Ulrichshaus Magdeburg

A new retail trade centre with offices and underground parking

The Ulrichshaus, completed in 1998, is shaped by its urban situation in the city centre of Magdeburg, which includes listed buildings.

The complex is planned as a city block using the e-xisting street pattern for its edges, contributing particularly to the vitalisation of the city centre and pedestrian precinct at this exposed position.

The surrounding buildings, the organisation of adjacent open spaces and the integration of access for local residents and the underground car park should also be seen with this in mind.

The building fits beautifully into the mature urban structure. The facade arrangement, with its small elements and shopwindow fronts, reflects the variety of the building complex externally and picks up the scale of the surroundings.

The building complex is given a prominent urban design position by stressing the corner situations with architectural elements. The scale of the architectural stylistic idiom is emphasised by the glass and metal facades with sandstone wall slabs placed sculpturally in front.

The building is made up of two elements with different types of use: on one side a large department store for the textile retail trade, on the other side a good mix of trade, retail and catering. Each different usage has been specifically located so as to provide service and communication to the city.

Thus a retail trade location has been created in the Magdeburg city centre, which represents enrichment through its town planning and design form, as well as with its use.