Munich: New building of Benkos Signa has to be revised – Munich

Criticism of the height of the house, unease about the significantly higher floor area, but also praise for the design of the facade: the design for the new office and commercial building on Rosenstraße, on the site of the abandoned Kaut-Bullinger stationery shop, is in the Urban design commission encountered mixed reactions. “Why does the house have to be a meter higher than stipulated in the development plan?” asked the architect Piero Bruno (Berlin) on Tuesday evening in the discussion of the committee that advises on major building projects in the city. FDP City Councilor Jörg Hoffmann criticized the excessive eaves (i.e. the height from the ground to the lower edge of the roof) as “visually unsuccessful”. This “dominates” the historic neighboring building to the left, in which a branch of the Vinzenz Murr butcher’s shop is located.

The architect Birgit Rapp (Amsterdam), on the other hand, spoke of the “city of grown houses”, she had no problem with the height and saw the design as “a coherent picture”. Since such friendly tones could be heard at first, it looked as if the commission would wave the concept of the Munich office Holger Meyer Architektur through. Ultimately, however, she ordered a revision for resubmission.

After the family that runs Kaut-Bullinger decided to give up the business, they sold the property two years ago for a high double-digit million amount to the Signa Group of the Austrian René Benko, which has gained considerable influence on the development of the city center over the past few years Has. It is already implementing major construction projects in the heart of the city on the former Karstadt site along Schützenstrasse and in the Alte Akademie on Neuhauser Strasse, and also operates the Galeria department store (formerly Kaufhof) on Marienplatz, in the immediate vicinity of the former Kaut-Bullinger .

Everything has to go: the stationery retailer Kaut-Bullinger closed his specialist shop on Rosenstrasse in February. The building is currently in interim use.

(Photo: Stephan Rumpf)

The new building project, in which the three basement floors are to be retained, had already met with unanimous rejection in the district committee (BA) Altstadt-Lehel. BA member Peter Hörauf (Greens) reiterated these “massive concerns” in the urban design commission. The draft has “architectural quality”. However, one fears a “precedent” because the floor space, i.e. the space that can be marketed at maximum prices in this location, would increase by 36 percent to 4,200 square meters. “We’re not doing ourselves any favors,” said Brigitte Wolf, councilor for the left. That could arouse covetousness if, for example, the department store property next door were to be replanned one day.

However, Cornelius Mager, head of the Local Building Commission (LBK), which is responsible for building permits, pointed out that the increased floor area also resulted from the expansion of the attic storeys to the rear and was probably permissible under building law, as was the increase in the number of storeys below the roof from four to five.

In the debate about the one meter higher eaves facing Rosenstraße, architect Meyer explained that it was practically forced to do so. Since one more floor had to be accommodated, the office floors on floors two to four are “extremely depressed” at 3.35 meters. The first floor is planned with a height of 3.95 meters, because it should remain open whether it is to be used as an office or as a retail space, the latter would require more room height.

City Councilor Wolf suggested lowering the first floor and turning it into office space in order to reduce the height of the building. Meyer, in turn, countered that “architecturally we fought for this special floor because we find it important for the cityscape. If we close it off as an office, it would be a loss for the urban space”. Nevertheless, his office will now have to submit a corresponding draft, which the Commission will then decide on.

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