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BÜRO UND VERWALTUNG • OFFICE BUILDINGS INNERE WERTE • INNER VALUES

Aufstieg ins Dachgeschoss über den Büroräumen • Stairs to the top floor above the offices

Durch Einbringung von Beton wurde das Becken verschlossen. • The basin was filled in with concrete. Ein neues Zwischengeschoss erweitert die Fläche. • A new mezzanine extends the area.

W ashing is good, bathing is better, swimming is the very best – this was the proceeded with a major respect for the historic structure. The showers, toilets and ra-
motto when the new public bath in Kassel-Bettenhausen was opened on 15th
diators as well as the ceiling lining of the old building stock were carefully removed
June 1930. A few months earlier, the architects Ernst Rothe and Hermann Jobst had and new internal insulation was installed. The former pool was filled in with concrete
completed the strictly cubic brick building. Since 1977, the largest example of the Kas- and turned into a multifunctional area. In the back third of this area, a ceiling-high
sel Bauhaus architecture has been protected as a high-ranking individual monument. glass wall extending across all the levels was added which separates the space into
In 2007, the operation ceased and the already derelict property was sold. In the sub- two sections: an open hall – whose front section can be rented as an event location –
sequent years, it became a desolate ruin. Not until it was purchased by the three Kas- as well as the office rooms on three levels behind the glass wall where the new work-
sel architects Keivan Karampour, Thomas Meyer and Marc Köhler in 2018 did this de- spaces of KM architekten are also located. The linking element between the two sec-
velopment come to an end. tions is a centrally positioned wooden installation used as a meeting room which
opens with a wide window towards the swimming hall like a room of the lifeguard.
Revival due to a multifaceted utilization concept The characteristic elements of the former indoor pool have been preserved everyw-
here – the water-blue ceramic covering of the pilasters, slip-resistant floor tiles and
Unlike previous concepts of use, the project developers – all of them colleagues in the entry aids remind of the former usage. Due to the courageous purchase of a decayed
KM architekten planning office – took the important signal function into consideration piece of real estate, it has been possible to revive a place believed to have been lost
which the object has due to its location at the intersection of the city centre and the and a piece of local identity. Modern interventions transferred the building steeped
industrial east section of Kassel. Besides designing leasable offices and doctor’s sur- in history into the current time. Overall, the architects thus managed to cover a large
geries in the area of the former changing cubicles and individual baths in the side range of trendsetting topics – the preservation of the stock, sustainable building in
wings, the new usage also includes a multifunctional event space in the former swim- line with monument conservation as well as energy-efficient renovation but also the
ming hall as well as an exhibition area where the spectator’s stands used to be on creative approach to future urban development. In the former Hallenbad Ost, all the
the first upper level. The original layout of the hall with a central pool and a staircase offices and event areas are currently rented or regularly booked – even documenta fif-
in the centre has thus been largely preserved. In the course of the renovation- and teen will in 2022 show some exhibitions here. True to the opening motto, in conclu-
conversion measures, the planners experienced in the field of monument protection sion one might say: Designing is good, building is better, preserving is the very best!

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