KNV Vaihingen

A new, six-storey building recently became home to the state-of-the-art administrative centre of the book wholesaler KNV. It features a large reception area, assembly and meeting rooms, offi ces as well as storage and archive rooms. The most immediately striking aspect of this building is the high-impact façade design comprising homogeneous, lightcoloured ceramic surfaces that emphasise the horizontal lines and colourful, vertically mounted elements in front of the window openings that follow a schematic arrangement. The viewer is immediately reminded of the arrangement of book spines on a bookcase. Specific sections of the façade are highlighted through projecting window reveals design to resemble showcases.