Andreas Kaufmann, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Leica Camera AG and main shareholder of the firm. He was the driving force in the creation of the amazing Leitz Park Main Building, whose construction needed three years of intensive work.
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By José Manuel Serrano Esparza
A few years after saving Solms based Leica Camera A.G from bankruptcy in 2005, when he became Chairman of the Supervisory Board and shareholder of the firm, Dr. Andreas Kaufmann (a visionary man with remarkable entrepreneurial talent and utterly grasping the huge historical, technological and photographic values embodied by Leica brand throughout its existence) craved for returning Leica to its Leitz former home, that´s to say, to its birthplace in the city of Wetzlar, where in 1914 a genius called Oskar Barnack had created the Ur-Leica prototype camera, which added to the Leica 1 Model A (first mass produced 24 x 36 mm format Leica camera launched into market) introduced at the Leipzig Fair of 1925, would mean a revolution in world photography, in synergy with the top-notch lenses created by Professor Max Berek.
A few years after saving Solms based Leica Camera A.G from bankruptcy in 2005, when he became Chairman of the Supervisory Board and shareholder of the firm, Dr. Andreas Kaufmann (a visionary man with remarkable entrepreneurial talent and utterly grasping the huge historical, technological and photographic values embodied by Leica brand throughout its existence) craved for returning Leica to its Leitz former home, that´s to say, to its birthplace in the city of Wetzlar, where in 1914 a genius called Oskar Barnack had created the Ur-Leica prototype camera, which added to the Leica 1 Model A (first mass produced 24 x 36 mm format Leica camera launched into market) introduced at the Leipzig Fair of 1925, would mean a revolution in world photography, in synergy with the top-notch lenses created by Professor Max Berek.
And after managing to incredibly turn Leica Camera A.G into a highly profitable concern within the photographic digital market in an exceedingly short period of six years (between 2006 and 2011), whose turnings points were the design and manufacture of the Leica S2 medium format camera (featuring the best photographic lenses ever made, created by Peter Karbe) in September of 2008 and the Leica M9 (first 24 x 36 mm format digital rangefinder camera in history and able to use not only the most modern highly luminous aspherical Leica M lenses but also non aspherical Leitz primes dating back to 1954) a year later, in September of 2009, it dawned on the charismatic Dr. Kaufmann that it was time to come back to Wetzlar (after almost three decades in which the firm headquarters had been in Solms since 1986) and keep on expanding Leica Camera A.G until becoming one of the leading-class firms of the digital photographic industry.
But to fulfill that goal it was necessary to create a building whose architectural design should be a reflection of the Leica company´s ethos, so the immense challenge was put on the shoulders of Gruber + Kleine-Kraneburg Architects,
Martin Gruber, the internationally acclaimed architect who along with Prof. Helmut Kleine-Kraneburg designed the Leitz Park Main Building as Headquarters of Leica Camera AG.
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a highly experienced firm in the inception of unique edifices with a pretty independent attitude and whole commitment in everything they do, striving upon achieving a corporate identity through the interaction of light, space, proportion, color and beauty as conceptual core, to give each building its very own aura.
And the main materials chosen were concrete and glass, as key ingredients to get a sense of permanence and precision, visible and perceptible in the smallest detail by both Leica Camera A.G workers and visitors from all over the world.
It was a kind of new beginning, transforming the brand into a tangible experience.
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This way, with his remarkable insight and in-depth knowledge of market circumstances, Dr. Andreas Kaufmann made a far-reaching investment through his ACM firm to create
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the Leitz Park Main Building in the outskirts of Wetzlar (Germany), encompassing a space of 27,000 square meters.
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And from the very instant of its inauguration on May 23, 2014, the landmark Leitz Park Main Building in Wetzlar (Germany) became the flagship construction ever built in the photographic realm, replacing the famous and also iconic Pentacon Ernemann Tower from 1923 (created by architects Emil Högg and Richard Müller in the Striesen suburb of Dresden) on top of the podium.
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Left area of the main façade of Leitz Park Main Building, showing the concave and convex surfaces with concrete and glass bestowing it its unique appearance. This is the most exotic area of the building and conceptually related to the mythical Parador Ariston designed by the Bauhaus Hungarian architect Marcel Breuer in Mar del Plata (Argentina) in 1948, with curved shapes enabling as much glazing as possible along with a great entrance of solar light, so an integrated and permanent visual contact with the surrounding landscape is attained from inside.
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These rounded contours were clearly inspired by
a) The shapes of Ur-Leica prototype, screw mount and M mount Leica cameras that made up the Leica legend in the analogue halcyon days of the brand during XX Century, a tradition that has been followed by digital 24 x 36 mm format rangefinder cameras like the Leica M9, Leica M Monochrom, Leica M240, Leica M10, Leica M10-P and the APS-C format ones Leica T, Leica T2 and Leica CL.
b) The photographic lenses and sports optics in which Leica brand has excelled for more than one century.
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The very beautiful inner spiral staircase of Leitz Park Main Building, one of the highlights of this stunning edifice making pant anybody beholding it for the first time.
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Another view of the left area of Leitz Park Main Building façade. The beauty of the concrete (which was subtlety imbued with color to look like stone by Gruber + Kleine-Kraneburg Architects) is indescribable, as happens with the top quality glass filling its upper area with two rows of rectangular vertical windows and its lower one with large glass panels framed by thin black painted stainless-steel bars.
