Hall of Silence, part of the building Q2 of Thyssenkrupp Quarter, Essen
Client: Thyssenkrupp AG, Essen
1st Prize Competition 2006 together with chaixetmorel, Paris
Completion 2011
The “quiet room” at the Thyssenkrupp Quartier is a space for inner reflection, open to both visitors and employees at the campus. As a company with international operations, Thyssenkrupp’s “quiet room” also serves as a place for intercultural and interdenominational encounter.
The “quiet room” avoids fixed orientation and deliberately refrains from rigid geometry. The space consists of a seven-meter-high, elongated anteroom, just around 1.60 meters wide, and an adjoining main room. Within this space, a large quadratic cube appears to float. In keeping with its multiconfessional character, the room contains no religious symbols. Taken together, the architectural elements create a contemplative atmosphere, yet one that is not defined by any particular confession: the guiding wall of the anteroom, which narrows toward the window at the end – toward the light – and prepares the spatial dramaturgy of the main room; the square cube that appears to float in the light, a design motif already familiar on the campus; and the steeply rising side walls of the main room, which open upward at their upper edge toward the sky.
All walls and the floor are finished in a light mineral plaster. The interior surfaces of the floating cube are clad in finger-like, spliced titanium shingles, whose visual impact is further intensified by LED lighting. The contrast between artificial illumination and the adjacent areas of natural light creates a strong spatial tension. The materiality of the titanium shingles is visually dissolved, further reinforcing the floating character of the cube.
Photos: Ardex / Armin Wenzel