The municipality had decided in the 1980s to house its administration in an empty school building on the edge of town. The reason was the lack of space in the old town hall in the town’s old centre. But the location’s disadvantages became obvious after a few years. So, in the light of local history and culture as well as of the need for citizen-friendliness, it was decided to renovate the classicistic town hall and extend it with a new structure.

The heart of the original building, a listed monument, is its interior circulation space. The old staircase, with its original stonework at the lower level, was constructed of wood on the upper floors and had been altered several times. The suggestion of replacing it with a new structure was initially rejected on grounds of conservation and respect for tradition. It was only after two years of persuasion that we were permitted to construct the most important spatial element for the town hall. Today the staircase is the pride of the municipality.

The new building is directly connected to the old town hall. It is particularly striking for its windows, which are configured in zigzag folds prompted by the restricted urban situation – the distance to the neighbouring building at the south is very small. Inside, the line of sight is directed outwards to the left and to the right, as with oriel windows. Their triangular projections make the relatively small offices seem much bigger.

Whereas the new building has white rendering, the historical town hall façade was brought back to its original, sumptuously colourful appearance, based on pictures of it from the 19th century.

Client:
Stadt Eppingen

Architects:
Lederer Ragnarsdóttir Oei, Stuttgart

Team:
Katja Pütter, Michael Ragaller, Marco Garcia-Barth, Volker Katthagen, Markus Rein, Cornelia Vatter, Natalia Glubrecht

Structural Engineering:
Wieland + Meißner, Öhringen
BfB GmbH, Karlsruhe

Competition:
2002 – 1st prize

Competition:
2005 – 2007

Gross floor area:
2,814 square meters

Effective surface area:
1,359 square meters

Gross volume:
10.392 cubic meters

Location:
Marktplatz 1, 75031 Eppingen, Germany

Awards
Auszeichnung guter Bauten, BDA 2008

best architects 09 Award, Zinnobergruen GmbH 2008

Publications
Lederer, Arno / Ragnarsdóttir, Jórunn / Oei, Marc (Hg.):
Lederer Ragnarsdóttir Oei 1
Jovis Verlag Berlin 2012

Häuser
6 | 2009

Bund Deutscher Architekten BDA, Landesverband Baden-Württemberg (Hg.):
Architektur in Baden-Württemberg 2009. Auszeichnung Guter Bauten, Hugo-Häring-Preis
Stuttgart 2009

Falk Jaeger (Hg.):
Lederer+Ragnarsdóttir+Oei
Berlin 2008

Forum AID
1 | 2008

Best Architects Documentation.
Düsseldorf 2008

Bauwelt
11 | 2008

Baumeister
2 | 2008

Deutsche Bauzeitung
12 | 2007

Metamorphose
5 | 2007

Zurück in die Stadt, 1824 | Rathaus Eppingen | 2007
Berlin 2007

Photos
Zooey Braun, Stuttgart