City Hall
Bensberger, Germany · 1969
Photo · Photo © office Paul Böhm
A classic precedent of Brutalist civic architecture by Gottfried Böhm, demonstrating how expressive, board-marked concrete and faceted, sculptural massing can integrate with a historic site.
- What we like about this project
- The sculptural tower features open, unglazed apertures near its peak, reading as a modern belfry.
Materials
- board-marked-concrete
- glass
- stone
Visual identifiers
- board-marked-concrete
- sculptural-tower
- ribbon-windows
- brutalist-civic
- polygonal-geometry
Style tags
- brutalist
- expressive-concrete
- monumental
Visual tags
- brutalist
- sculptural-concrete
- civic-architecture
- historic-context
- monolithic
- Geometry
- A complex, multi-faceted concrete massing featuring a prominent, sculptural, tapering tower with polygonal facets, flanked by stepped, curving wings with horizontal ribbon windows.
- Facade system
- Load-bearing board-marked concrete with integrated horizontal window bands.
- Structural guess
- Cast-in-place concrete shear walls and columns.
- Spatial scale
- A multi-story civic complex, roughly five to six stories high, with a towering vertical element acting as a focal point.
- Lighting
- Strong, direct sunlight casting deep, dramatic shadows that accentuate the board-marked texture and faceted geometry of the concrete.
- Atmosphere
- Monolithic and dramatic, with the raw concrete surfaces catching the light like a modern castle.
- Environmental context
- Sited on a grassy rise adjacent to an old stone medieval tower, contrasting historic masonry with expressive modern concrete.
- Spatial experience
- The building wraps around an open courtyard, creating a protective, fortress-like enclosure that contrasts with the historic stone tower nearby.
- Composition rhythm
- Alternating bands of solid concrete and dark ribbon glazing wrap around the curved wings, leading to the vertical rhythm of the central tower.
- Style reading
- Expressive Brutalism / Structural Expressionism
- Program
- City Hall / Civic Center
- Perspective
- Exterior Facade
- Discipline
- architecture
- Materials
- board-marked-concrete, glass, stone
- Visual identifiers
- board-marked-concrete, sculptural-tower, ribbon-windows, brutalist-civic, polygonal-geometry
- Style tags
- brutalist, expressive-concrete, monumental
- Visual tags
- brutalist, sculptural-concrete, civic-architecture, historic-context, monolithic
- Geometry
- A complex, multi-faceted concrete massing featuring a prominent, sculptural, tapering tower with polygonal facets, flanked by stepped, curving wings with horizontal ribbon windows.
- Facade system
- Load-bearing board-marked concrete with integrated horizontal window bands.
- Structural guess
- Cast-in-place concrete shear walls and columns.
- Spatial scale
- A multi-story civic complex, roughly five to six stories high, with a towering vertical element acting as a focal point.
- Lighting
- Strong, direct sunlight casting deep, dramatic shadows that accentuate the board-marked texture and faceted geometry of the concrete.
- Atmosphere
- Monolithic and dramatic, with the raw concrete surfaces catching the light like a modern castle.
- Environmental context
- Sited on a grassy rise adjacent to an old stone medieval tower, contrasting historic masonry with expressive modern concrete.
- Spatial experience
- The building wraps around an open courtyard, creating a protective, fortress-like enclosure that contrasts with the historic stone tower nearby.
- Composition rhythm
- Alternating bands of solid concrete and dark ribbon glazing wrap around the curved wings, leading to the vertical rhythm of the central tower.
- Style reading
- Expressive Brutalism / Structural Expressionism
- Program
- City Hall / Civic Center
- Perspective
- Exterior Facade
- Discipline
- architecture