Traffic Services in Mühlhausen by Yonder

Mühlhausen im Tale lies at the foot of the Swabian Alb, right where the A8 motorway begins its arduous and accident-prone climb up the Alb. The local motorway police were housed in a nondescript three-storey building dating from 1957. It was to be extended and new workshops and garages were to be built on the site for the police's extensive fleet of vehicles.

The concept by Stuttgart-based Yonder combines old and new to form an ensemble around a central courtyard. The architects have divided the relatively large building volume for the workshops in the north-east of the site into four staggered structures in a row, as well as the three carports in the south of the complex. Together they frame the access road to the site, at the centre of which is the old building and its two-storey extension. The two have little to do with each other in terms of design, but are functionally linked to form a spatial continuum on both levels. In contrast to the space-optimised old building, the new building has a spacious circulation area with a pleasant atmosphere and a roof terrace accessible to employees.

Yonder completed the motorway police station in Mühlhausen with a new administration building and various garages and workshops. All the new buildings were constructed in timber. © Brigida González

Wood is used not only on the exterior of the new buildings, but also on the interior: The administration wing is a two-storey solid timber construction with deliberate colour accents inside. Terracotta and antique red balustrades provide orientation within the levels, while moss green floors are used in the offices and access areas. Only on the highly trafficked ground floor did the architects opt for a concrete block floor with splashes of colour.

Plexiglas skylights illuminate the parking areas for the vehicles. © Brigida González

The workshop buildings, on the other hand, are constructed as timber frame structures on a solid base. Their south-facing roofs are covered with photovoltaic panels, and their north-facing roofs with translucent double-skin panels. Inside, they provide storage space, a lifting platform, a car wash and parking for large vans, cars, motorcycles and special vehicles. All of the new buildings are clad in a uniform wooden facade with floor and ceiling formwork, where the ceiling is uniformly glazed in white, but the joints of the floor, which show through, are coloured. Yonder developed the facade concept together with the artist Florina Leinß.