Central market Munich

Our design for Munich’s Central Market Hall is in the tradition of the innovative market halls and industrial facilities of the past, which were developed as functional spaces but also recognized that structural elements have a role to play in design.

When Munich officials decided to keep the central covered market within city limits, it gave the city the opportunity to reshape the entire urban space through a distinctive new building. The traditional arch motif is translated into contemporary architectural language and updated to take advantage of present-day construction techniques. The façade features a series of delicate precast concrete panels joined together to create a weightless, origami-like expression. The windows behind them are made of polycarbonate and let the hustle and bustle inside the market show through. This is emblematic of our design principles for the new market hall – redefining traditional typologies for the present day and capitalizing on new materials and construction. The unidirectional load-bearing structure helps visitors navigate the space by reproducing the arrangement of stands and aisles in its arches. As a holistic structural idea, the amplitude of the roof supports is carried through right to the floor by means of a second parabolic arch.

The sculptural interplay between the two arches achieves a certain rhythm across the vast length of the market hall as seen in the horizontal view. From its location on the city’s main market square, the hall makes its own unique statement among the area’s historic buildings – the demonstrative Ur-Halle 1 designed by Richard Schachner in 1920 and the characteristic 1950s architecture of the Kontorhaus.