The following description is courtesy of David Chipperfield Architects.
Paderborn, Germany – After three years of construction, an historic building complex has been converted and extended for a family-run company by David Chipperfield Architects Berlin. The Jacoby Studios in Paderborn in western Germany now serve Tap Holding as their new company headquarters.
The site was originally a seventeenth century Capuchin monastery which was converted into a hospital from 1841 onwards with the eventual loss of much of the historic fabric during the Second World War. The Jacoby Studios project involved the removal of all post-war additions, exposing the historic building fabric of the monastery once again and creating a picturesque ruin structure made of quarry-stone masonry with the former cloister at its heart. New extension wings are arranged following the orthogonal structure to the north, west and south of the original buildings.
Echoing the historic situation, the ensemble appears once again in the cityscape as a well-balanced composition of different volumes. In the urban landscape of the Pader Springs, the new complex has its own sense of identity, while maintaining historic continuity.
David Chipperfield on the project: “Rooted in an appreciation of its complex historical context, the Jacoby Studios create a new urbanistic whole out of fragments. The project combines a wide range of the practice’s experience – reinterpreting historic buildings, combining the old with the new, balancing landscape and building – to provide a comfortable and stimulating workplace. Thanks to a highly engaged and committed client, it has been a very enjoyable process and has become an emblematic project for us.”
Ellen Jacoby, managing director of the Tap Holding, says, “With a construction project you only have one chance to do it really well – and we really wanted to use it. David Chipperfield Architects Berlin were the ideal architects for Jacoby Studios. We found the collaboration very pleasant, constructive and inspiring, and it was a lot of fun developing the building together. The construction phase was a challenge for everyone involved. Still, the spirit of the project spurred everyone on to perform the demanding task with a high quality that is really noticeable in the result. It is a pleasure for us and our employees to experience the spaces every day. It sparks joy!”
The Jacoby Studios are one of the seven German nominees for the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture – Mies van der Rohe Award 2021.
