Chemnitz suffered a lot in World War 2 and during the rebuilding in the communist area. The central city was rebuilt with large open spaces devoid of any urban activity. The urban plan tries to repair this condition by fitting buildings into those spaces to create the necessary urban density. A galleria is under construction next to the Kaufhof site.

The Kaufhof occupies a large parcel of land between a historic city square, the Neumarkt, and the Bahnhofstrasse. The department store is oriented towards the Neumarkt and separated by a galleria from a parking garage, which has shops at ground level. The entrance to the parking is through ramps in the Bahnhofstrasse, covered by glazed, lit canopies. They lead to a tunnel with special lighting by Yann Kersalé, giving the user orientation and pleasure. To the north is the central terminal for streetcars and busses, which is covered by the large cantilevered roof extending to the Neumarkt to form an urban loggia, like a stage.

The five story building becomes a transparent “Stadtpavillon” with an internal luminosity, especially at night.

The single-shell facade is of high-performance insulating glass and runs like a taut membrane in front of the slab edges. The sheets of glass are point-held above and below the slabs and supported by cables in the glass joints at the special conditions like atrium or stairs.
The energy and comfort system is totally integrated with enclosure and structure and controls its environment through design and not through the addition of technical and mechanical elements. Air supply is through a displacement system with supportive heating and cooling through a piping system in the concrete slabs. Supply and exhaust air is brought up the columns–one supply and one exhaust duct at each column for each floor. The supply stops at the floor and the exhaust starts at the underside of the slab above. Therefore, each column has five ducts and one shaft for pipes and installations.

The floor is raised and accessible to allow for flexible service, electrical and communication distribution.
The basic building standard has no suspended ceilings, indirect general lighting from the columns and accent lights for the products. Provisions exist for special sales areas to change and upgrade these standards.

Building and spaces express this simple, integrated concept like a clear, understandable diagram.