EDGE Suedkreuz Berlin

EDGE Suedkreuz Berlin is a seven-storey office complex consisting of two buildings with a total floor area of 32,000 sqm. The complex has been built using sustainable, climate- and resource-saving, and modular hybrid-timber construction techniques. The larger of the two freestanding buildings contains approximately 20,000 sqm of floor space. This makes it the largest freestanding hybrid-timber building in Germany and one of the largest in Europe. The smaller of the two buildings (the ‘Solitaire’) is an elongated freestanding building which continues the line of the façade of the larger office building. The latter is a quadrangle-type structure (the ‘Carré) with an irregular trapezoidal footprint. In the direction of Südkreuz Station, they create a new urban plaza with green spaces. The heart of the Carré building is a spacious, light-filled atrium. A two-storey entrance lobby with a clear height of seven metres facing the plaza in front of the building opens up the massive, strictly gridded volume. The 26-metre-high atrium is covered by a transparent ETFE foil roof carried by a wooden-truss construction. A central highlight is the four treelike shapes of different heights which grow skywards under the foil roof as if in a greenhouse. The structures are linked by filigree steps with white railings, which lead via platforms to the adjacent floors of offices. The fifth floor has a sky lounge with panoramic windows and a spacious external terrace. In every part of the building – from the supports, beams, windows, and doors to the claddings and railings – wood is visible in all the interior areas, adding an enriching liveliness to the complex’s clear architecture and bringing nature into the individual spaces. The Solitaire building has a two-storey entrance lobby with a clear height of seven metres. The building is entered from the new urban plaza. The landscaped outside space of the lounge on the building’s roof has a garden-like quality. Both the Carré and the Solitaire building have a flexible modular ground plan on all levels. This can be adapted to individual requirements in the event of repurposing, enabling the creation of modern, multifunctional work worlds. The rhythmic façades have a regular grid consisting of sustainable and weather-resistant glass-fibre concrete panels in a restrained colour scheme. The glass bays with fixed glazing and MicroShade solar protection additionally accentuate the façades; these are one-storey in the case of the Solitaire building and two-storey in the case of the Carré. The intelligent combination of wood and concrete in this hybrid construction method saved up to 80% of CO2 per square metre of floor area. Low construction weight, short shell construction times, high reliability in planning and costs, and long durability are other advantages of this construction method. The construction materials used in EDGE Suedkreuz are extensively recyclable using the principle of cradle-to-cradle recycling. Supported by the timber hybrid construction method, the project receives a DGNB Platinum certificate as well as Germany's first WELL Core & Shell Gold certificate.