Joseph Pschorr House
Text description provided by the architects. The commercial building, which was completed in October 2013, is a hybrid of two different building typologies. On the one hand, the building follows the historic model of a mixed-use building, with the retail functions on the lower two floors and apartments on the top floor which, in this case, has been extended to include a full residential loft. On the other hand, the building represents a development of the department store typology; three separate units are interwoven over four levels in the middle zone and the upper floors are largely shielded from the street. As a result, the building is more open to the city on the top floor and lower two floors, while the design of the elevations of the middle floors is more withdrawn.
The compact organisation of the inside of the building and the city structure - its immediate environment - create a tension that is the basis of this design. The commercial building has been built on several historic plots, and forms a perimeter block along three very different streets. It is situated opposite two historic churches, St Michael (1583-97) to the north and St Anna (1735) to the south, as well as the connecting buildings of the “Alte Akademie” at Neuhauser Strasse and the former convent at the Altheimer Eck. Eisenmannstrasse at the front of the building is a narrow alley, which connects Neuhauser Strasse, a busy shopping street, with the Hackenviertel behind Altheimer Eck.
