We are talking about an administrative building and a hotel with shops and cafes, which should replace the dilapidated buildings of the same purpose, which now exist on this site. A special responsibility on the architects was imposed by the fact that Karlsplatz is located in the very center of the city and is surrounded by important historical monuments, for example, the Old Castle overlooks it. The city authorities considered that a modern accent in this ensemble is necessary, but it should be buildings of high architectural quality, subtly blended into the context.
Benisch Architectin paid special attention to the roofs of the buildings, in particular to the sculptural completion of the hotel: due to the nature of the landscape, the ceilings of the new buildings will be visible from many points in the center of Stuttgart, so they should be no less attractive than the facades overlooking Karlsplatz. The configuration of the structures will allow to expand the streets of the pedestrian zone passing around the building site, which will create new visual connections between the historical attractions of the area; the architects emphasize that there are no “back facades” in their project, they are all equally interesting.
One of the demolished buildings, the Zilber Hotel, housed a Gestapo office in the 1930s-1940s, and its cellars, then used as a prison, will be preserved and converted into a memorial.
The second place was taken by the Kleihues + Kleihues bureau, as well as "Benish Architectin", invited to participate in the competition by the organizers, the third - "Sauerbruch Hatton", which participated on a general basis. Also UNStudio, gmp, Norman Foster, Richard Mayer, Rafael Vignoli presented their projects.
