Wooden Offices

Wooden Offices, Berlin New construction of two office buildings Hildegard-Knef-Platz 2 und 3, 10829 Berlin Architect: Sergei Tchoban, Tchoban Voss Architekten Project partner: Stephan Lohre, Karsten Waldschmidt Team: Achim Linde, Soeren van Ost, Giorgia Fontana, Fabio Prada, Carolin Trahorsch, Manuela Peth, Birgit Köder, Fabiana Pedretti, Julia Angelstorf Until today the urban quality of an important transportation hub in the south of Berlin does not meet the requirements of a modern and comfortable city. The combination of an industrial area and a nearby residential zone is determined by a motorway junction and railway lines. The new green, open and at the same time significant office building ensemble will fit in well with the urban surrounding and give structure to this yet confusing area. The two seven floor volumes build a flank towards the road while creating a public square towards the railway station. Clearly shaped the buildings simplify the orientation. With its irregular quadratic floor plan and a generous atrium the bigger block forms a building line following the smaller solitaire. Absorbing the metropolitan spirit of the place the buildings represent it by their material, form and interior design. The façades appear as a regular grid made of fibre concrete with horizontal lines and coloured vertical panels. Pilasters of fibre concrete visually support the basement of the two buildings. Similar at first glance, both structures will have their particular identity with different colours and textures. Similar to a clearing the spacious atrium offers differently arranged green zones inside the strict construction greed contributing a lot to the work-life balance. The entrance area with 7.4 metres high ceilings welcomes the visitors and leads them immediately into the open space flooded with light. Under a transparent foil roof which is laying on a wooden truss construction the visitors and employees will find impressive tree-like constructions of different height. Filigree stairs lead up to the top of those trees. From here one can reach any particular office section. As green recreation and communication zones the trees bring a vivid element into the office building. The smaller solitaire also works with two glazed openings set irregularly into the façade structure. Both buildings have flexible modular floor plans, so reusing them could be most uncomplicated. With the envisaged wood-concrete-construction which ensures an enormous reduction of weight a platinum DGNB certificate is aspired.