A car wash as showcase of a commercial enterprise and urban landmark at the entrance of a city. The three-aisled building is coated with a shell of 4 metre high frameless figured glass panes, which are clamped into the steel frame of the construction, featuring the process on the inside, where the vehicles are being channeled through the car wash, with a slightly defocusing effect. A glass customer corridor invites clients to accompany the cars on their way through the car wash. Skylights made from ETFE foil cushions illuminate the building. Positioned on lifting posts they can be opened for natural ventilation in addition to the ventilation system. Altogether the transparent frame and the solar energy input add to the energetic improvement and the economic efficiency of the facility. At night the facility becomes a luminous object, a multilayered, illuminated, semitransparent scene in a performance of movement and light, technology and construction.

 

Featured in the architectural tour ’Architektouren’ of the Bayerische Architektenkammer (Association of Bavarian Architects) 2005.