Guntersblum community center

Guntersblum is a community with 3,000 inhabitants located about 25 kilometers south of Mainz. The farms that have been built over several centuries are typical of the town center. Their facades were made of rubble stone that was quarried from a nearby quarry.

As a result of the energy-saving renovation and the associated comprehensive insulation of the building facades, which began in the mid-1960s and lasted until the late 1970s, the homogeneous appearance of the town that had developed over generations was permanently changed.

The change in the building’s physiognomy also affected the so-called old gymnasium, built in 1929. Strictly speaking, the name of the building as the Old Gymnasium was incorrect, as the building was rarely used for sports. It was used much more intensively for events, especially at carnival time.

By converting and expanding to include a library and several meeting rooms, the old gymnasium was intended to be adapted to its actual use: a village community center.

The interior of the existing building was extensively renovated and a foyer was added to its long side. An elongated lean-to roof building along the western side of the property accommodates the new library and meeting rooms. Together with the foyer extension, it forms a trapezoidal, slightly raised space open towards the street.

The new village community center uses modern design means, such as skeleton construction, exposed concrete, metal windows and a tin roof, and with its facade made of quarry stone and the sloping roof shape of the new building, it also creates a bridge to the original townscape.