EXTENSIVE RENOVATION MEASURES
A stairway leads down to a vaulted cellar, as it is quite typical of
massive buildings in the town centre of Göttingen. Since 1974, it
had no longer been used as potato storage cellar; it then became
a jazz club, and later in the 1990s a disco bar.
In the course of the renovation measures for the restaurant
Augusta, it turned out that the cellar ceilings of the building
erected in 1825 were too low for the planned utilization.
That is why the pillars and exterior walls were re-founded
and underpinned (1.5 metres) according to the plans of the
engineering office Gockel, Baunatal. The insulation as well as the
technical installations such as ventilation, electricity and water
were arranged below ground, so that the room height could be
increased by a total of 40 centimetres. Within the seven-month
construction period, the cellar received a second entrance in
addition.
FUNCTIONAL AESTHETICS
The decisions concerning the interior were made by the tenant
Daniel Raub himself. “As regards the floor covering, for example,
it was important to me that all individual areas convey the
impression of a unified whole“, the star-rated gourmet chef
says. That is why it became apparent during the talks with the
architect Tanja Gockel that ceramic tiles are the best solution.
With this ecologically and economically advantageous material
it is possible to design the diverse zones as a visual ensemble
despite their different utilization requirements. An example for
this is the counter area, which directly adjoins the dining area
but requires a quite different slip resistance. “Because there,
liquids and other slippery media can get on the floor“, Gockel
explains. At the same time, a solution had to be found which,
on the one hand, harmonizes with the look and haptics of the
historic masonry but, on the other hand, also is robust and hard-
wearing. One decided in favour of porcelain stoneware tiles of the
series Valley of Agrob Buchtal. A harmonious visual impression is
created not only by the authentic surface look with fine-grained
structures or the chosen colour earth-brown, but also by natural
raw materials such as coloured clay minerals and earths, which
are used in the case of Valley. In addition, the series comprises
a wide range of formats and slip-resistance categories, so that
the request for the format of 75 x 75 centimetres in the rarely
offered slip-resistance category R11/B for the counter area
could be satisfied without impairing the visual consistency. In
the dining area, on the other hand, the chosen large format with
slip resistance R10/A perfectly corresponds with the cross and
barrel vaults as well as the rubble wall.
TILES WITH IN-PLANT SURFACE UPGRADING
Unglazed floor tiles like those used here are hard-wearing
and stress-resistant by nature. These advantages are further
improved by the “Protecta“ upgrading already applied in the
factory. During the firing process, the coating is ceramically
bonded to the biscuit and closes the existing “micropores“
quite typical of unglazed ceramics. In this way, the penetration
of substances forming stains is effectively prevented, and a
laborious subsequent impregnation is no longer required. This is
also confirmed by Raub, who previously had subjected different
floor coverings to a practical test: “I spilled wine or other liquids
on them, and the tile was the only material with which I had
no problem afterwards. That convinced me, because thanks to
this quality it offers me aesthetics and functionality at the same
time.“