Town Pharmacy Achern
Town Pharmacy in Achern was our very first pharmacy project.
It was here, in 1985, that the ideas which still define our work today first took shape.
Dietmar Frensemeyer had actually wanted to become an architect. Instead, he became a pharmacist—one who took space, workflow and atmosphere unusually seriously. He never wanted his pharmacy to become a marketing platform for the pharmaceutical industry. No display stands. No coin trays. No decorative clutter.
“I never treated my customers as if they were standing at a pinball machine.”
At the same time, he always looked ahead. As early as 1976 he invested in his first computer. In 1985 he invested 500,000 Deutsche Mark and commissioned the young Klaus Richard Bürger to completely redesign Town Pharmacy.
Frensemeyer’s vision was clear: a pharmacy expressing pharmaceutical and academic expertise, providing lasting answers to everyday customer interactions, offering employees a transparent, pleasant and perfectly organised workplace, while remaining unique, unmistakable, timeless and impossible to imitate.
The result broke with many conventions of pharmacy design at the time. The compounding laboratory became a visible focal point. Two rows of medication drawer columns stood freely back-to-back in the room. Work processes were no longer hidden but could even be observed from the shop window. The dispensary appeared more spacious and open. Separation gave way to transparency and connection.
The medicine display deliberately played only a secondary role. That encouraged communication. Instead of simply reaching for products, customers entered into conversation. Transparent workflows created trust. Professional advice was not merely promised—it was supported by the architecture itself.
The pharmacy was also technically ahead of its time. It was among the first retail environments to use halogen lighting throughout. The minimalist designer cash register system created by Klaus Bürger disappeared almost completely into the prescription counter with an installation depth of only nine centimetres. Customers paid exactly where they received advice. There was no central checkout, no interruption of consultations and no bottlenecks in daily operation.
People genuinely travelled to Achern to see this remarkable new pharmacy. Dietmar Frensemeyer proudly stood outside the shop window and declared:
“More thought went into a single joint here than usually goes into an entire pharmacy.”
It is a bold statement.
The pharmacy still lives up to it.
Almost four decades later, the project is more than an early milestone—it is proof of the durability of the concept. Successor Axel Fels was able to retain almost the entire interior. The compounding laboratory was adapted to new regulations, the original low-voltage lighting upgraded to LED technology, while the robust, high-quality construction remained in daily use.
Town Pharmacy did not establish a style that could simply be copied.
It established a way of working: understanding pharmacies not as retail spaces, but as places of professional expertise, communication and identity.
That is what still makes Achern special today.
Not because it was our first pharmacy.
But because everything that followed was already present here in its essential form.
Further Information
Further pharmacy design projects, detailed photographs and references can be found on our Pinterest board:
Project Details
- Project: Town Pharmacy Achern
- Address: Hauptstraße 1, 77855 Achern, Germany
- Design: Klaus Bürger Architektur
- Renovation: 1985
- Visible floor area: approx. 178 m² including dispensary, storage and work areas
- Special features: First pharmacy designed by Klaus Bürger Architektur · Open central compounding laboratory · Transparent workflows · Two freestanding rows of medication drawer columns · Deliberately reduced medicine display to encourage communication · Minimalist designer cash register integrated into the prescription counter · Interior largely retained and successfully adapted after almost four decades
For almost forty years, the pharmacy sector has regularly been told that it must reinvent itself. In the end, one thing above all has endured: the relationship of trust between pharmacist and customer – and the strength to draw the courage for individuality from professional expertise and personal conviction. Perhaps that is precisely why Dietmar Frensemeyer’s vision from 1985 feels more relevant today than ever.
Should you wish to turn established ideas on their head with us, we would be delighted to hear from you.
Phone: 02151 736005
Email: k.buerger@k-buerger.de