The shopping mall ´Forum Mittelrhein´ and the Kulturbau Koblenz together form the design for the redevelopment of the Zentralplatz, the central square of Koblenz. The Zentralplatz not only connects the various districts of Koblenz with each other but also has an important function as a public transport interchange and place where various pedestrian flows come together.
The mall Forum Mittelrhein presents itself as a flat, horizontal layered structure. Due to this powerful format, the buildings volume is reduced efficiently and a pleasant sense of scale is established. On relevant junctions within the urban fabric, the mall offers spacious entrances and invites visitors to follow the pedestrian flows and to ‘glide’ through the building. The shopping center is characterized by its trapezoidal layout and smooth outlines. The areas intertwined with escalators provide orientation points, divide the building and provide the interior with natural light. This, in combination with the great spaciousness, gives a high-level of amenity and a pleasant ambiance for the user. Across the intense colors of the void edges, powerful accentuations are applied that create a vivid image.
The sales floors are located on level -1, 0 and +1. In the basement the loading and unloading area is organized in such a way that supplying both buildings can be easily coordinated and done collectively. On the second to the fourth floor there are technical facilities and a parking lot for about 740 cars, with parking spaces organized around a central landscaped courtyard.
The façade design takes the users into account. The lower two floors with the shops have a glass façade as a strip around the building. The standing glass formats and the expressive shaped click frames of the façade profiles, give a strong vertical orientation. The top three floors of the building are dominated by an artificial "Weinlaub façade" (wine leaf façade). These top three floors are dominated by an artificial "Weinlaubfacade"(wine leaf facade). This facade is composed out of only one type of element, that is produced in large quantities and high quality in an industrial thermoforming process. Approximately 2,900 identical, three-dimensional shaped aluminium elements, painted in three different shades of green, form this distinctive facade.