The Heidelberg Convention Center (HDCC) project is one of the most important cultural projects in the recent history of the Baden-Württemberg region. The HDCC is located in a newly created district in the west of the city, the “Campus Am Zollhofgarten”, developed in the vicinity of the railway station, almost on the urban boundary with the agricultural countryside.

The new building has the challenge of meeting the requirements of a 21st century building; combining that contemporaneity with a certain iconic character and with a spiritual and emotional connection to the romantic spirit of the city that emanates from the ruins of its castle and characterizes its cultural and urban DNA. It must be able to respond to the challenges and ambitions that the city of Heidelberg harbors with respect to its position in the world; in a sustained effort to offer the best that architecture can bring to our lives and our cities.

Without renouncing the iconic approach pursued by the international competition, our proposal is approached from the outset from a scale sensitive to its situation in the urban scene; understanding the project as a new meeting place for the city of Heidelberg and as an opportunity to resolve the important new sector of Zollhofgarten. The project becomes an occasion for regeneration, qualifying a sector burdened by its position as an urban backwater between the railroad and the countryside, but with a physical proximity to the city center.