Königswinter: Drachenfelsplateau (competition)

Status: 2008 (commendation)
Location: Germany

Client: Stadt Königswinter
Value: €2.9m

 

Our proposal for Drachenfels creates a ‘second nature’ in which the natural and artificial are irretrievably intertwined. Its planning, materials and textures reconcile two contrasting understandings of the site: the Arcadian landscape that was celebrated by Byron of the meandering Rhine as it passes through mountains and lush vineyards, and the dramatic German romanticism of the barren mountainside and ruined castle.

By removing the intrusive upper levels of the existing restaurant building, our proposal establishes an uninterrupted landscape that reconnects the ruin with the rock from which it is seemingly emerging.

Visitors will experience a continuous journey from train to castle, enjoying an unfolding sequence of dramatic views. New interventions are inspired by the site’s history and the myths that surround it. Thus the restaurant has a multifaceted, almost ‘chiselled’ external form that seems hewn from stone and which avoids any sense of dominant horizontality in distant views. Internally, its grotto-like conception taps into the subconscious, while above, a new plateau offers space for promenade and theatre at the foot of the cleared rockface.

 

Credits
Photography: Andrew Putler