Berlin-based studio Wulf Architekten has unveiled a dark-blue police station wrapped in bands of brass windows in the Bavarian city of Passau, Germany.
Arranged around two courtyards, Wulf Architekten designed the building to have a clear identity as a modern police station.
"The core concept was to achieve a building with a clear, strong, yet elegant design, whose appearance would not be disturbed by the cars parked around it," said Wulf Architekten founder Tobias Wulf.
"The appropriate appearance for a modern police station is shown with a clear architectural language, presented in its strict structural grid in the facade," he told Dezeen.
The building was designed to house five departments of the Bavarian State Police – police inspection, criminal investigation with a new cybercrime department, border police inspection, central emergency services and technical emergency services – at a single location.
It was formed around two courtyards with a taller, four-storey office block, which contains the covered entrance, set alongside a lower block that is wrapped around the secure car park.
"The lager courtyard serves to house the cars that we want to hide from the outside," said Wulf.
"The other courtyard brings light to the center, filling the rooms facing towards it with natural light."
As a nod towards traditional police colours, the studio choose blue blaster for the exterior, which was combined with brass-coloured window frames to give the building a distinctive appearance.
"We chose blue to be the predominant colour of the building but in a slightly more subtle shade as the building is very large," said Wulf.
"The horizontal, midnight blue facade with its vertically grooved plaster, in combination with the continuous brass-coloured window ribbons, create the characteristic appearance of the building in a sustainable yet elegant manner."
Within the police station Wulf Architekten aimed to create a "reserved appearance", with the building's concrete structure left exposed and paired with natural timber doors and fittings.
The building's police cells were entirely finished with pale blue tiles.
Set alongside the main police station, the studio designed a stand-alone visitor parking garage that also contains a canteen.
Founded by Wulf in 1987, Wulf Architekten was has offices in Stuttgart, Berlin and Basel. It previously designed a fire station in Straubenhardt and a sports centre in Überlingen with a zig-zagging roof informed by the alps.
The photography is by Brigida González.
Projects credits:
Client: Bavarian State Ministry of the Interior, for Sport and Integration and Bavarian State Ministry for Housing, Building and Transport, represented by the Passau State Building Authority
Construction management: Aidenberger Architekten
Structural planning: Bollinger + Grohmann
Building physics: BBI Ingenieure
Landscape planning: Peter Kitzmüller