The Volvo-Centrum Rhein-Ruhr in Witten-Annen is centrally accessible via the A44. The Swedish manufacturer's largest car dealership in Germany (and in fact the third largest of its kind in Europe) was to be brought into a new era: Düsseldorf-based agh architekten reorganized the interior of the fully glazed building with its strikingly rounded narrow sides and redesigned it in line with the CI. 

"More of a living room than a car dealership" - this guiding principle was at the top of Fahrzeugwerke Lueg AG's wish list for the conversion of the 1,500 m² main building, which is accessible on two levels both on foot and by car. The building, which was originally constructed at the end of the 1990s for another brand manufacturer, was primarily an industrial building: the construction was visible and present everywhere, the walls were largely unadorned and the spatial effect was rather cool and functional. The conversion created a new sense of calm through clear contrasts and homogeneous surfaces. Embedded in visually receding, dark components such as columns or parts of the ceilings, the new, bright offices and meeting rooms on the lower level stand out. This "white line" is interrupted by warm, natural materials, which were used to furnish the new customer lounge with a café. In the new car sales area on the upper second level, the vehicles are surrounded by warm and natural materials such as wood and selected textile surfaces. The existing building posed a particular challenge on this level. This is oriented to the east and has a gallery-like sloping ceiling. There was therefore an air space between the floor and the two-storey glass façade, in which the staircase access had found its place. A new meeting room was to be located in this area. This intermediate space therefore had to be closed off, not least for sound insulation reasons. This gave rise to the idea of "circular furniture", which was to be fitted into the irregularly wide air gap. 

After a precise 3D measurement, the piece of furniture was CNC-milled, cut and assembled on site from individual modules - a band of furniture up to 10.40 meters in diameter and over 18 meters long. Integrated display cabinets and a sofa round off the newly created business lounge perfectly. In the workshops, on the other hand, the aim was to create an ambience that was as minimalist as possible and focused on quality and precision. Using Volvo's own furniture and lighting concept, a genuine laboratory for vehicle technology was created.

www.agh-architekten.de

Photos:

Marcel Adamczak

(Published in CUBE Ruhr Area 04|23)