Carmen Würth Forum in Künzelsau, Baden-Württemberg Building, German Architecture, Images

Carmen Würth Forum Künzelsau Building

26 June 2020

Carmen Würth Forum

Architect: David Chipperfield Architects Berlin

Location: Künzelsau, Germany

A second construction phase completes the Carmen Würth Forum for the Adolf Würth GmbH & Co. KG situated in the town of Künzelsau in southern Germany. A flexible conference area and an art museum extend the existing concert hall and large event hall, opened in 2017. The diverse range of functions further establishes the complex’s conceptual idea of a forum and allows the building to be open continuously, in particular due to its use as a museum.

The contemplative exhibition spaces, dedicated to exquisite pieces from the Würth Collection, provide a counterpoint to the event spaces. The museum with its café and foyer includes a large, divisible exhibition hall with daylight atmosphere and a smaller, more intimate graphics art gallery.

Through a glazed belvedere, the museum opens up to the vast landscape and initiates a dialogue between the works of art and the place, continued in a sculpture park set in the scenic surroundings of the Carmen Würth Forum.

The clear architecture of the forum adopts the forms and language of industrial architecture, while refining it in terms of materiality. It seeks a sculptural engagement not only with the surrounding landscape, but also with the clear forms of Würth‘s company premises.Carmen Würth Forum, Phase 2Künzelsau, Germany 2018 – 2020

Project start: 2018
Completion: 2020
Gross floor area: 5,500 sqm
Client: Adolf Würth GmbH & Co. KG
Architect: David Chipperfield Architects

Photography © Simon Menges

Previously on e-architect:

31 Jul 2017

Carmen Würth Forum Künzelsau

Carmen Würth Forum Building

Surrounded by open fields and at a little distance from the main office complex, David Chipperfield Architects Berlin is building the Carmen Würth Forum, the first stage of which – comprising a large events hall and a smaller hall for chamber music recitals – was completed in July 2017.

The new building is embedded in the landscape, with the chamber-music hall and the lower level of the event hall hidden beneath a natural mound. Incisions in the hillside establish two framed external spaces. These are flanked by retaining walls, made of concrete, poured in-situ and in layers that make reference to the sediment strata of the site.

The larger southern forecourt leads to the main entrance and serves as a forum for diverse outdoor events, such as open-air concerts. The multi-purpose event hall, which is accessed from a naturally lit foyer, provides space for 3,500 people, and has a trussed-steel roof that obviates the need for internal columns. While the lower half of the hall is sunk into the ground, the upper gallery level rises above the highest point of the site and is glazed on all sides.

The foyer also provides access to the more intimate chamber music hall, which from the outside is only perceptible as a modulation of the landscape. This hall seats up to 600 people and is completely clad in walnut.

The company’s corporate colour of red runs throughout the design of the interior spaces, appearing in the seating of the chamber music hall as well as in the flooring of both the foyer and the event hall. Sculptures from the collection of Reinhold Würth enrich the green spaces surrounding the building. A conference centre and a museum for the Würth art collection are to follow in a second construction stage.

Carmen Würth Forum – Building Information

Competition: 2006 – 2007
Project start: 2011
Completion due: 2017
Gross floor area: 11,000 sqm
Client: Adolf Würth GmbH & Co. KG
Project management: Drees & Sommer AG
Architect: David Chipperfield Architects Berlin
Partners: David Chipperfield, Harald Müller, Martin Reichert, Alexander Schwarz (Design lead)
Project architects: Annette Flohrschütz, Christian Helfrich, Thomas Schöpf

Site supervision: Kraft + Kraft Architekten
Structural engineer: RPB Rückert GmbH
Services engineer: ZB Zimmermann und Becker GmbH, ibb Burrer & Deuring Ingenieurbüro GmbH
Building physics: Müller-BBM GmbH
Façade consultant: Reba Fassadentechnik AG
Landscape architect: realgrün Landschaftsarchitekten