METAMORPHOSIS OF A DEPARTMENT STORE

INGENHOVEN & INGENHOVEN

The impressive "Before and After" story at the center of this book concerns a 1960s department store in the German town of Neuss. With its uniform facade of ceramic tiles, this building was the height of modernity when it was constructed. Three decades later it was an eyesore — until the architectural firm Ingenhoven & Ingenhoven rescued its walls from the wrecking ball and turned it into a multi-use facility with offices, a theater, a movie house, and retail space.

From the Publisher
The building’s remarkable transformation is fully documented in this pictorial history of the project and the people behind it. Numerous photographs and plans illustrate the architects’many goals, not least of which was to breathe new life into an old structure without compromising its history or its place in the neighborhood. The result is an airy, spacious building that is attractive, energy efficient, resourceful, and a shining example of urban regentrification from which every architect and urban planner can learn.