From reservoir to “conservatoir”

Sometimes it’s useful to simply stand in the way without deviating right or left, especially when true values are hidden and beauty is therefore not to be seen in terms of monetary value. That’s what it was like with a high–tech building in the centre of Siegen. Hidden deep in the ground its job is to keep feet dry despite longer rain periods and to convey all surface water to its further destination. Now, this wonder of storage technique works mainly in the dark, but the responsible people must reach the installation without getting their feet wet. So the entrance to that underground water-world had been built as an unspectacular plain utility building. While in the following years the location around it has been redeveloped to a popular inner-city quarter, the steel-box remained what it was. But then a real transformation occurred initiated by a sensitive local investor. The local Savings-Bank Siegen, being one of the biggest public institutes in Germany, created an architecturally convincing shopping and administration centre and decided to take the initiative at the entrance building next door, too.

They commissioned the ambitious architect Rainer Oestereich-Rappaport to redesign the water-cube. Out of the angular block the art-loving architect created a cornerstone for music history. He combined the function of an optimised entrance solution with the presentable spatial design in an appealing form. A show-case full of historical value was created, a homage to five famous sons of Siegerland. The exceptional artists Busch. At their time The Busch brothers were world-famous, for was not Yehudin Menuhin one of Adolf Busch’s pupils! Rainer Oestereich-Rappaport explains the background of the design and adds “It was possible to reduce the building considerably in size, because technical installations could be shifted into the cellar of the savings-bank office building. That provided room for the tensioned fabric show-case at the outside. Back-lit art in public space was created on a surface of 2,7 x 3,2 metres, perfectly profiled with EPS.LUMI and highly focused by an additional glass finish. So the plain ugly duckling got transformed into a real swan.

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