A Face for the Residential Area

Photo Concrete Decorates Housing Complex

Fig. 1 The portrait of the inventor of letter press should remind on the historic using of this areal.

Fig. 2 Fair-faced concrete elements were produced with matrices in plant of Zuber Betonwerk, Germany.

 Formerly, Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG manufactured precision machinery for book printing at the 8,400 m² large area and managed the world-wide operating group of companies from this place respectively. Now, thirteen attractive apartment houses are built at this place referring to the history of the area in numerous details. The external façade of the building complex presents one of the details. Two street façades each show a portrait of Johannes Gutenberg, which Zuber Betonwerk realized with the aid of photo matrices and fair-faced concrete.

As of 1896, the estate was owned by the global corporate group Heidelberger Druckmaschinen. At that time, the company moved from the Palatine city of Frankenthal to Heidelberg and was manufacturing various products. Over of the years, the company specialized in the field of book printing and manufactured precision machinery, to which they owe their good reputation on the global marketplace. Following a successful and turbulent company history, the site was sold to Hochtief Projektentwicklung. In 2004, they took the decision to convert the site into a residential area. For this purpose, they...