Eight years ago, David Chipperfield Architects won a competition to design a cultural events space, the "Carmen Würth Forum", a concert hall, in Künzelsau, south central Germany for Adolf Würth’s International Company. After a series of repeated setbacks, construction work is now underway on the €55 million scheme.

The center, designed by David Chipperfield Architects, is named after Würth’s wife. The first stage of construction on the "Carmen Würth Forum" will include a large events space and a smaller chamber music hall. This first phase of the project is due for completion in 2017, coinciding with Carmen Würth’s 80th birthday. In the project's second phase, a conference center and museum for the Würth art collection will be added.
 

Description of the project by David Chipperfield Architects

The headquarters of the company Adolf Würth is situated to the south of the German  town of Künzelsau. The Carmen Würth Forum, designed by David Chipperfield  Architects, is to be built within its direct vicinity. During a first stage of construction,  an event hall and a chamber music hall are due for completion in 2017.

The building is embedded in the landscape, characterised by expansive meadows  and fields, which it integrates as an architectural theme. Two retaining walls made of  bush-hammered, in-situ concrete frame a forecourt in front of the main entrance to  the building. This square serves as a forum for diverse outdoor events, such as open- air concerts. The main entrance leads into the naturally lit foyer, from where the large  event hall is accessed. While the lower level of the hall is sunk into the earth, the  upper gallery level, which is glazed on all sides, rises above the highest point of the  terrain. The event hall provides space for 3,500 people and can be used for a diverse  range of events, including sporting events. The trussed steel construction of the  ceiling spans column-free over the entire length of the hall.

The more intimate chamber music hall seats up to 500 people. From the outside this  smaller hall is only perceptible as a modulation of the landscape. As is the case for  the event hall, the chamber music hall likewise features a gallery level with audience  seating.

A conference centre and a museum for the Würth art collection are to follow in a  second construct ion stage.


CREDITS. DATA SHEET.-

Architect.- David Chipperfield Architects Berlin.
Design.- David Chipperfield, Alexander Schwarz – Partner.
Project management.- Harald Müller – Partner, Martin Reichert – Partner.
Project architects.- Annette Flohrschütz, Christian Helfrich, Thomas Schöpf.
Contact architect: Kraft + Kraft Architekten. Landscape architect.- realgrün Landschaftsarchitekten. Structural engineer.- RPB Rückert GmbH Services engineer. Services engineer.- ZB zimmermann und becker gmbh. Façade consultant.- Reba Fassadentechnik AG.Project management.- Drees & Sommer AG. Renderings.- David Chipperfield Architects.
Client.- Adolf Würth GmbH & Co. KG
Dates. Competition.- 2006–2007. Project start.- 2011. Completion due.- 2017 (first construction stage).
Gross floor area.- 10,000 sqm m²

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David Chipperfield was born in London in 1953 and studied architecture at the Kingston School of Art and the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London before working at the practices of Douglas Stephen, Richard Rogers and Norman Foster.

In 1985 he founded David Chipperfield Architects, which today has over 300 staff at its offices in London, Berlin, Milan and Shanghai.

David Chipperfield has taught and held conferences in Europe and the United States and has received honorary degrees from the universities of Kingston and Kent.

He is a member of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) and an honorary fellow of both the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and the Bund Deutscher Architekten (BDA). In 2009 he was awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany and in 2010 he received a knighthood for services to architecture in the UK and Germany. In 2011 he received the RIBA Royal Gold Medal for Architecture and in 2013 the Praemium Imperiale from the Japan Art Association, while in 2021 he was appointed a member of the Order of the Companions of Honour in recognition of a lifetime’s work.

In 2012 he curated the 13th International Architecture Exhibition of the Venice Biennale.

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