The "House of the Church" at Baudriplatz in Nippes represents a thoughtfully scaled yet distinctly contemporary addition to the urban fabric. It replaces an aging parish hall from the postwar era. Designed by Cologne-based v-architekten, whose competition-winning concept emerged in 2015, this new community center establishes a clear urban dialogue with the neighboring St. Marien church and the surrounding district. The corner building incorporates residential units on its upper floors, with some apartments extending through to the inner courtyard.

The building's street lines and roof edges align with its neighbors, while the slightly recessed pitched roof—articulated by three loggias—echoes the rhythm and proportion of the surrounding architecture. At the corner of Auguststraße and Baudriplatz, opposite the church forecourt, a recessed façade signals the community center's entrance, creating a clear visual axis toward the church. The generous entrance on Auguststraße provides access to residential units and serves as a secondary entrance to the on-site Caritas offices, with the underground parking access nearby. The ground and first floors form an open double-height "House of the Church," thoughtfully organized around all parish functions. Floor-to-ceiling glazing frames the community center's entrance, flanked by accessible spaces including a "book library" nook and a café that rises through both floors. Designed as a welcoming space for both the parish and the broader neighborhood, the upper two levels contain multiple family and senior apartments. Both the public functions and the gallery-style residential corridors orient toward the inner courtyard—a verdant sanctuary amid the neighborhood's vibrant urban character. The light clinker brick façade draws architectural cues from the neighboring neo-Gothic church, while delicate metal tracery screens echo period ornamentation in a contemporary language. This coherent architectural vocabulary reinforces the institutional bond between church and community center alike.

www.v-architekten.com

Photography Credits:

Constantin Meyer
www.constantin-meyer.de

(Published in CUBE Cologne Bonn 04|23)