A recipe for success made from natural ingredients
Historical half-timbering in Wolfsburg, home of Volkswagen? Architecture connoisseurs think of buildings by Zaha Hadid and Alvar Aalto when they think of the city in Lower Saxony. Car enthusiasts think of the Autostadt. But around the corner from these three modern architectural highlights is an old half-timbered house that is home to the Atelier Café. Inside you will find gourmet fare and modern paintings. The right backdrop for these is provided by earthen-clay walls.
A real feast for the eyes
It was 25 years ago, in Wolfsburg’s oldest district, that the current owner Tobias Senft discovered the farmhouse dating from 1885. It was immediately clear: this is the ideal place for a restaurant where art and coffee complement each other. So the idea was born to show an ever-changing selection of paintings in the café.
But the art of cooking is also held in high regard at the Atelier Café. A trained chef, Tobias Senft makes much of what is available at the café himself – from jam to coffee and mineral water as well as ice cream. The products, which you can also buy to take home, are presented as works of art.
Lined up on shelves, in the proper light, the colourful spreads, glass water bottles and high-end coffees are staged. As with a painting, the background adds to the effect.
The colours of the clay plastered walls give the light a special liveliness. Their surface, which has a fine texture through the addition of flax to the plaster, also contributes.
Natural enjoyment all around
When making his products, Tobias Senft relies on organic ingredients wherever possible, as well as local provenance and processing. But the chef also thinks outside of the box.
Natural clay-earth building materials were used in the design of the café. They not only match the culinary concept but also round out the enjoyment of experiencing the café. Clay-earth wall surfaces have a positive influence on indoor air quality. They regulate humidity and bind pollutants and allergens.
If you pay a visit to the historic half-timbered house in winter, clay earth also enables you to enjoy both the charm of a historic farmhouse and the pleasant warmth of modern interiors. In order to insulate the building while keeping the half-timbering with its brick-lined frames visible, interior insulation of clay earth and softwood fibreboards was installed.
In summer, you have the choice of feasting your eyes on and, of course, eating the artfully presented delicacies in the modern interior or finding a spot outside on the terrace with the lushly flowering hydrangeas.
Read more »Temperature kept on point with insulation from CLAYTEC
The half-timbered building that is home to the Atelier Café is part of the historic centre of the district of Heßlingen in Wolfsburg. While the city around it has constantly changed, some streets in this district still bear the historical image of yesteryear. Many agree the former farmhouse building is one of the most beautiful in this area.
The unplastered half-timbering with red bricks and bright wood is striking. In order to preserve this charm and yet create spaces inside to meet the needs of the café and modern structural requirements, Claytec Pavadentro wood fibre insulation boards, Clay Adhesive and Reinforcing Mortar, as well as various types of clay plaster, were used.
The wood fibre insulation boards are affixed and doweled to the interior wall using the Clay Adhesive and Reinforcing Mortar over the entire underlying surface. The flexible boards are particularly well suited for half-timbered construction. The surface is then covered with flax mesh to help the Clay plasters adhere to the boards.
The non-insulated interior walls of the café were plastered with Claytec Clay Undercoat Plaster with Straw as well as with a Claytec Clay Top Coat Fine with Flax. Alternatively, Clay Plaster MINERAL 20 was used. It is a base and finishing plaster in one.
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