Brühl City Hall and Library, North Rhine-Westphalia building development, German modern architecture

Brühl City Hall and Library in North Rhine-Westphalia

6 June 2025

Design: JSWD

Location: Steinweg 1, 50321 Brühl, Germany

photo © Franco Casaccia / JSWD
Photos: Schmitz.Reichard GmbH, Taufik Kenan, Franco Casaccia / JSWD and Christa Lachenmaier

Brühl City Hall and Library, Germany

The objective of the competition was to plan an extension for the existing town hall and to create a concept for adjacent Janshof square. The project involved replacing an extension that was built in the 1960s.

photo © Taufik Kenan

One particular challenge was connecting the new building to the historic town hall, and then renovating it in line with heritage requirements. The result is an accessible, future-oriented town hall that meets the latest energy standards, designed to enable flexible use and to tap into synergies by connecting various building functions.

photos © Franco Casaccia / JSWD

The offices of the municipal authorities are located above the civil registry offices (Bürgeramt and Standesamt). The municipal library is spread across all floors of the new building, with a children’s library in the basement that opens up to a reading courtyard. Clear signage makes the town hall easy to navigate. The new foyer opens up to both the pedestrian zone and the now largely car-free Janshof. From here, visitors’ paths converge with those of pedestrians entering the historic building via Markt.

photo © Taufik Kenan

The new building plays with the idea of different urban spaces and proportions in Brühl’s historic city center. The front building references the form of the historic town hall, creating a cubature that is at once unique and also typical of the region. The three interlocking structures are oriented so that their gables face the adjacent street, with brickwork partially perforated so that it filters the light coming into the underlying windows. The same light-colored bricks are used for the facade and the roof, thus reinforcing the cubic effect of the new building.

photo © Taufik Kenan

The project aims for the greatest possible sustainability. For example, the firm preserved as much of the historic building’s fabric as possible. Energy and heat are supplied by a combined heat and power plant. In addition to triple-glazed windows, a great deal of natural light, and external solar protection, concrete component activation guarantees lower energy consumption.

photo © Franco Casaccia / JSWD

Brühl City Hall and Library in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany – Building Information

Architects: JSWD – https://jswd.de/

Program: New construction of the Library and Refurbishment of the old City Hall
Address: Steinweg 1, 50321 Brühl, Germany
Client: City of Brühl
Architecture: JSWD, 1st prize competition 2017
Completion: 2023

Structural design: Kempen Krause Ingenieure Aachen
Building service engineering: DEERNS
Library and interior planning: UKW Innenarchitekten, Krefeld
Landscape: RMPSL, Bonn

Site: 4,800 sqm
GFA: 5,200 sqm

photos © Franco Casaccia / JSWD

About JSWD
JSWD is an architecture firm founded in Cologne, Germany in 2000. Since 2021, it has also had locations in Berlin, Germany, and Tampa, USA. Today, its two founders – Olaf Drehsen and Frederik Jaspert – along with partners Tobias Unterberg, Mario Pirwitz, and Christian Mammel, lead a team of around 240 employees from more than 30 countries.

With over 60 buildings completed in Germany and Europe, JSWD’s portfolio boasts a wide range of projects, from cultural and event buildings, to residential buildings, offices, and schools, and from healthcare buildings to the conversion and repurposing of existing structures.

As an architect and urban planner, the firm demonstrates its passion for material and design and takes responsibility for sustainable planning. Starting from the initial idea, they assume responsibility for the success of every project and, as a general planner, guide each project all the way to the final handover. In cooperation with architecture firms in other countries, including France, Spain, Luxembourg, and the US, JSWD is able to find additional sources of architectural, technical, and intellectual inspiration and work together effectively on joint construction projects.

The pursuit of conceptual and formal clarity runs through all of JSWD’s construction projects like a common thread. Working with just a few clearly defined elements allows for unique structural and spatial hierarchies. At the same time, each design develops its own identity based on the details of the situation and the desire to reflect the self-image of the user in the form of corporate architecture.

photo © Franco Casaccia / JSWD

Photography: Schmitz.Reichard GmbH, Taufik Kenan, Franco Casaccia / JSWD and Christa Lachenmaier
Brühl City Hall and Library, North Rhine-Westphalia images / information received 060625

Location: Brühl, northern Germany, western Europe

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