Glamour on the wine route

CONCISE APPEARANCE

In an open working process, an impressive project was created in the southern part of Rhineland-Palatinate in regional cooperation: In the process, architect Hans-Peter Hertel relied entirely on the qualities of joint development. The outstanding result is a customised building envelope with a striking, elongated appearance.

View from above on the right, slats on the front façade, enclosed entrance area

The art of transformation

In the small historic town of Landau in der Pfalz, in the middle of the southern wine region, there is a detached house with a special façade. The existing structure from the 60ies, originally equipped with a pitched roof, was rebuilt 10 to 12 years ago and received a flat roof. Now, the aim was to create a new character effect once again with a structural redesign of the house: Hans-Peter Hertel realised the image change into the contemporary with a progressively accentuated PREFA façade. “While its cubature makes it blend in with its surrounding area, the building stands out from the other houses in terms of style,” says the Landau-based architect.

Back view, wooden terrace below, bronze-coloured façade front, covered terrace on the first floor with metal railing

Need-oriented planning

“Every object, every spatial concept comes into being in a synergy with the client in an interesting field of tension,” reveals Hans-Peter Hertel regarding his approach to the planning processes. For him, the diversity that is created as a result is what distinguishes his architecture. The team of five at Hertel’s office is mainly active in the commercial, reconstruction, listed building and conversion sectors. The design is based on the occupants’ needs or the respective industrial use. In line with the principle of “form follows function”? “No – that isn’t formalism,” Hans-Peter Hertel clarifies.

Street view, garage with bronze-coloured façade on the left, stone façade below, bronze-coloured aluminium façade with slats inside above

The owner of the house runs a large business with a long family tradition. The architectural office Hertel, founded in 1949, has already known the entrepreneurial family for three generations. “The cooperation between the building owner and the master locksmith Matthias Rolli from Speyer worked very well,” says Hans-Peter Hertel with satisfaction. A great deal of knowledge and experience went into the perfectly realised and client-oriented result. “Thanks to the modern planning software, it was easy to involve the family. A digital 3D visualisation helped with the choice of colour for the façade, for example,” says sheet metal worker Matthias Rolli about the planning steps they took together.

Designing also always means discarding.

Hans-Peter Hertel

On the street side, the aluminium façade slightly protrudes over the stone façade underneath and thereby offers rain protection on the paved forecourt along the building. A homogenous transition was achieved between the house and the garage with the PREFABOND aluminium composite panel. On the right side of the building, the stone slab front continues as an enclosure of the garden area at ground floor level. Slats that were arranged in regular wave-like groups in the cuboid break up and open up the façade. The result is organic and transparent: Light enters the building between the slats, which simultaneously offer privacy towards the street side.

construction site view, street side, garage, scaffolding on building, white plaster below, barrier in the front

The architect claims that there is a lot you can do with PREFA and is convinced by the excellent processability of the material ever since the project. The company Rolli Metallbau from Speyer has been working with the sustainable material for years and also has the technical know-how for the realisation: Their boss Matthias Rolli is the one who brings PREFA into play, plans details and processes and installs the tried and tested façade material. He managed to create a beautiful arrangement of the slabs and an even flow of the corner areas. The PREFABOND aluminium composite panels were fixed to a steel substructure and a levelling construction. There was no question that PREFA would be used, also with regard to the colour: “The landlady wanted a vibrant, natural warm colour,” Matthias Rolli tells us. “PREFA offers a large selection of standard colours. In the end, the decision was made to use the popular shade of bronze”: The colour has a noble shimmering quality and gives the striking building a glamorous touch.

View of the left façade edge, street side

Diagonal view of the left edge of the façade from the right below, from bottom to top: stone façade, aluminium façade with slats

View of the left, vertical façade edge from below, horizontal projection of aluminium façade over stone façade, parallel to upper horizontal façade edge

Rectangular angle of the left façade side and façade front protrudes into the picture, view from below

Diagonal view from the front – on the street side, bronze-coloured façade edge protrudes over light stone façade, a paved forecourt to the right of it

Country:	Germany
Object, location:	detached house, Landau in der Pfalz
Category:	conversion
Architecture:	Hans-Peter Hertel
Installer:	Rolli Metallbau
Material:	PREFABOND aluminium composite panel
Colour:	bronze

Further information

Interview: Mara Probst and Anneliese Heinisch
Text: Mara Probst
Photos: © Croce & Wir
Construction site photo: © Matthias Rolli

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