A meadow as a car park in the forest: With this unusual design idea, Koschany + Zimmer Architekten KZA took third place in the audience vote for the material prize 2017. On Wednesday, 21 June, representatives of the architectural office accepted the award in Stuttgart.

A total of 280 architects, planners and designers from all over Europe participated in the project with the votes of the audience through the homepage of the material agency Raumprobe based in Stuttgart. Common requirement for all submissions: the exciting use of special materials. This was achieved by the ALDI Süd car park in Mülheim that has been developed by KZA. This is because the cladding with perforated aluminum panels gives the impression of a view into the forest from a distance – and should thus replace the view of a meadow enclosed with trees, which had to give way to the new building on the company premises.

Awarded for the second time already

The material prize is already the second award for the project. In November 2016, the KZA team was already in the first place at the Innovationspreis Feuerverzinken. The car park also attracted media attention. Among others, the magazine „Umrisse“ will report on this in one of its next editions.

This year, the material prize was awarded for the first time in the „online voting“ category. In addition, a jury awarded prizes in the categories of application, materiality and material use. The agency Raumprobe draws up an annual exchange of manufacturers and users who develop innovative materials or use them in a special way.

Further information is available here.