M2.1a | Augustusburg Castle in Brühl – Visitor Center for a World Heritage Site

Augustusburg Castle in Brühl near Bonn was the location of representative state receptions during the founding period of the Federal Republic of Germany after the Second World War, when all the functions of a capital city were located in the area surrounding Bonn. In 1984, the palace with its park and the Falkenlust hunting lodge located there were declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and since 2000, after the definitive move of all capital city functions to Berlin, the palace has been open exclusively to visitors of the World Heritage Site.

The change in the use of the building, especially the exposure of the sensitive furnishings of the interior to moisture, requires a new and spacious visitor center where the numerous participants in guided tours of the palace can be received, clothes can be handed in at a wardrobe and souvenirs can be bought or special exhibitions of the World Heritage Site can be attended after the visit to the palace. The two-semester module develops various strategies for design work that considers both the topography of the evolved urban context and the building stock of the old service wings as well as the workshops and stored collections operated there.

A preliminary design for the visitor center at the castle between the railway station and Stadt Brühl is followed by detailed research of the orangery wings and the service buildings on site, which are to be appropriately developed for the visitor center in the final project work in the summer semester of 2024.