Modern castle or monolithic imitator? The Munich building that's dividing design critics

British architect David Chipperfield is well known for designing and restoring famous museums and libraries all over the world. His respect for historic buildings and sensitive touch with new projects have won him high praise.

Yet, his latest project – a residential building in Munich – has divided critics and peers. Some see the five-storey apartment project as a clever blend of old and new – a type of modern-day castle. For others, it’s a monolithic imitation of the neoclassical buildings it neighbours.

The luxury apartment development, on the upmarket Kolbergerstrasse near the edge of Herzog Park, aims to be a reinterpretation of the Munich stadtpalais, which translates as “city palace”. German developers Euroboden say Chipperfield’s design pays homage to the local 19th century architecture “without the cloying historicism”.

Architect Warwick Mihaly says there are plenty of good examples of contemporary castles, even in Australia, but Chipperfield’s isn’t one of them.

“It’s almost just like trying to copycat the general shape – the pitched roof, the window patterns on the front facade, that’s the kind of aesthetic that he’s going for,” Mihaly says.

“But, does that really connect to heritage or history? Does it really interrogate what the traditional building typology was like? Is it really a contemporary version of a stadtpalais? I think the answer is: Not really.”

Architects have long wrestled with client demands to incorporate styles of bygone-period buildings. Mihaly, of Melbourne-based architecture firm Mihaly Slocombe, says the answer is to innovate.

“Our position always is that we want to learn from the historic style, but never reproduce it,” he says.

“We want to build off our own age and our own era, and we also feel like mimicking a past style devalues [that] style. It becomes really difficult for a future owner or architect, or just general community [member] to understand where the true heritage fabric stops, and the copy begins.”

Mihaly says elements of castle architecture can be found everywhere in modern-day buildings. He points to the green hill at Parliament House as a type of moat and the drawbridge at the front of a South Melbourne house designed by Melbourne architect Amy Muir.

“I think as a typology, it’s surviving in some of the design moods that are still being met by architects today,” Mihaly says.

“You would think, surely no one is [designing] buildings with arrow slits anymore. But the idea of a thin deep reveal and a narrow window still exists all over the place.

“I think it’s beautiful that every historic style that has preceded us contributes to our contemporary language of building elements.”

The interiors of the Munich apartments is where Chipperfield’s design shines. Minimalist stylings include rich detail in the two-storey entrance hall, which has panels of natural stone and oak cladding. Each apartment has a fireplace and loggia, or outdoor room, with views over the park. They will have 2800 square metres of living space.

The project includes a two-storey penthouse, and two three-storey and several one-storey apartments. Prices start at $6.34 million.

In a video on the Euroboden website, Chipperfield says: “I think the question for our time increasingly is what is luxury, and what does it look like? Such architecture has to be normal and special in a good way. At the same time, we should have high ambitions for normal.

“So, in a project like this we want to give generosity throughout the whole house, so therefore I think there’s nothing wrong with giving everybody privilege inside. At the same time, the house has to somehow present itself with some respect to the overall civic idea of the city.”

The development is scheduled for completion in 2020.