SAP has 47 data centers in 12 countries. Walldorf is the second largest location in the world. HPE, as the general planner of SAP, commissioned Franken Architekten with architectural planning. The data center consists of a two-storey administrative wing with a nearly square floor plan and the adjoining data center modules, which are designed as a largely single-storey building with roof-mounted cladding clad in façade cladding.
Sited at the edge of the small town Merklingen (Weil der Stadt), the small single-family house, impresses with it’s pure form, smart typology and compact volume.
The monochrome and umbra-grey plastered building creates a smooth transition to the landscape. The slim, the outside opening and flush-mounted windows and doors enlarge the space to the inside and intensify the shape of the building. The reduction in detail serves consciously the aestheticisation of the building and the focus to the essential.
Franken Architekten developed the interior design for an innovative and modern fresh casual concept – a salad and pizzarestaurant with integrated wine bar in Hamburg. ROK is a new, creative salad and pizza experience, with the guest in the foreground. He can create dishes himself or be surprised by the newly interpreted salad and pizzas. Digital pre-ordering and an exciting and cozy interior design from the kitchen greenhouse to the ROK grandstand to various seating areas make the visit to Rock Our Kitchen an experience. The decor of the restaurant is full of thoughtful details; the kitchen area in the background is called “Glashouse”, the walldesign should remind to the shelves of a barn. The restaurant opened in the city center in 2017.
MVRDV´s “KoolKiel” Will Redevelop a City Block Using a Progressive Approach to Participation and Flexibility
MVRDV has been selected as the designer of a 65,000-square-metre mixed-use complex that will redevelop a post-industrial site in Kiel, Germany. The proposal, which includes a hotel, offices, residences, commercial space, and an event space, makes use of a flexible design system, rather than a fixed and unchangeable plan, allowing the design to adapt easily to the needs and desires of the community as the design development progresses.
GRAFT designed the new headquarters of the German lighting company TRILUX in Cologne. The design of the rectangular building is strongly inspired by the client’s craft: light, refraction and reflections are reflected – in the truest sense of the word – throughout the building and its design embodies the precision of lamp manufacture. The continuous, staggered glass façade presents a changing pattern of reflections from different viewpoints and draws inspiration from the aesthetics of spotlight reflectors, which optimize the optical distribution of the light source. To achieve this, each façade module is rotated at the same angle about its central axis. The overall impression is of a monolithic building that produces different light and depth effects depending on the point of view.
Wohnen ohne Auto (literally “Living without a car”) is a co-housing project, developed in a process of participatory design with a community of future residents. The project features a series of strategies which aim is to minimize the superfluous, to estabilish a collective attitude towards sharing and to facilitate in general a more sustainable behaviour.
The building is located in the former airport area of Munich-Riem and is part of the fourth and last construction phase of its reconversion. Its core point lies in the voluntary renouncement of car ownership by all the inhabitants, which is reflected in an environmentally sustainable planning approach.
More attractive for the staff was the goal of the project. The atmosphere of the former company cafeteria of the 1990s was anonymous and had a cool effect.
The new color concept in black and white, with color accents in different shades of green, provides a fresh and regenerating effect. An improved lighting and acoustic concept create a warm and pleasant indoor climate. The wood-clad gallery and staircase refer to the existing wooden doors and windows.
A family owned meadow in a little village in Bavaria is the inspiration for the design of this archetypal house. Surrounded by sheds and barns the house finds its place among a wildflower meadow.
Modern house – New building on a listed country estate
The house constructed by DIA – Dittel Architekten blends into the context of a historical country estate dating from the Middle Ages. The listed property is located in a rural setting in South Germany, which is characterized by natural areas and agricultural land.
Danish office ADEPT wins international museum competition in Berlin
For more than 20 years, the protected ‘Marinehaus,‘ originally a union club for naval officers, was left neglected in the central Berlin neighborhood, Mitte. Now the building, as a central part of the vision of the Berlin City Museum to establish a cultural cluster, is to be resurrected as a new museum typology. With a strong house-in-house concept, ADEPT wins the international competition ahead of 20 invited competitors.
The transformation of a 7.800 m2 protected building is part of the future strategy for Stadtmuseum Berlin, that includes a new type of museum – a creative and cultural pivot that anchors the museum in the everyday life of the neighborhood through exhibitions, workshops and as a community center for the locals.
ADEPT’s winning proposal shows how a simple house-in-house concept can create synergy between the new community functions and the historical frame, already integrated in the urban context. The existing floors are removed and replaced by a new interior wooden structure, allowing visual connections between floors and a warm inclusive identity to the project.