Schwabinger Tor. Munich, Germany
Max Dudler’s new high-rise in Munich sets the tone as a characteristic landmark of stone and glass.
The project’s first completed structure, the mixed-use high-rise „N10“ is the architectural prelude for the newly created Schwabinger Tor quarter (developer: Jost Hurler Group), which will connect the urban areas between the city centre and the north of the city. Based on a masterplan by 03 Architekten, Max Dudler has developed four buildings for the site. The first building, which is now in use, was designed as a freestanding urban tower with a striking stone relief façade.
The newly completed high-rise, N10, constitutes the highest point on the north end of the Schwabinger Tor quarter, and serves as an impressive landmark along Leopoldstraße. The minimalistic architectural vocabulary, expressed in the natural stone façade‘s relief effect, lends Max Dudler’s design a calm, almost archaic feel. Because of the concealed arrangement of the glass within the window frames, only stone and glass are visible, integrated as large-format elements into the surface area.
The recessed window casings slant either to the right or the left, creating a rhyth- mic relief throughout the façade, recalling the three-dimensionality of Renaissance façades. From the smooth base plinth, a stone sheath accentuated by the staggered surface areas rises up towards the sky. Despite the regular gridding, the irregularly embedded loggias, coupled with the façade’s pronounced depth, animate the building, the appearance of which changes with the sun‘s trajectory.
A slightly porous, light-beige, natural stone was chosen for the façade. The elegant travertine also establishes a connection to Munich‘s building traditions; the pale stone façade re ects the existing colour scheme of Leopoldstraße referencing, for example, the colours of Friedrich von Gärtner’s St. Ludwig’s Church. The naturally changing shading of the façade provides a lively quality, which is further enhanced thanks to a special sanding process: the at stone surfaces are nely sanded, while the slanted sand-blasted areas appear somewhat darker and grainier.
Restaurants and cafes are situated on the ground oor. The first three upper oors house of ce spaces; beginning on the fourth oor, residential apartments with loggias stretch up to the top oor, where spacious penthouse apartments are located. Individual access points lead to the private roof terraces, which offer panoramic views of Munich.
A total of 120 jobs and 40 apartments are being created in the new mixed-use building. In the building’s interior, a spacious foyer creates an impressive entry. The flooring in the common areas is of a light beige concrete stone, while the central interior walls of the elevators are clad in red cherry wood.
The fashionable Leopoldstraße boasts a string of important Munich architectural works, including the Siegestor, the Münchner Freiheit, the Kunstakademie and the “Walking Man” by Jonathan Borofsky. Just north of the Münchner Freiheit, the Jost Hurler Group has developed the new self-contained Schwabinger Tor quarter as an urban prelude to Munich’s inner city. In keeping with the aim of promoting Jost Hurlers guiding theme „Talents. Sharing. Tolerance.“ the city quarter reflects many aspects of the sharing economy.
People live, work, shop and go out here. The lightly staggered arrangement of the nine buildings results in open areas that intersect the site, linking the busy urban Leopoldstrasse with the quiet Berliner Strasse to the east of the city quarter.
Currently three further buildings by Max Dudler are under construction in the Schwabinger Tor quarter. Over the next two years, together with the recently opened Hochpunkt Nord, the entire ensemble will be consolidated, providing a both stabilising and enlivening effect on the new quarter.
