FSB model 1244

brings out the Mannheim engine shed’s classic industrial charm

Central to the design of the re­fur­bished engine shed at Mannheim, a true cul­tural mon­u­ment, is the way period in­dus­trial ar­chi­tec­ture fuses with newly-in­stalled office spaces for the modern age. The FSB prod­ucts fitted are in ma­te­ri­als that echo the spe­cific concept drafted by the ar­chi­tects’ prac­tice whilst si­mul­ta­ne­ously meeting the re­quire­ments of con­tem­po­rary of­fic­ing.

Erected in the 1870s as a shelter and tool­shop ad­ja­cent to Mannheim’s central railway station, the build­ing now houses the ar­chi­tects’ own prac­tice. “We sought to retain the dynamic tension between modern ar­chi­tec­ture and rough older outer shell”, ar­chi­tect Matthias Jarcke says of the project.

A key detail in the ex­cit­ing process of im­ple­men­ta­tion were the FSB handles se­lected, whose re­straint in terms of their idiom, design and ma­te­r­ial allowed them to blend in per­fectly with the listed build­ing. The FSB 1244 model is of its age in both form and en­gi­neer­ing, making it just the right choice here. Alu­minium handles, blasted and black an­odised, forge a link between the Mannheim engine shed’s orig­i­nal func­tion and the build­ing’s present spatial concept.

Drawing on the most basic of geo­met­ric shapes, in cross-sec­tion FSB 1244 com­prises a semi-cir­cle and half a square. Its linear front face ac­com­mo­dates the cur­va­ture of its neck at one end and ter­mi­nates in a rec­tan­gu­lar cut-off at the other.

The project demon­strates im­pres­sively the ver­sa­til­ity with which the FSB port­fo­lio can be de­ployed in ar­chi­tec­ture. In the open-plan office spaces, the premium hard­ware man­u­fac­turer from Brakel de­liv­ers suit­ably focused door and window handles, bath­room sets and frame-door and se­cu­rity fit­tings. The new glass doors in the im­pos­ing en­trance gates, more­over, are ad­di­tion­ally fitted with lockset plates by the company. Prod­ucts by FSB ac­cord­ingly serve as the first point of haptic contact for vis­i­tors to the his­toric build­ing.

About FSB
FSB is a byword the world over for vi­su­ally and func­tion­ally top-qual­ity hard­ware so­lu­tions for doors and windows, elec­tronic ac-cess control and san­i­tary fit-outs. Ar­chi­tects and builders’ clients favour reach­ing out for prod­ucts from Brakel owing to FSB’s great design ex­per­tise and its pro­found un­der­stand­ing of the re­quire-ments of modern con­struc­tion. Every­thing in any way as­so­ci­ated with handle culture in built spaces is catered to from a single source.

Franz Schnei­der
Brakel GmbH + Co KG

Anne Levy
Nieheimer Straße 38
33034 Brakel
Telefon: +49 5272 608-105
anne.​levy@​fsb.​de