Hoskins Architects were among 25 practices selected from over 200 entries to submit proposals for a new centre for creative industries on a post-industrial canal site in Mannheim, Germany.

The brief for the competition was to design a building that would accommodate a communal art gallery and 4,600 sqm of lettable area whilst incorporating parts of a listed industrial complex. The new centre will offer affordable lets for creative industry start-ups with co-working, meeting and event spaces and a cafe tailored to the creative clientele. Hoskins Architects proposal clearly distinguishes between public functions located within a two storey brick plinth incorporating the listed facades of the existing industrial buildings and the individually lettable units located in modular ‘containers’ on the upper floors. The public plinth allows multiple connections and interactions with the surrounding urban context, whereas the ‘container cubes’ above create a strong identity for the building by making an emblematic reference to the canal location but also to the temporary aspect of the working spaces within.