4th Prize: Competition Künzelsau Parking Garage
Urban Planning Concept
The requirements for the new parking garage are multifaceted: it serves as a gateway to the district and the city, as well as a link between the bus station, the new urban axis, Kaufland, the district administration building, Stuttgarter Straße, the cycle path, and the forestry office. The design broadly adopts the building alignment specified in the framework plan.
At the district entrance from Stuttgarter Straße, the north façade is set back in order to strengthen the visual guidance into the district, with Kaufland positioned opposite. At the beginning and end of the access road along the southern side, the road cross-section widens. In the western section, this widening accommodates the building alignment of the district administration building and improves the traffic junction at the entrance to the access road.
The five above-ground levels in this area emphasize the main entrance and create an appropriate counterpart to the end of the new urban axis. The widening in the eastern section makes it possible to transform the embankment there, together with its stairway, into a landscaped recreational area. It also allows the existing green space east of the cycle path to be incorporated into the access road. These widened areas significantly soften the rigid edge defined in the framework plan opposite the north façade of the district administration building.
Access and Circulation
The entrance to the parking garage is located in the eastern section of the access road, allowing any potential traffic queue to be absorbed on the road itself. The exit is positioned next to the entrance, with the associated barrier system located on the access road. This also allows any possible queue at the exit to be accommodated on the access road.
The connection to the eastern cycle path is provided at the second basement level, in the area of the underpass leading to the bus station. The bicycle parking spaces and the optional bicycle station are also located here. Pedestrians can access the parking garage via three stairwells.
Inside the garage, the car parking spaces on all levels are accessed via two traffic lanes designed as a continuous ramp system. Each level includes a turning area near Stairwell 3. Together with a display indicating the number of remaining spaces, this ensures smooth traffic flow throughout the parking garage.
The underground garage of the district administration building can be connected to the parking garage on the first basement level beneath the entrance and exit area. Pedestrians can reach the respective stairwells along designated walkways running beside the parking spaces and along the traffic lanes.
Architectural Concept
Inside the building, users experience the “spiral” created by the continuous ramp as they move through the timber frames toward the parking spaces. The continuous ramp eliminates the loss of space caused by additional ramp structures, allowing the design to incorporate an inner courtyard.
The inner courtyard and the light wells on the north and west sides make it possible to design the parking garage as an open-sided garage, including in the basement levels.
The façade is conceived as a semi-transparent façade made of stainless-steel mesh. It emphasizes the spiral form by highlighting the individual levels. The solid floor slabs project one meter beyond the parking spaces, providing solar protection, structural protection for the timber, and, where necessary, fire barriers for future uses.
The mesh serves both as fall protection and as a climbing frame for the ground-based façade greenery planned at the lower levels. Depending on the viewing angle, the curves and angles of the stainless-steel mesh make the façade appear open when viewed frontally and closed when viewed from the side, further emphasizing the spiral.
When viewed frontally, the timber frames visible from below are intended to project the “inner” spiral of the parking garage onto the exterior. The ground-based façade greenery, primarily on the eastern side of the parking garage, creates a connecting counterpart to the trees along the cycle path and around the forestry office.
Structure and Materials
The design is conceived as a timber-hybrid structure. In the parking areas, the timber frames consist of beams and columns made of laminated beech timber. The connections and the steel supports for the timber columns are planned in galvanized steel.
The floor slabs are designed as precast reinforced-concrete elements with stiffening connections at the supports on the timber beams. The slabs will receive a surface coating suitable for use in a parking garage.
The stairwells, the walls flanking the inner courtyard, and the main column in the turning area are designed as solid reinforced-concrete components. Together with the reinforced-concrete beams, these solid elements form the stiffening structural frame of the parking garage.
The below-ground exterior walls and floor slabs are planned in watertight concrete. The roof over the top level will feature extensive green roofing with elevated photovoltaic panels.
The stairwells and entrances will receive single glazing for weather protection. The built-in elements and ancillary rooms are planned as insulated timber-frame structures with timber and glass façades.
Nachnutzung Atelier
Nachnutzung Boarding
Nachnutzung Büro
Future-Use Concepts / Design Ideas
The design makes it possible to access and provide escape routes for three separate units on each of the upper standard floors via the three stairwells. A wide range of future uses—such as offices, a boarding house, or studio and rehearsal spaces—can be accommodated using lightweight box-like fit-outs made of insulated timber-frame structures or system partitions.
Within each unit, the main rooms can be positioned along the exterior façade, while the ancillary rooms face the open inner courtyard. By arranging potential future uses from the top down and retaining the turning areas on each level, parking operations can continue on the “remaining levels.”
This provides the client with flexibility and maximum use of the available floor area for possible future conversions. Within the units, the main corridors would be designed with a gradient of approximately 3 percent. Thanks to the clear floor-to-ceiling height of 2.15 m beneath the beams, the rooms and platforms connected to the main corridor can be fitted with a leveling floor build-up, creating level surfaces while maintaining a clear passage height of 2.0 m beneath the beams.
The space between the beams, which is 60 cm high, provides sufficient room for elements such as ceiling insulation and building-services installations.
