Inner-city building with brick

Right next to Düsseldorf's main train station, a 17,000 m² site lay fallow for years; unused urban space in the heart of the Rhine metropolis. The competition-winning design by greeen! architects transformed the former car transshipment site into a new piece of city and public space in the centre of Düsseldorf. The architectural firm designed three hotels on a new pedestrian area for the site. On the facades: a mix of facade cladding and the Hagemeister grading "Witten GT".

The new building revitalises Düsseldorf's fragmented and somewhat dilapidated station area. The design by greeen! Architects introduces hotels in the station area, each serving a different target group: apartment hotel (Adina), economy hotel (Premier Inn) and premium-economy (Hampton by Hilton).

The new building is part of the upcoming transformation of the entire station area by the city of Düsseldorf and Deutsche Bahn. With the hotels, greeen! architects' first intervention was to make public a piece of the city that was previously not publicly accessible. The hotels have a plinth with restaurants and are located on a new pedestrian area that connects the forecourt of the central station with Mintrop Square further into the city.

The new public space gives a boost to the residential quality of the Konrad-Adenauer square in front of the station and, with a new square edge, supports the use of public space in the city centre. In addition, the pedestrian passage establishes new connections in the city that reach from Fürsten Square in Düsseldorf-Friedrichstadt to Worringer Square in Flingern South.

"Building identity and creating an ensemble, that was the idea behind the design of the facades," explains architect Mario Reale of greeen! architects from Düsseldorf. The volumes grouped side by side on the pedestrian area are bound together by a mix of red brick facades and brass-coloured metal cladding. Bonus of the project, says greeen! architects: the hotels have no
'backside'. This makes the buildings worth seeing from the central station platforms as much as on the city side.

With the characteristic red-coloured coal-burning brick "Witten GT", the three new buildings also tie in with the architecture of the station building (with listed status), which was built between 1932 and 1936 to the design of architects Krüger and Behne, employed by the railways.

The brick facades of the hotel ensemble pick up the architectural idiom of the station building and develop it at the same time, with different masonry dressings. The façade of Hotel Adina was masonry in wild bond, that of Hampton by Hilton in American bond - with two or more layers of mortar alternating with a coping. The Premier Inn was given a Dutch bond (cross bond). Thus, greeen! architects gave each volume an independent character.

"Brick is a durable, eco-friendly product with a long lifespan. The material is robust, resistant to external influences and can be reused in the specifications of a building economy with closed cycles. That fits with our firm's philosophy," Reale said.