KHM Academy of Media Arts
Client: BLB North Rhine-Westphalia
Completion 2005
Photos: Aymeric Fouquez + KHM
The art school has secured its long-term presence in Cologne’s southern central district with the new extension building. The building ensemble unobtrusively inserts itself into the inner city context. The volumes create a complex framework of land use on a limited plot: the main building with the auditorium and workspaces follows the street’s progression, next to the studio building with film studios and a cafeteria pavilion. The multifunctional inner yard with varying levels becomes the identity-affirming centre of the campus. It is surrounded by a formally reduced, corporeal architecture that relies on the strength of monolithic language. Large-scale, partially storey-high Italian natural sandstone claddings, generous glazing and metal sun protection shades support this approach.