The Aumühle is one of the oldest mills in the town of Oberursel. The current building is an ensemble of the main building- the water mill, which dates back to the 17th century- and a series of extensions, that trace the mill’s history from a leather manufacture to a processing plant for special plastics. Now the premises are going to be converted into new uses that comprise of family residences, senior resident housing and offices. As a reminiscence of the building’s long history, a large part of the building fabric is kept. Rooftop extensions are made to the western two-storey extension, whilst the roof of the original mill is also raised. Between front yard and the northern and western backyards, an open-air passageway is created, which leads past the exposed and refurbished mill, and providing access to both gardens and the entrances of the private residences at the back. A central stairwell located besides the water wheel connects all stories of the ancient mill, and all floors of the western extension. A repair café on the ground floor of the ancient mill serves as social meeting point.

Urbanlogic with Thomas Kupke architect

The hotel adopts to the scale of the surrounding village by breaking down its volume into five building blocks. These are grouped around two courtyards, with an internal alley in between that extends the village road into a jetty.

The buildings are oriented in a way that maximises the views of the rooms onto scenic lake Erhai. Their height varies, so that the upper levels of the buildings at the back can look across those in front, resulting in a picturesque skyline that resembles the surrounding village.

Each room is assigned a balcony. To celebrate the stunning views, the balconies are distinguished in their material and made from timber (a derivate of bamboo).

Access to the rooms is provided from the back of the rooms, so that the balconies remain private.

On the top floor, two luxury suites and one apartment offer additional access to generous private open-air sundecks.

A restaurant and bar on the ground floor with a fully openable facade offer yet another, more intimate experience of the waterfront.

The task for this project for a Chinese private investor was to bring together four different typologies- studios and art production, an innovation, auctioning and event center, a hotel and an exhibition space. We chose a design that unifies the different functions under an undulating roof shape which is inspired by the curved-up eaves of the local traditional architecture.

The initial requirement of creating a buffer space between the hotel and the noisy production is transformed into a virtue by making the buffer space a green central plaza that can be used for product launches and events, as well as a peaceful garden for the visitors. The courtyard theme is completed by a sculpture garden and an entrance plaza, which jointly form a sequence of open spaces, progressing from public to private just like in the Forbidden City.

A screen from vertical bamboo sticks acts as a lining for each of the oval courtyards and thus distinguishes them as special from the otherwise simple and pragmatic industrial architecture.
The facade is made from prefabricated concrete panels, into which patterns from the production process are engraved.

On behalf of Munich One Live Communications, Urbanlogic were asked to conceive the architectural design for two components: 1. an event stage for the show on the day of the event, on which the latest Audi racing models were to be presented, and 2. a cocktail lounge and reception area.

As the project team faced the challenge that the race track could not be built on, it decided to locate the stage on the other hand of the track, facing the main grandstand, which was made use of as the seating area, thus maximising the use of the existing spaces on the site. The stage design is inspired by the dynamic form of the Audi R8 cars as well as by the corporate architecture of Audi, featuring the typical slanted lines in elevation. From the two ramps via which the cars are driven onto and off the stage, a continuous loop forms an enclosed space, providing a frame to the stage and the new car models that are to be launched.

The corporate feature of slanted lines is taken up in the design of the cocktail area, in which a reception and the after-show party is to be hosted. Four conceptually similar booths accommodate the various services that are needed to entertain the audience- a reception/info desk, a cocktail bar, a plinth for the feature car presentation, and a stage for the presenter and the DJ, all surrounded and tied together by a dynamically shaped open-plan space that can be used as dance floor and lounge area alike.

The design expresses the VW brand with a classical symmetrical appearance in the style of reduced German “straightforward” modernism.
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For the Beijing Motor Show 2012 BMW-Brilliance pavilion, Urbanlogic’s Christian Junge was the local architect in Beijing responsible for the construction project management and on-site supervision. Overall event management services were provided by HighTeam Communications Ltd.

The brief for this rear extension to a Victorian terrace house in Fulham was to create a new open-plan central space which can be used for multiple purposes, including large parties.

To open up the existing kitchen on two sides, a cranked box steel frame was inserted at the rear and a 7m long steel on the side. Bifold doors allow for the kitchen to extend into the garden in summer.

All finishes were kept robust and seamless.

Aquatic Landscape Neckar deals with the conflict of cultivated landscape and nature in the city.

For years the city of Stuttgart has discussed whether to reactivate the riverside of the Neckar as recreational area or to extend the nearby sports facilities, thus allowing for further urbanisation.

Whereas a centre for water sports is urgently needed to hold big sport events, planning also seeks to revitalise the banks as an alluvial meadow and to tunnel the highway B10 to give the river a more “natural” image.

The project solves this conflict by interpreting the canalised river as artificial landscape, proposing a corresponding piece of archi-nature.

Taking into account further human modifications such as the tunnel as well as the fact that a natural eco-system will never develop due to the nearby lock (which does not allow changes in water level of more than ±10cm), the project does not create a piece of pseudo-nature, but realistically shows its artificial character.

First element is a second basin, which as a piece of land art interprets the river’s artificiality and at the same time serves as a filter for the swimming pools. In depth it goes back to the river’s original bed before the canalisation.

The river and its twin basin are considered as negative cuts, the park becoming the actual positive. A second category of trapezoidal negatives cross-weaves with the two big basins, reminding of Michael Heizers “Double Negative”. They contain the swimming pools (warm-up, competition, diving, non-swimmers, rowing, ice-hockey…) with their water levels bound to the river/the basin. A landscape of valleys and hills is created with the slopes being the stands.