architecture . landscape . urbanism
Valley Station Cable Car Niederwald

invited competition, 2013, Rüdesheim am Rhein

mention

The trip with the cable car to the Niederwald monument and the park Osteinschen is the main attraction of the journey from the valley to the top. Sustainable buildings help avoid a segregation of visitors with mobility limitation and help go against the stigma of this growing number of visitors. The proposed concept therefore deliberately forgoes stairways at the exterior area, as well as lifts in the interior. The building with its square completes the completely barrier-free connection of Germania and Rüdesheim’s old town. The visitor is able to experience this connection without any technical resources and with a high comfort. In addition to the spatial presence of the two staggered volumes, the monolithic appearance is supported by the facade of the building.The cubic formulation of the facades correlates with the glass surfaces. Through the use of low-cost quarry stone material from the local quartzite of the vineyard walls ("Taunus quartzite“), the building is able to fit perfectly into the ensemble. The facade presents a modern interpretation of the quarry stones of the vineyards. The prefabricated parts of the facade (short assembly times) are made out of steel frames, in which the quarry stones are stacked and are poured over at the back by light-weight concrete.