Brewery Hall
The brewery hall for the start-up “Braurevolution” is being built along the longitudinal side of a property that already contains several utility and residential buildings. The elongated structure encloses the existing courtyard to the north and leaves space for a small beer garden facing the street. The context of the surrounding mixed-use industrial area dictates an industrial architectural language and invites inspiration from the photographic work of Bernd and Hilla Becher on old industrial buildings.
The simple volume with a gabled roof gains its distinctive character from a skylight band set along the ridge, creating an iconic roof shape on the gable walls. By elevating the structure and switching to exposed concrete, these gables become clearly legible front and rear façades, between which a steel frame clad in profiled glass (Profilit glazing) spans.
The two openings on the east side, reduced to a circle and a rectangle, mark the entrance, fulfilling the traditional role of a brewery with a taproom and direct sales area. The architectural image of the new brewery hall resembles a kind of display warehouse. One can see, hear, smell, and taste the production of the beers, the storage of malt and hops, and the brewing process in the kettles—right up to the tasting at the scene.
A separate inserted structure houses the cooling storage and auxiliary rooms. This can be dismantled in the event of a future change in use. The large main room features an open counter where visitors can sit between brewing kettles and storage tanks. The hall’s atmosphere is industrial, its structure rhythmically rational, and the layout is symmetrical. The entrance area includes a taproom for tastings and sales, which can also be used for brewing seminars and festivities.
The materials used reflect the pragmatic context of the surroundings. For earthquake protection, the floor slab and gable walls are made of concrete, with the brightly painted steel structure inserted between them. To allow the two elements—a door and a round window—to stand out on the gable wall, they were executed in cast-in-place concrete to achieve the most homogeneous surface
possible. Only the formwork panel layout and the omission of visible horizontal concrete joints were predefined.
Inside, the material collage is complemented by wood-wool lightweight panels on the gable walls, which provide basic acoustics to the space. The project deliberately moves within the tension field between design and rudimentary simplicity.
