saai | Archive for Architecture and Engineering

Merkur department store
1951, Extension 1954-1955

+68

Merkur department store

The department store was intended to stand out as a self-contained unit from the small-scale structure of Heilbronn's city centre and was therefore erected as a free-standing structure. The building was set back from the intersection of two main streets, so that in front of the main entrance an area was created that was delimited by steps and spatially framed by the stair tower. The slope of the terrain was taken up inside the building by steps dividing the ground floor into two sales levels and on the outside by the staggering of the canopies above the shop windows. In order not to disrupt the internal variability necessary for a department store, the floor plans were planned without any fixtures and fittings and staircases, lifts and ancillary rooms were grouped together in a rear core to which a planned extension was to be connected. This core was also used for goods receiving.

The department store was coloured: Red in the niches above the entrances, yellow on the underside of the upper cantilevered roof, white on the stair tower and on the horizontal ceiling strips. The frames of the window elements were painted blue, the parapet panels were covered with grey opaque glass. The glazing allowed the white-painted pillars on the inside to shine through. Plants in the boxes on the parapet of the top floor were intended to emphasise the cheerful expression of the building.

Immo Boyken, „Entwurfscharakteristika im Werk von Egon Eiermann aus der Zeit nach dem zweiten Weltkrieg“ , Diss., Universität Karlsruhe, Fakultät Architektur, Teil III, S. 60