Order needs order

The Karlsruhe Police Headquarters finds its new location in a former industrial monument consisting of several individual buildings from different periods. In the future, the five-storey buildings will accommodate uses of the criminal investigation department with offices, file archives and functional rooms for forensic investigations, as well as the central command and situation centre with a high level of technical equipment and round-the-clock use. The planning approach is to make the historical building fabric tangible and to juxtapose it with modern elements. The façade of the listed building is carefully restored, with damages and missing parts deliberately left visible. Although the new building is based on the materiality of brick and the strict order of the existing complex, it is unambiguous in its contemporary design with narrow and high window formats and striking folding shutters made of expanded metal, which when open lend the façade a strong sculptural quality.