Smooth-sheet metal façade gives shopping centre a new lease of life

The tranquil town of Ottobrunn lies south-east of Munich. Since autumn 2025, the few shops in the town centre have once again been complemented by the popular Isar Centre. Following a large-scale refurbishment and an expansion of the retail space, visitors to the shopping centre will find a wider selection of shops and products, as well as additional parking spaces. The Isar Centre also presents a fresh, modern appearance from the outside: the façade surfaces, which are up to 10 metres high, are clad with a metallic smooth sheet metal façade from Kalzip.

Significant need for refurbishment

The Isar Centre was built in the early 1970s and, apart from minor alterations, has remained in operation unchanged ever since. After 50 years, the building was in considerable need of refurbishment. Furthermore, the retail spaces no longer met current requirements. As the building’s owner, Württembergische Lebensversicherung therefore joined forces with the anchor tenant, Edeka, to transform the existing building into a contemporary shopping centre.

The architectural firm ATP München Planungs GmbH developed the modernisation concept: with the addition of a 10,000 m² extension, the Markthalle – now almost twice as large – consists of several rectangular volumes interlocked with one another. Visually, the building deliberately adopts a minimalist, geometrically clear design language.

For a uniform façade appearance

When designing the Isar Centre, the client and planners paid particular attention to the building envelope. It was important to achieve a uniform appearance – the transition from the refurbished existing structure to the new building was not to be visible from the outside. The majority of the building was fitted with a closed aluminium smooth-sheet façade as a curtain-wall, rear-ventilated system. The choice fell on Kalzip’s FC façade, which was able to meet all the requirements.

The sheets were produced in five different widths at the Kalzip plant in Koblenz. The length was also a decisive factor in the design: the panels were to cover the entire façade in a vertical orientation and therefore had to be manufactured in special lengths of up to 10 metres. A new 10-metre-long press brake was set up specifically for this project.

Regardless of the panel width, three shades of grey, each with a different gloss level, were used. The seemingly random arrangement of the metal sheets creates an intriguing interplay of widths, colours and gloss levels on the façade.