Colorful activity on the facade

1960s building envelope of the Stadthalle Göttingen successfully refurbished – with fischer system solution

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Colorful activity on the facade
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The city of Göttingen is currently renovating its town hall. The most distinctive and characteristic feature of the building has already been successfully restored: the colourful tiled façade from the 1960s. A fischer BWM system solution for the ventilated curtain wall façade (VHF) made it possible to mount the building envelope in a user-friendly and permanently secure manner.

After a five-year renovation pause, the listed Göttingen town hall is scheduled to reopen in February 2024. For nearly 60 years, the institution has provided the ideal stage for a wide variety of events. 2,600 m² of event space across three levels, as well as a total area of almost 5,400 m², plus 900 m² of roof terrace space, offer ample room for culture and exchange. It is, among other things, the venue for the Göttingen Symphony Orchestra and the International Händel Festival. A controversial topic in the 1960s was the unusually designed façade, which earned the town hall the affectionate nickname "Kachelofen" and over the years established itself as a unique landmark of the city. 

The renovation of the building envelope began in December 2019 and was successfully completed in early 2023. In this process, fischer BWM supported the planners and contractors with the appropriate system solution for the façade renovation. Existing, mortar-fixed and mechanically fastened ceramic tiles on the building envelope were initially carefully dismantled, refurbished, and reused in the current ventilated curtain wall façade (VHF). Damaged or missing tiles were replaced with newly designed ones, produced by m&r manufaktur (Saarbrücken). The approach is based on the award-winning, sustainable façade concept by the office soll sasse architekten BDA from Dortmund. The contracted façade construction company was Dach Schneider Weimar GmbH (Umpferstedt).
The new facade connects the building's past and future in a sustainable way.
Heiko Sasse, Partner of the architectural firm soll sasse architekten BDA
The 50 x 50 x 3 cm ceramic tiles feature two different geometric reliefs with circles and triangles, as well as five color glazes in dark blue, blue, red, violet, and white. New tiles in old pink and dove blue remain within the color scheme of the existing tiles. The square relief of the new tiles complements the geometric basic shapes of the existing ones. The extensions (logistics and canopies) are clad with the white tiles, while the main hall body is designed exclusively in color. “The new facade sustainably connects the past and future of the building,” emphasizes Heiko Sasse, partner of the architectural firm soll sasse architekten BDA. “The facade, which appears uniformly colored from a distance, also reveals a differentiated and heterogeneous play of colors as one approaches, which is further enhanced and expanded by the geometric reliefs – similar to the city as a unified structure made up of different individuals.”

Project profile

Contracted facade construction company:
Dach Schneider Weimar GmbH (Umpferstedt)
Construction time:
2019 - 2023
Total area
5,400 m²
Facade concept
soll sasse architects BDA (Dortmund)
Event area
2,600 m² on three levels
The supporting substrate of the building envelope consists of reinforced concrete and undefined masonry. The existing tiles were attached to this with mortar strips and brass bands. For the facade renovation, the elements were completely dismantled and cleaned manually. The concrete of the exposed substrate was repaired. In the process, the partially insufficient concrete cover of the reinforcement was restored. On the supporting substrate, the ventilated facade (VHF) was constructed along with new thermal insulation in accordance with energy requirements. “We provided comprehensive technical support for the facade fastening,” reports Jochen Burbach, Head of fischer BWM Facade Systems Germany. “Our services ranged from consulting and calculation during the planning phase to our support in obtaining individual approval (ZiE), up to the delivery of the suitable complete system including substructure, frame anchors, injection anchors, and undercut anchors from a single source.”
For on-site support, Jochen Burbach explains: „We accompanied the facade installers during the facade assembly with numerous site trials using our fischer long-shaft anchors as well as chemical fastening systems and provided assistance during construction execution.“
Both the old and the new tiles are made of a building material that is not regulated for ventilated facades. Therefore, the application required a ZiE from the Lower Saxony Ministry for Environment, Energy, Building and Climate Protection, which was overseen by the expert and assessor Prof. Dr. Alfred Stein. The fastening was carried out with Zykon plate anchors FZP II in the version 11x21 M6/SO/9 Carbon. Although the tiles have small dimensions, four fastenings per plate were still executed to prevent the facade from “rattling” under wind influence.
After the ZiE was successfully obtained, the facade elements were installed with the fischer BWM aluminium substructure. The distance substructure was executed vertically by the facade builders using the ATK 100 ZeLa. “The thermally optimised ZeLa holder with stainless steel blade plays to its advantages here,” emphasizes Steffen Bendix, who supported the project as a sales engineer at fischer BWM. “Thus, the ZeLa holder ensures compliance with the required thermal insulation standards (U-value) while maintaining a low build-up.” On this base construction, the horizontal systems were installed, consisting of the ATK 103 P20 for concealed clamp fastening together with P20 horizontal profiles. fischer long-shaft anchors and injection anchors secure the wall brackets of the substructure to the supporting structure. The visible elements with the preserved and new tiles were securely and concealedly fastened to the substructure with the fischer undercut anchors.

“We thank the expert and assessor Prof. Dr. Alfred Stein, whose assessment of the facade construction made an important contribution to the most suitable facade fastening,” says Jochen Burbach. “Thus, the system combines secure and at the same time concealed fastening of the tile facade to preserve the original appearance of the Stadthalle Göttingen for generations to come.”

The fischer products used

cd-green-55965cdb4b-vhr9h