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On the other hand, the whole building takes advantage of new technological breakthroughs, like 22ºC warm water running through pipes in its walls, ceilings, floors and columns, cooling the building in summer and heating it in winter, which in symbiosis with geothermal tubes located under the parking lot and photovoltaic panels on the roof enables the building to generate most of its power in a sustainable way.
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Left lateral area of Leitz Park Main Building, whose façade area boasting rounded shapes can be seen on far right.
The accuracy and perfection with which every detail was tackled by Gruber + Kleine - Kraneburg Architects is praiseworthy. And once more, the winsomeness of this very special concrete is a visual relish for every visitor, with the added bonus of textures, colours and nuances changing depending on the day hour, being particularly alluring at dawn and during the sunset.
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There are tons of architectural passion in this milestone building steadily enhanced by available light and which wasn´t conceived from scratch as something inert, but like a living entity with personality of its own to spare.
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It´s a kind of back to the future abridging a glorious analogue past with a new digital course through a seamless transition, nowadays embodied by first-class products like the Leica M10, Leica M10-P, Leica Monochrom, Leica SL, Leica S3, Leica CL and others which have been instrumental in the thriving rebirth of the firm, resting on second to none optical prowess featured by world-class lens designers like Peter Karbe, Dietmar Stuible, Sigrun Kammans, Michael Hartmann and top class engineers like Stefan Daniel, Jesko von Oeynhausen, Maike Harberts and Peter Kruchewski, whose work has resulted in the creation of the new Leica 24 x 36 mm and APS-C format digital cameras, without forgetting the seminal work made by Stephan Schultz (Director of Leica Business Unit Professional) and Karin Rehn-Kaufmann (Director of Leica Galleries International).
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Café Leitz, a charming area for having breakfast and lunch as well as indulging yourself with the superb German breads, beers and cakes. It is located only a few meters from the Leitz Park Main Building façade and is named after the legendary Ernest Leitz II, the German entrepreneur and owner of Ernst Leitz Wetzlar photographic firm, who gave the go ahead to Oskar Barnack´s Ur-Prototype in 1914 and the Leica 1 Model A (first 24 x 36 mm format camera to be produced in series) in 1925.
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Longitudinal view of the lateral left side of Leitz Park Main Building. The sober elegance of both curves (reminiscent of some buildings of Bauhaus and International Style architecture featuring minimalist philosophy along with undecorated surfaces) and straight lines is a treat to watch, in the same way as happens with the light reflected on the glass surfaces of top windows and the lower big glass panels.
The bending areas of this zone are also related to Bruno Paul´s Department Store in Berlin from 1930 and the New Objectivity Movement in German Architecture embodied by Erich Mendelsohn and its Schocken Department Store in Stuttgart from 1928.
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Detail of the lateral left side of Leitz Park Main Building, showing its farthest half area studded with vertical straight slim bars of concrete joining the two much larger main surfaces of this stuff, all of it being supported by the massive glass panels growing from the ground and reflecting the surrounding trees, generating a chromatic surge.
The geometrical thoroughness of this edifice is truly impressive, and the stretches with profusion of straight lines greatly follow Mies van der Rohe´s keynotes regarding perfect symmetry, space, clarity, simplicity, minimalism, neat rectangular lines and high-quality materials, like in this image in which the gorgeous allurement of the first-class concrete and the sumptuous luster of the green tonality of the reinforced glass panels together with the vertical lines work like a charm, in harmony with their pure and simple shapes.
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Detail of the top area of the right round tower of Leitz Park Main Building façade near dusk.
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Right lateral area of Leitz Park Main Building near sunset. The tonalities of concrete can substantially change depending on the hour of the day, and become a riveting sight, specially at daybreak and at dusk, when its texture stands out and the quality and direction of light are the best from a photographic viewpoint.
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Longitudinal view of the right lateral side of Leitz Park Main Building taken a few minutes before sunset from the farthest point to the round tower, visible on lower left area of the image, beyond which part of the Ernest Leitz Hotel can be glimpsed.
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Middle zone of the same right lateral side of the Leitz Park Main Building taken from a perpendicular position a few seconds before the night. Some king size enlargements made on baryta paper of some iconic pictures of the History of Photography can be seen, among them the famous one depicting Heavyweight World Champion of Boxing Muhammad Ali photograph made by Thomas Hoepker in 1966 in Chicago (United States), Men Looking at Women Inside the Ministry of Health in Río de Janeiro in 1960 by René Burri and the portrait of a girl wearing a green headscarf in Peshawar (Pakistan ) in 2002 made by Steve McCurry.
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Longitudinal diagonal view of the same right lateral side of the Leitz Park Main Building a few seconds before night. The magic of the place is enhanced to the utmost by the intense blue sky of Wetzlar, the fading textures of the concrete surfaces and the brightness of large glass panels and king size iconic images lit by LED lights.
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And the icing of the cake is the huge globe in the middle of the roundabout beside the right rounded tower of Leitz Park Main Building. It was a gift given to the city of Wetzlar by Dr. Andreas Kaufman and the Leitz Park Corporation to the city of Wetzlar.
In the background can be seen the Ernst Leitz Hotel, a new facility built to attend the hundreds of thousands of people who annually arrive in Wetzlar (Germany) to see Leica Camera A.G Headquarters.
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