German studio Alexander Poetzsch Architekturen has converted a former chocolate factory in Dresden into a youth club and assisted living centre for children.
Overhauled for the German Child Protection Association, the building now contains a therapeutic housing community with a youth club, counselling centre, workshop and library alongside administrative and conference spaces for the organisation.
As the old chocolate factory is recognisable across the district, Alexander Poetzsch Architekturen sought to minimise visual changes to the existing structure and celebrated its industrial material palette throughout.
Alexander Poetzsch Architekturen has converted a German chocolate factory
"We were in a constant battle for saving as much as possible of the building, trying to implement the existing structures in our design and avoiding demolition," project's leader Uta Lambrette told Dezeen. "In this case, there was another idea, the idea that by visualising old and new simultaneously, we could make the construction, history and value of this building more comprehensible to the young people who live and spend time in it," she added.
The most significant alteration to the existing structure was the removal of the roof above its large manufacturing hall to the south. Here, an open courtyard has been added, framed by the hall's existing walls and supporting steel beams.
It now functions as supported housing for children
The resulting L-shaped block surrounding t...