ATP architects engineers

As Ingolstadt’s fourth highest structure the 50-meter-high IN-Tower helps to shape the city’s skyline. The sculptural building was integrally designed by ATP Munich on the basis of its winning entry to a realization competition which was held in 2014 and which five offices were invited to enter. The residential complex consists of a slender high-rise tower and a broad, four-story base zone with a lobby and shops. Building Information Modeling (BIM) supported ATP in the realization of the concept, which met the competition’s rigorous demands for a maximum use of space combined with high cost effectiveness and standard construction costs.

In urban design terms the tower combines with the station building and a bus terminal to form a link between the station complex and the ring road. It provides train passengers with a clear signal of their arrival in Ingolstadt, while the base building with its ground floor retail space livens up the streetscape for pedestrians approaching the station. The detailed implementation of the project paid great attention to creating a modern, timeless design in an urban context. The top priority was the success of the city’s newly adopted concept for the provision of living space.

“The shortage of residential space demands vertical solutions and flexible plans”, explains Florian Beck, the Head of Design at ATP Munich and also a qualified town planner. “This is why the clients invited us to work with them intensively as they sought to optimize the use of residential space. Our prize-winning competition concept enabled us to maximize the amount of high-quality living space.”

Due to the tower’s limited footprint of just 16 x 16 meters the layouts of the apartments and the circulation had to be highly functional. The placing of the core at the heart of the tower created well-proportioned apartments with open and flexible living spaces. This flexible approach allows for a range of accommodation from small flats to four-room apartments, while the vertical duct concept enables a flexible range of kitchens and sanitary spaces to be developed. Terraces and sweeping balconies with a depth of up to three meters represent considerable additional living space. The well positioned structure and building services allow the smaller units to be combined to create larger apartments.

The aesthetic of the IN-Tower is defined by its slender powerfully urban silhouette and its white balconies and balustrades, which wrap around the tower over a total distance of almost two kilometers, appearing to envelope the building in a dynamic robe. These “varying balconies” act as a metaphor for the flexibility of the floor plans of the apartments while they are also positioned to distribute the light and shadows equally amongst the apartments. It is this game of light and shadows that lends the tower its moving, sculptural character.