre at the present memorial place.

north-east elevation

urban development and integration in the landscape

parallel to the infrastructural site development of the border museum an intentional slim designed structure was placed. It includes two entry points to the building to be used for two separate opening hour schedules for the museum and different requirement profiles. the main entrance and foyer of the building is located at the southernmost point of the site’s access route and connects to the museum. four required administrative units together with three seminar rooms are located next to the museum’s space and are arranged according to the linear access concept of the floors. both room types can be accessed via the northern entrance in order to organize different events separate within the building.

south-east elevation

one of the objectives is to conserve greenery and trees. a pedestrian walkway is supposed to lead from the northern edge of the building through the natural wood cover to the accommodation buildings to connect the structures. the accommodation buildings are cube shaped and integrated with the surrounding trees in order to maintain the consistency of the landscape. they consist of a two storey sleeping area and an one storey lounge. the delivery area for the catering unit was placed intentionally at the southern edge of the building whilst the catering space was settled in the first storey and developed according to the direction of the green corridor and the museum’s area.the lounge and catering area in the first storey is not tangent to the historical fencing of the point alpha area but is integrated in the landscape as an overhung part above the historical site. by the two separate ways of entrance from the foyer and the outside of the building the catering area can be used independently of the opening hours of the museum and does not interfere with the exhibition schedulesthe floating structure of the building will be mounted on the massive stair and elevator case to allow the visitor a wide and open view of the surrounding landscape. this concept of a catering area pairs with a high quality of experience which benefits visitors and owners.

floor plan catering

architectural concept

the roof of the linear shaped construction which consists of administration, foyer, shop and furniture storage will be a flat landscaped roof. a special arched roof for all of the three seminar rooms was developed in coincidence with the industrial hall architecture preferred by us-americans during that period of time.these barrel-shaped roofs are designed to be a symbol for the former vehicle hall and repair shop architecture used in the military. it shall be utilized in order to connect the visitor’s centre to the seminar rooms. the roof areas of the catering and accommodation structures will be implemented as flat green roofs, too. this is done to maintain the impression of the landscape in order to embed the structures into the surrounding.all walls of the visitor’s centre will be performed in fair faced concrete in order to blend well with the us-watch tower and correspond to the materials used in the memorial site.the main goal in the architectural design is the visual connection to the museum site as well as the connection to the existing landscape and context in order to stimulate visitors returning to the memorial site and involve them to learn about its historical background.

several elevations

surrounding landscape and free spaces

embedding new structures well in the forest stand was focussed in this design to maintain as much existing surrounding as possible for the visitors. in order to achieve this none of the historical border structures shall be altered to preserve the historical documentation in the most authentic way. beneath the upper floor the catering area is located. this gives the visitor enough space to seek shelter from fickle weather independent of the season.

floor plan embedded in the unit location plan

the following authorship applies to the objects shown on this web site:
created during june 1993 to december 2002, architektur-, innenarchitektur- und staedtebauatelier "moeller and wald", architekt franz-karl "charly" moeller, elmar wald and architekt onderka, created during january 2003 to september 2005, omw gmbh, onderka-moeller-wald architekten bda.
for further details please refer to the reference list.