Dortmunder U – Center for the Arts and Creativity, Dortmund, Germany

With its new ‘vertical’ – i.e. the ground-to-roof – entrance atrium the size of the U-Tower’s  volume (a former part of the Union Brewery) can be fully experienced from inside for the first time. Escalators lead from the ground-floor foyer past all the exhibition levels to the ‘cathedral room’ directly underneath the illuminated ‘U’ sign on top of the tower. Conically contorted, metal-clad cubic shapes penetrate the building from inside out. They appear like counterpoints to the existing red clinker façades and point to the unusual roof shape of the ‘cathedral room’.