Schluechthaus Hollerich Luxembourg

The city of Luxembourg is transforming the former Abattoir "Schleuchthaus Hollerich" into a productive cultural hotspot. With facilities for performing arts, studios, studios, Luxembourg's largest indoor urban sports hall and a street art gallery. The team of Civic Architects from Amsterdam and 2001 from Luxembourg won the design competition with a radical concept that preserves the abattoir and builds a large public roof over it.

From Abattoir to cultural hotspot
Parts of the monumental 1930s Abattoir in the Hollerich district have been temporarily in use as studios, business spaces, graffiti-gallery and a skate hall. As a result, the complex has become an impressive open-air museum for street art and culture. The city wants to strengthen the role of easily accessible cultural and sports initiatives and connect them with the surrounding area. The buildings are not in good condition and their energetic performance is low. Renovation is expensive and would endanger the durability of the buildings' charm. The existing buildings and the street art gallery will be preserved instead,by investing in a new 'skin' around and over the entire complex, creating a new space between the buildings. Partly just as a covered space, partly air-conditioned in a hall. The large lightweight roof turns the 'Schleuchthaus' into a recognisable public icon with large overhead doors on different sides along one of the city's main access roads.

Public city hall
The complex will be the largest indoor public space in the city within which the various activities can function as one accessible ecosystem for culture and sports. Visitors coming for a specific activity can easily make a ‘detour’ and discover something new. The various inhabitants can inspire each other and work together. The city hall will be used for festivals, cultural markets, exhibitions and skate competitions or some of the areas zones can be used as temporary extensions to the permanent users’ spaces. This set-up allows the building to continuously adapt to the needs of the community.

Urban oasis with climate zones
The building will also deal responsibly with other resources such as energy and water. Firstly, by heating the places and people where it is really needed. The energy concept defines gradients of different climate zones, from outside to inside and from large to small. The new building envelope guarantees a basic climate in the hall and the facades and roofs of the buildings inside provide the next layer of shelter and comfort. In those buildings, 'climate capsules' then provide the inner layer in the energy concept. The building will be able to generate most of the required energy itself by using part of its more than 13,000 m2 roof for solar panels. The roof also captures rainwater and feeds it into the retention landscape at the edges of the plot, connecting the complex to the city's main green structure. Together with the removal of much of the existing paving, this means that the renovated Schleuchthaus will become a cooling spot in the city.

Lightweight structure
The large architectural gestures of the city hall's design will be lightweight and refined to limit the use of materials and create an intimate atmosphere. The dimensions and placement of the main structure ensures that construction can take place in phases while parts of the complex remain in use. The components for the roofs and facades are designed to be demountable for future adaptation and/or reuse. Tilted trusses carry translucent glass roofs incorporating solar cells, allowing the roof to filter sunlight for sophisticated shading effects. This actually gives the hall, which is large and monumental on the outside, a surprisingly intimate atmosphere on the inside.