VEL: Velotel new-build hotel and masterplan

On the site of a former quarry, a new attraction is to visualise the volcanic origins of the basalt quarry. With the new construction of a hotel and an exhibition centre, a new tourist destination and meeting place is to be created for the “Am Gaulberg” catchment area, near Frankfurt am Main.

The architectural concept provides for dividing the volume of the space programme into two building complexes. Like an exposed geological find, the lower building complex, with its various exhibition rooms, projects freely floating beyond the quarry and forms a counterpart to the hill of the quarry. It fits into the landscape as a clearly contoured, unambiguous structure. Half embedded in the slope, it is oriented towards the quarry and deliberately lets the quarry be the main protagonist. The second building complex contains the hotel rooms and, rotated by 90°, floats above the exhibition centre in order to provide a 360° panoramic view and to make perfect use of the sun's path. The free level created in this way between the two protagonists can be used in a dual function, both as exhibition space and as a viewing platform to linger on. The landscape leads walkers and visitors along a serpentine access route through the site to the main entrance of the building. This route continues like a ramp into the interior of the building, through the open atrium to the viewing platform, and opens up the all-round view of the water of the quarry. The planning concept of this ensemble creates an eventful exploration of the exhibition centre.