FSB model 1244

Central to the design of the refurbished engine shed at Mannheim, a true cultural monument, is the way period industrial architecture fuses with newly-installed office spaces for the modern age. The FSB products fitted are in materials that echo the specific concept drafted by the architects’ practice whilst simultaneously meeting the requirements of contemporary officing.

Erected in the 1870s as a shelter and toolshop adjacent to Mannheim’s central railway station, the building now houses the architects’ own practice. “We sought to retain the dynamic tension between modern architecture and rough older outer shell”, architect Matthias Jarcke says of the project.

A key detail in the exciting process of implementation were the FSB handles selected, whose restraint in terms of their idiom, design and material allowed them to blend in perfectly with the listed building. The FSB 1244 model is of its age in both form and engineering, making it just the right choice here. Aluminium handles, blasted and black anodised, forge a link between the Mannheim engine shed’s original function and the building’s present spatial concept.

Drawing on the most basic of geometric shapes, in cross-section FSB 1244 comprises a semi-circle and half a square. Its linear front face accommodates the curvature of its neck at one end and terminates in a rectangular cut-off at the other.

The project demonstrates impressively the versatility with which the FSB portfolio can be deployed in architecture. In the open-plan office spaces, the premium hardware manufacturer from Brakel delivers suitably focused door and window handles, bathroom sets and frame-door and security fittings. The new glass doors in the imposing entrance gates, moreover, are additionally fitted with lockset plates by the company. Products by FSB accordingly serve as the first point of haptic contact for visitors to the historic building.

About FSB
FSB is a byword the world over for visually and functionally top-quality hardware solutions for doors and windows, electronic ac-cess control and sanitary fit-outs. Architects and builders’ clients favour reaching out for products from Brakel owing to FSB’s great design expertise and its profound understanding of the require-ments of modern construction. Everything in any way associated with handle culture in built spaces is catered to from a single source.

Franz Schneider
Brakel GmbH + Co KG

Anne Levy
Nieheimer Straße 38
33034 Brakel
Telefon: +49 5272 608-105

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