Plans for a big shopping centre (Neue Mitte) in Fürth by Sonae Sierra have been dropped. This week the entries of five specially selected architect firms have been on display. All the firms had to incorporate Rudolf-Breitscheid-Straße in their designs. As a result, the plans were outdated before they appeared.

The firms were Blocher Blocher, Stuttgart; Dürschinger, Fürth; HPP, Düsseldorf; Ortner & Ortner, Berlin; and RKW, Düsseldorf.

I find it all the more enjoyable to look at visions of a New Fürth in the knowledge that they aren’t going to be built.

I rather liked Dürschinger’s Venetian plaza in the middle of Rudolf-Breitscheid-Straße (RBS), although the colonnades look a bit out of place:

Here is some of their inspiration:

This is HPP’s view of RBS – all we feared:

The building to replace the Park Hotel or its shell is seized on by some (see Dürschinger above). For Ortner & Ortner it becomes a Palais – the entries were in German and English (or sometimes ‘English’):

Das große Gebäude an der Fürther Freiheit ist – wie sein Vorgänger – selbst-bewusst und hoch aufragend: Zeichenhafter Auftakt des Shoppingcenters und städtebaulich wichtige Landmark auf dem großen Feld der Fürther Freiheit. Das oberste, hohe Geschlß beherbersgt Veranstaltungsbereiche, einen Club oder Ähnliches. So wird das Palais nachts mit leuchtender Laterne zum pulsierenden Fixpunkt in der “Alten Mitte”.

Like its predecessor, the large towering building in Fürther Freiheit evinces confidence. It forms a symbolic prelude to the shopping centre and is an important urban landmark in the large space that makes up Fürther Freiheit. The high top floor contains rooms for events, a club and similar functions. Consequently, at night, the Palais, with its glowing lamp becomes the pulsating fixed point of the Alte Mitte (old centre).

Here’s HPP’s equivalent:

RKW had a glass ceiling:

described as follows:

Eine Schwebende Wolke über der Stadt
Die Durchlässigkeit der leichten Dachkontruktion vermitteln den Eindruck des Flanierens auf offener Straße.

A cloud hovering above the city
The permeability of the light roof construction gives the impression of strolling along in broad daylight.

Permeability sounds to me as if the rain was going to come through.

Blocher Blocher had a not dissimilar glass roof:

Blocher Blocher wins the prize for using machine translation.