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SERIEN STUDENTENARBEIT • STUDENT WORK

Technische Hochschule Köln I n the winter term of the year 2014, the Institut für Entwerfen und Konstruieren of
the Cologne University of Applied Sciences set the students a task with a special
challenge: What was to be designed was a raptor sanctuary for the Landes-
www.akoeln.de gartenschau in Zülpich. The spatial arrangement consisted of seven aviaries for dome-
1971 Gründungsjahr stic birds of prey, a lounge for the falconer and a storage room. A jury was to choose
952 Studierende in der Architekturfakultät one of the designs from the approximately 150 term papers and this was to be actu-
ally implemented. Important aspects in the planning were for us as students, in addi-
tion to the unusual requirements of the raptors, for the first time also the real, lower
budget and the necessity of constructing the building as efficiently and independently
as possible. The chance of being able to really implement one of their own designs
awakened strong ambitions in the students. Particularly in architecture, the practical
relevance has a high value and is associated with a multitude of new, instructive
experiences. Numerous exciting design projects were thus worked out. At the end of
the term, a jury consisting of professors at the Cologne University of Applied Sciences,
representatives of the city of Zülpich, the Landesgartenschau as well as the falconer
chose the four most convincing designs. We as the authors, Nina Wester, Patrick
Müller, Nadja Thielen and Viviane Bonfanti, quickly agreed to accomplish the actual
implementation as a team. After some considerations, we decided in favour of the
design by Viviane Bonfanti which convinced with its aesthetic and spatially challen-
Perspektivische Skizze • Perspective sketch ging concept. Especially the construction based on the staggering of just one compo-
nent – a plank of domestic larch wood – promised an exciting and, for the most part,
feasible building method.

Design principles and technical requirements

The unique construction, which exploits the potential of a so-called Brettstapel
In der Dämmerung strahlt die Station eine besondere Atmosphäre aus. • The sanctuary emanates atmosphere.
method, came with several challenges. Since we could not resort to standard soluti-
ons, each detail had to be precisely worked out. Thanks to the good insulation fea-
tures of the massive wall-, floor- and ceiling construction, we were able to forgo addi-
tional thermal insulation. Far more challenging turned out to be, for example, the
conceptual design of the roof point. Here design principles and technical require-
ments had to be coordinated. This made some discussions with experts and sample
details on a scale of one to one necessary. Being able to manage and experience all
the stages of the implementation – from the planning to the sizing of the construction
site, the calculation of the actually necessary thickness of the planks together with the
supporting-structure planner, or the determining of the amount of timber and the
number of screws all the way to the actual construction of the building was a very
exciting and instructive experience for us. It was a stroke of luck for the project that
a class of the Thomas Eßer vocational college agreed to construct the shell together
with us. In the preliminary stage, we discussed the essential points of the constructi-
on and the building process with the committed carpentry class. Once the foundati-
ons had been poured, together with the carpentry apprentices we started the con-
struction of the shell. For two weeks, we met right at sunrise in Zülpich to construct
the whole building volume by layering plank upon plank. We were able to complete
the shell in the course of these two very intense weeks. Then followed the concluding
jobs performed by the roofer, the electrician and the landscape architect.

New attraction in Zülpich

On the day of the opening of the Landesgartenschau, we were able to see how the
visitors slowly and curiously approached the building, how they strolled across the
terrace and, step by step, peeping through the planks, watched the birds. We were
able to note how the falconer and his assistants had settled in the lounges, how they
organized their spectacular flight show right in front of the building where the birds
paused briefly on the roof of the raptor sanctuary and the visitors, sitting on the ter-
race, enjoyed the show. It was a strange feeling to have been busy for months on the
building – after all, we had thought about every single screw and every single plank
– and to now leave it behind. But it was beautiful to see that the building was really
accepted and filled with life by those using it. Beside the intense practical experience,
what impressed us most was that the object which we had created in our minds was
now in actual fact standing in front of our eyes and that we could enter it. This expe-
rience, which was only made possible thanks to the special engagement of our pro-
fessors Peter Scheder, Susanne Kohte and Chris Schroeer-Heiermann, who untiringly
accompanied us from the planning phase all the way to the actual implementation,
gave us great joy and major insights into the realistic construction process.

056 • AIT 12.2016