Puls 5

Brief information

At Puls 5, the exhibition hall did not grow out of an empty site, but out of a late-19th-century foundry workshop. During construction of the complex, which opened in 2004, part of the old workshop was preserved, and it became the building’s central space. As a result, the place reads not as an ordinary retail and office complex, but as a converted industrial shell where former metalworking has been replaced by exhibitions, classrooms, offices, shops, bars, and restaurants.

The key turning point here is simple: after the blast furnaces stopped operating in 1975, the hall served for almost 30 years as a warehouse and workshop. This explains why the former production volume proved convenient for new flexible use: it was not turned into decoration, but made into the main event hall, including for temporary exhibitions of contemporary art.

What to notice right away

It is worth comparing the old workshop hall with the new seven-story side blocks around it. This arrangement reveals the complex’s main device: the industrial core was not hidden away, but surrounded with new functions: shops, restaurants, bars, and offices. The size of the structure itself, 170 by 60 meters, helps explain why the former workshop could become not a separate room, but the center of the entire building.

A separate clue is the hall’s 19th-century brick elements. The source text directly links their preservation with the space becoming a popular exhibition venue: the old texture does not merely recall the foundry past, but provides a visible foundation for contemporary displays. Another connection can be read from the Hardturmstrasse side: the new office building is connected to the former workshop through a green inner courtyard, emphasizing how the junction of old and new is made part of the complex’s layout.