Ensemblehaus Freiburg

Location: Freiburg

Architecture: Böwer Eith Murken, Freiburg

Electrical planning: Planungsgruppe Burgert, Schallstadt

Electrical installation: Elektro Geppert, Breisach

The Ensemblehaus Freiburg building is home to two of the most exciting orchestras of the international music scene.

The building planned in cooperation with acoustics expert Eckhard Kahle houses rehearsal and workshop rooms for the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra and the ensemble recherche.

The Ensemblehaus is not a concert venue but a music workshop which also houses the administrative quarters of both groups.

The architecture reflects the workshop orientation: With its facade made of anthracite-colour coated and brushed three-ply panels and its curved shape, the building's relationship to music permeates through to the external design.

This impression is reinforced by cover strips arranged in rhythmical formation and the brass front of the entrance area. Both elements echo the musical instrument theme.

The inevitable effects of future weathering are also deliberately embraced: The look of the wood and the metal will change over the years in the same way as a much played instrument.

As the building faces South, the dark paintwork containing a plastic component and aluminium particles provides effective protection against overheating.

The entrance leads seamlessly into a semi-open transition area. This opens onto the adjacent rehearsal rooms and is used as a communication area for the ensemble members.

The colour concept is defined by its relationship to the wood; the relationship between the structural elements and the facade is subtly restrained.The paintwork used for the building communication system from the Siedle Steel design line corresponds precisely to the powder coating of the door frames.

Both merge seamlessly into the backdrop of the facade, whose structure is picked out in light and shade with the effect of the sun.

Siedle engraved the Ensemblehaus logo and letterbox inscription with the white inlay. The house number was lasered and also inlaid in white.