The Oberkirch Media Center by wurm+wurm architekten looks oddly out of place in such a small rural town. Surrounded by traditional German buildings, the media center attempts to tie in the town’s cultural values while introducing a different connective device found in media.
On the outside of the structure, we find a very angular façade. But upon entering the media center, one is introduced to a space filled with organic curves and softly delineated spaces. No matter where you are in the building, each one of the three floors allows access to small group space, independent space, group gathering, and access to the exterior. At the core of the building, the central staircase acts not only as a connection between the three floors, but as a naturally diffused light well, view corridor, and ventilation highway. There are spaces with tucked away couches, brightly colored, light filled, and inviting. There are rooms painted sterile white and able to accommodate large groups of people. And of course, there are areas where both technology, communication, and the simple act of existing are able to functionally co-habitat.
At it’s core, The Oberkirch Media Center is a place meant for community. It is a new kind of library- one where people of all ages are brought together to view their city’s archived history. It is a center where old memories are stored and new technologies are experienced and utilized. Above all it is a place of community existence. Functioning with moments of rest, moments of contemplation, moments of learning, and moments of debate wherein the community as a whole grows through the interactions inherent within the program of the architecture.
-Braelyn and Jacob
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