Master's Thesis AR · Summer Semester 2025 · Philipp Dopfer

The inner-city retail sector is undergoing profound structural change. The continued growth of online shopping has led to significant losses for traditional department stores, causing central shopping districts to lose both function and footfall. At the same time, this transformation creates an opportunity to rethink monofunctional retail buildings and convert them into mixed-use urban structures that are fit for the future. Such transformations offer the potential to create new spaces for housing, education, culture, production, and community life while strengthening social interaction and urban vitality.

The Galeria Kaufhof department store at Rotkreuzplatz in Munich exemplifies this development. Owing to its size, central location, and structural framework, the building offers excellent conditions for sustainable adaptive reuse. The thesis developed a transformation strategy based on a clearly structured mix of public uses and housing.

On the ground floor, small-scale retail units and commercial spaces remain to provide everyday services for the neighbourhood. Facing Rotkreuzplatz, a flexible covered urban space accommodates cultural, craft-based, and productive activities. Generous floor openings create spatial connections between the ground floor and the basement, activating additional areas for public programmes. Skylights improve daylight conditions within the deep floor plates of the existing building.

On the first floor, an open-plan library forms the project's central meeting place, complemented by studios and shared community spaces. The upper floors accommodate 118 residential units for approximately 330 residents. The housing mix includes compact apartments, family housing, and cluster apartments, responding to a wide range of living arrangements. Shared amenities such as the courtyard, rooftop terrace, and Salle Commune encourage social interaction among residents. An intensively landscaped elevated courtyard improves the local microclimate while creating a strong connection between interior and exterior spaces.

The thesis reimagines the former department store as an Urban Condenser - a multifunctional social infrastructure that brings together diverse urban activities. Through a carefully balanced mix of uses and a high degree of social density, the project demonstrates how large-scale retail buildings can contribute to the revitalisation of Munich's city centre.