As part of the construction of the extension to the PPH, the existing access road between Karlsstrasse and Bismarckstrasse will be partially built over, along with the car parking spaces along it. The same applies to the existing fire service access roads. In addition, the “Heilbronn Chapel” artwork by Documenta artist Prof Thomas Lenk is located in the construction area and needs to be relocated. However, its structural condition does not allow it to be renovated. It will therefore be reconstructed true to the original.
Due to the structural connection between the old building and the extension, there is comparatively little room for manoeuvre in terms of the height of the new building, which means that the planned connection to the building is currently approx. 1.30 m lower than the existing site to the south of the extension. The access road must therefore be lowered over a distance of approx. 25 m in order to achieve a gradient of 6 % in the direction of the tax office, whereby the southern connection point is even higher than the terrain directly adjacent to the southern façade.
In the courtyard to the west between the police headquarters and the tax office, the sculpture and its two orange water basins will be reconstructed in their original position in relation to each other, but shifted and rotated so that the requirements of the fire brigade are met for both the tax office and the police headquarters.
The square-like design of the area, with concrete slabs in 3 slightly iridescent shades of grey, also integrates a delivery facility for the tax office, two parking spaces for people with disabilities, the bicycle parking spaces required by building regulations and the only publicly accessible barrier-free entrance to the PPH.
A central lawn incorporates Thomas Lenk’s artistic concept of intersecting paved areas and green spaces with the two water basins while minimising the proportion of sealed surfaces.
The fixtures in the outdoor areas include the necessary signage, functional lighting, a bench in front of the side entrance as well as other equipment such as litter bins, the bicycle racks required by building regulations (14 racks for 27 bicycles) as well as a step grid. Access to the Court of Art for cars (disabled parking spaces, tax office and fire brigade delivery facilities) is regulated by bollards, 2 of which are retractable.
