Stuttgart City Museum in the Wilhelmspalais

Stuttgart
Stuttgart City Museum in the Wilhelmspalais

structural engineering, special structures  Services

LRO Lederer + Ragnarsdóttir + Oei  Architect

Heritage-sensitive conversion of the Wilhelmspalais into a city museum

Project

The former city library in the historic Wilhelmspalais (built around 1840) was converted into a city museum. In accordance with the competition design, a large portion of the reinforced concrete structure from the 1950s was carefully dismantled within the listed building, minimizing vibrations and meeting special heritage conservation requirements. Based on the original spatial layout by Giovanni Salucci, a modern museum with approximately 3,400 m² of usable floor area was created. The program includes a lecture hall, a city lab for children, as well as spacious permanent and temporary exhibition areas. The structural design was carried out on a 3D building model using the BIM method.

The reinforced concrete structure, structurally decoupled from the listed façade, with thermally activated flat slabs enables generous, flexibly usable exhibition spaces.

Structural design
The structural system is designed as a conventional reinforced concrete construction. Vertical loads are carried entirely by the new building, independent of the listed exterior façade. The massive, thermally activated flat slabs, 35 cm thick (except for the ground floor ceiling), and the roof in prefabricated timber construction are supported by reinforced concrete and, in some areas, by shotcrete columns. In the core areas, reinforced concrete walls serve as ceiling supports. By integrating the ventilation ducts into the flat slabs, suspended ceilings are minimized, allowing for generous room heights and high flexibility in the use of the spaces. Large spans are a defining feature, particularly in the lecture halls and exhibition areas. Horizontal bracing is provided by the stair and elevator cores. The foundation is executed as a shallow foundation in Stuttgart’s characteristic mineral water protection zone.

Gallery

Project data

Client City of Stuttgart

Architect LRO Lederer + Ragnarsdóttir + Oei

Finalization 2017

Project data Gross floor area 9.250 m²
Usable area 7.350 m²
Gross cubic capacity 36.550 m³

Services structural engineering, special structures

Awards Beispielhaftes Bauen Stuttgart 2015-2019 Architektenkammer Baden-Württemberg, Hugo-Häring-Auszeichnung und Publikumspreis 2017, BDA Stuttgart Mittlerer Neckar, Wettbewerb 1. Preis