After-work house Knapsack

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After-work house in the Knapsack Chemical Park

The Feierabendhaus Knapsack is an event building in the industrial site of the Chemical Park Knapsack in Hürth-Knapsack in North Rhine-Westphalia . It was built in 1957 by the Cologne architect Karl Hell and is owned by Yncoris GmbH & Co. KG . The building has been a listed building since 1988, and in 1996 it was classified as a cultural asset worth preserving by the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. After the high and bright foyer, you enter the 700 m² hall with a 140 m² stage; the large hall can accommodate up to 1,000 seats.

Building history

Construction model: Dorton Arena in Raleigh

The after-work house was built in 1957 for the 50th anniversary of the Knapsack chemical site on behalf of Knapsack-Griesheim Aktiengesellschaft, which was founded in 1951, and was financed from the profits of the phosphorus companies that were doing very well at the time. An architectural competition was announced for the construction , which the Cologne architect Karl Hell (1908–1999) won. The planning for the construction began in 1955, the building should be built in the area of ​​the accesses to the factory facilities and the administration building. Although the in-house construction department rejected the design at first because of the daring construction , the architect was able to prevail and have the after-work house built in the way he wanted.

Hell used a construction of two semicircular paraboloidal arches that can form a suspended roof through tensile force alone. The building therefore does not need any further internal or external supports. The roof consists of a net with pre-tensioned steel cables into which the reinforced concrete parts are suspended and the joints filled with lightweight concrete . The lattice-shaped facade of the outer wall is generously filled with glass surfaces, which gives the building a very fragile and light impression. The architect used a multi-purpose hall, the Dorton Arena, as a model . It was created in 1951/52 in Raleigh , North Carolina , based on a design by Maciej Nowicki .

Even at the time it was built, the Knapsack party house was considered an outstanding example of 1950s architecture and was listed as a historical monument in 1988. In addition, in 1996 the state of North Rhine-Westphalia classified the building as a cultural asset worth preserving. Due to its distinctive appearance, the Feierabendhaus was chosen as the model for the signet ( logo ) of the Knapsack Chemical Park. In 2004 the building was renovated by the Cologne architectural office Halfmann Architekten.

  • After work house in the evening light

  • Entrance to Knapsack 1969; After work house and phosphor torches.

  • View over the Feierabendhaus to the Knapsack plant of Hoechst AG , 1960s

Construction type

Several architects and civil engineers largely adopted the model of the round hyperbolic parabolic shell of the Dorton Arena ( saddle surface ), which guides the tensile force of the hanging arches into the ground, so that one can speak of a building type . The building material of the roof varies between concrete shell and steel ceiling. The same construction principle can be found in the following buildings:

Todays use

The Feierabendhaus mainly serves as an event building for concerts, congresses and meetings as well as for exhibitions and trade fairs. It has a large hall with a spacious stage and various side rooms. Exhibitions can be presented in the foyer of the building.

In addition, the Feierabendhaus is a popular filming location for music videos, TV shows and movies, for example for the youth drama " For the Unknown Dog " or the much-discussed ARD - docudrama " thalidomide ". The after-work house can also be seen in the cinematic adaptation “ Instructions for Unhappiness ” and as “Popstars Academy” in the 11th season of the talent show Popstars .

literature

  • Günther Geisler, Horst Klassen, Volker Wirth: 60 years of after-work house Knapsack. In: Hürther Contributions to History, Culture and Regional Studies 96 (2017), ISSN  1868-4351 , pp. 5–26, full text online , (PDF; 2.8 MB), with many illustrations.
  • Helmut Neßeler: The Feierabendhaus - the pearl of architecture in Knapsack . In: InfraServ GmbH & Co. Knapsack KG (ed.): 100 years of the Knapsack chemical site . 2007. Table of contents , DNB 98595597X .
  • Congresses, culture, culinary delights: ... meet, celebrate and enjoy. After-work house Knapsack. Hürth 2005, brochure .

Web links

Commons : Feierabendhaus Knapsack  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Great Hall. On a very large parquet. In: Feierabendhaus-knapsack.de .
  2. ↑ Image: The network of steel cables as a saddle-shaped roof surface. ( Memento of May 22, 6043 in the Internet Archive ). In: gkkg1935.de .
  3. ↑ Picture: Prefabricated concrete segments are hung into the suspended roof. ( Memento of March 6, 2019 in the Internet Archive ). In: gkkg1935.de .
  4. ↑ Economic miracle. 1950s after-work house in Cologne renovated. In: BauNetz , January 14, 2004.
  5. ↑ Building description: Feierabendhaus and Casino, Knapsack. Reconstruction and refurbishment of the bar and board casino from the 1950s. In: Halfmann Architekten , accessed on June 20, 2020.
  6. ↑ Bâtiment J auditoire Paul-Emile Janson et salle Van Buren. In: irismonument.be , accessed on June 11, 2016.
  7. ↑ Picture gallery: Športová hala Pasienky v Bratislave photo album. In: asb.sk ; Aerial view. In: ba.foxy.sk ; Sports Hall Pasienky. ( Memento from May 25, 2016 in the Internet Archive ). In: bratislavaguide.com , (English).
  8. ^ Koichiro Ishikawa: Zimný štadión (Ice Stadium). In: University of Fukui , Aloss - Album of Spatial Structures , accessed on May 13, 2019.
       Picture gallery: Sedlová plocha (hyperbolický paraboloid). In: mdg.vsb.cz , accessed on May 13, 2019.
  9. ^ Koichiro Ishikawa: Sporthal Beverwijk. In: University of Fukui , Aloss - Album of Spatial Structures , accessed on May 13, 2019.
      Photo: PET IJmond in de Sporthal Beverwijk (“de Walvis”). In: techport.nl , October 2016, (Dutch).

Coordinates: 50 ° 51 ′ 33 ″  N , 6 ° 51 ′ 4 ″  E