Monocle Design Award 2024: MÜHLE among the TOP 50 worldwide
New Hall 4 building receives award as "Best Manufacturing Hub"
Good design in a clear, creative language with a classic touch is part of MÜHLE's DNA. This claim is reflected in the high-quality, elegant products for wet shaving that are sent from the manufactory to the entire world. But that's not all. The quality that characterises MÜHLE begins where the razors, shaving brushes and accessories are made: in the factory itself. With the construction of an additional production hall, MÜHLE is setting standards for a modern working atmosphere. Since the inauguration of the new Hall 4 last year, MÜHLE has welcomed journalists from a wide range of architecture magazines and blogs. Now the renowned magazine Monocle has honoured the new building with the Monocle Design Award 2024 as "Best Manufacturing Hub".
Good design for a better quality of life
The award recognises MÜHLE's architectural masterpiece of a production hall along with other outstanding projects worldwide. Monocle magazine is one of the most renowned architecture and design formats in the world. The Monocle Design Award honours the annual international TOP 50 in areas ranging from architecture and furniture production to graphic design. All award winners set design standards that follow the premise: Good design improves the quality of life.
Modest, unobtrusive and yet particularly chic
Elegant designs made from traditional materials such as chrome-plated metal, anodised aluminium, wood and porcelain characterise MÜHLE products. Connoisseurs appreciate the contrast between simple elegance and attention to detail on which the designs are based. The new building within the architectural ensemble of the MÜHLE manufactory demonstrates that this combination harbours great potential for perfection and a strong identity. Unobtrusive yet special, the building blends into the existing structure. For reasons of sustainability, the building was largely realised in timber construction. As a result, employees and visitors are welcomed inside by the pleasant, warm scent of spruce wood - preferably from local forests.
On the outside, Hall 4 impresses with a gleaming glass front with anodised aluminium. It allows transparency and floods the rooms with sunlight. The result is an ideal fusion of simple elegance and cosy comfort. All of this convinced the Monocle jury, as did the CO2-neutral footprint of the building thanks to the geothermal heat pump powered by green electricity.
MÜHLE – from brand to complete identity
MÜHLE commissioned the Leipzig-based architecture studio ATELIER ST to realise the construction project and brought in top-class expertise in the form of the architect couple Sebastian Thaut and Silvia Schellenberg-Thaut. The two experts combined their actual focus on art and cultural buildings with the necessary sensitivity for the design of a modern, unusual production building. This also contains an office and a meeting room on the upper floor, where guests are received and new products are presented. The new building is an example of how a company's buildings represent a brand. For MÜHLE, this is an important element on the way to a consistent identity that is to run through all areas of the leading manufacturer for wet shaving products.
Architect Sebastian Taut in an interview with MDR Kultur
Listen to a radio programme (in German) by MDR Kultur Radio about unshaven architects, shaving culture from the Ore Mountains and what all this has to do with the multi-award-winning extension to our Hall 4.
Wolfgang Schilling from Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk in an interview with Sebastian Taut.
Photos: Award @monocle.com / Architektur @Simon Menges
Text: Sabine Schulze-Schwarz
A look behind the scenes of the manufactory
Visit us at our company headquarters in the Stützengrün district of Hundshübel.
Outstanding architecture and the love for craftsmanship come together at MÜHLE to create a very special experience. We are happy to share this with interested parties by offering a glimpse behind the scenes of the manufactory on various occasions. The next opportunity for this will be on the
Day of Architecture Saxony on 29 June 2024. You are welcome to register for the guided tour from 10:00 a.m. via our contact form.
Here are some more dates for visiting the manufactory to see the Hall 4 for yourself:
- Traditional Crafts Day on 20 October 2024
- Spätschicht (Late Shift) on 15 November 2024
- Guided tours for larger groups are available on request.