For years, parts of Düren-North have been affected by deteriorating building stock. To actively promote renovation, the city planning office Dr. Jansen from Cologne, working with municipal and regional planners, developed a comprehensive strategy for the district in 2017, which was further refined by Düren's city administration. The designated renovation area strengthened the city's building development options while simultaneously unlocking funding from federal and North Rhine-Westphalian state sources. The residential property presented here was among the district's problematic structures. However, Simon Pollnau from the Düren-based Korb Architekten firm was convinced of the building's potential. He purchased the house and, through considerable personal effort, transformed it into a home for his young family. For the newly graduated master architect, this proved to be a valuable learning project that enriched him with extensive experience in retrofitting historic building fabric over three years.

Originally, the residential building was rented out floor by floor with correspondingly compartmentalized floor plans. The design concept centered on converting this urban three-bay townhouse into a generous four-story family residence while preserving as much of the existing building structure as possible. To create a spacious sense of room and daylight in the middle zones, nearly all non-load-bearing partition walls were removed on every level, and existing wall openings were enlarged. Beyond the dining room and kitchen on the ground floor, a portion of the ceiling in the first-floor living room was removed to create a mezzanine level. The second floor houses the children's bedrooms with bath, while the third floor features a separate master suite with its own bath and freestanding bathtub. The building's poor condition stemmed largely from unsystematic construction work from the 1990s: the characteristic brick façade remained intact but had been painted over multiple times, requiring surfaces to be stripped and repointed. Thanks to municipal funding, all windows were renewed in a historically appropriate double-leaf design—complete with transoms and pointed or arched tops.

Underneath the laminate and vinyl, relatively well-preserved hardwood floors were discovered and required only minor restoration. Additionally, clay ceiling heating was installed on all floors, powered by a hybrid heat pump that also provides summer cooling. Many original building components were freed of paint layers through stripping—such as the staircase and old door frames. For the walls, natural clay plaster and lime-based paints were applied, which harmonize particularly well with the existing brick masonry. Many materials salvaged from demolition work, such as the ceiling support beams, were resourcefully reused elsewhere or incorporated into furniture manufacturing.

www.korbarchitekten.de
www.dueren.de/stadtentwicklungsprojekte

Photos:
Simon Pollnau

(Published in CUBE Cologne Bonn 01|26)