comN
ComN - The “Netzwerkhaus” addresses the industrial and manufacture atmosphere of the surroundings and offers authentic brickhouse architecture and an urban mix of uses. With special architectural features, a central meeting area and modern working environments, the building is designed to meet the requirements of New Work office spaces. comN - the network house - creates zones that react to collaboration and creativity becoming the decisive resources in the future markets. The brick exterior is adorned with windows of varying sizes which creates a dynamic gradient that runs diagonally across the façade. The double-height entrance hall is equipped with an amphitheater staircase. This public forum offers a public space for presentations, talks and events as well as a place to stay during lunch break. A projection screen can be lowered along the glass façade of the hall. A co-working cafe forms the heart of the building on the ground floor in combination with the lobby. The network house will be a sustainable building that complies with the EnEV 2016 Energy Saving Ordinance. The client and the architect place great value on using sustainable materials and minimizing the carbon footprint of these materials and other components. E-bikes and electric car charging stations are provided on the ground floor and in the garage. Sustainability starts with design. The house will provide a valuable contribution to the city district and be an open house, which aims to include the neighborhood and invites.
Tram Schwabinger Tor
„Schwabinger Tor“ is a newly built city district, acting as a center for its immidiate surroundings and as a prelude to central Munich. The Tram-station with its curving roofs acts as a point of identification and a powerful urban exclamation mark for the district, giving a unique character to the city square behind Andaz hotel. The newly built station is an entrance to the whole development. “Schwabinger Tor” also means “Door to Schwabing” in German. An arch hence is the motive for the design. An imaginary arch is spanning across the tram-rails through which the train is passing on its way. Off this arch, two Hyperboloid structures are constructed – one on each side of the rail tracks. Weather protection for the passengers is only one purpose. The station is a 3 dimensional sculpture. Depending on the viewpoint, new perspectives and images will appear: Sometimes the above mentioned arch will be visible, sometimes the image of two dancing dragons will appear. Also the pavement of the square is communicating with the roofs and together they form a dynamic piece of art! The structure is welded steel, covered by a single layer “wrinkle-free” ETFE foil.
Guido Al Duomo Wines
Guido al Duomo Wines Right in the center of Munich Guido al Duomo restaurant opened a wine shop to offer tastings for his international clients. The award-winning sommelier Julian wants to offer in this space premium wines. Centerpiece of the concept is a custom-made walk in chambrair Illuminated like a sculpture on a golden painted back wall like a canvas. A movable sea star shaped golden counter allows a flexible use of the space. Gun metal shelves with washed wooden boards are inbuilt along the walls with shaped plastered walls. An extra backstage area with facility rooms for tastings is hidden by a dark green curtain.
Helmholtz Diabetes Center München
The Helmholtz Diabetes Center in Munich is an innovative new building of the Helmholtz Zentrum München. Dedicated to diabetes research, this center marks an important milestone in the development of a Helmholtz Association campus in Munich, where leading scientists work to solve major problems facing society. Prominently located, the new building consists of two rectilinear forms that are connected by a central spine running east to west. Glazed walls usher in natural light, while vertical louvers help mitigate solar gain on the facades with increased sun exposure. Inside, the building has a clear and fluid layout. In the south wing, communication areas are situated along the main spine, with laboratories positioned near a spacious garden courtyard. In the north wing, the spine leads into large, versatile laboratories. The building also contains offices, meeting rooms, and “thinker cells.” All spaces are highly adaptable in order to accommodate new ways of working and the ever-evolving nature of medical research. The aim of the project was to bring diabetes research together in the new Helmholtz Diabetes Campus and to network it structurally in order to accelerate the translation of patient-relevant research results. Strategic Vision According to estimates by the World Health Organization (WHO), the number of people with diabetes has nearly quadrupled since 1980 from 108 million in 2016 to approximately 422 million worldwide. In Germany, just under seven million people were affected by this metabolic disorder in 2016. However, the trend continues to grow: every year, up to 500,000 people are diagnosed with diabetes mellitus for the first time. Because of these significant incidences, diabetes is one of the widespread, significant common diseases, which require a bundled research in addition to cancer, dementia, infections, diseases of the cardiovascular and lungs. The new building creates an excellent structural, conceptual and architectural framework for the systematic and translational research approach of the institute. Context As part oft he urban-planning concecpt the new HDC adjusts to its location within the campus and improves it by offering basic and clinical research through the close collaboration within the different HDC institutes, as well as the Technical University of Munich and the Ludwig-Maximillian University. The key position of the HDC creates the possibility for many flexible extensions in the future. Design Approach The design takes into account the different wishes and requirements of top researchers by providing the best possible infrastructure for research work as well as the interaction and communication between the scientists of the various institutes and research groups. The offices on all levels of the southern wing of the building are connected to the main spine. These open office landscapes with connected meeting and seminar rooms, thinker cells as well as multi-person and individual offices not only open up the implementation of new agile working methods to promote interdisciplinary collaboration, but also offer space for concentrated work in small groups or alone. Next to a conference room for up to 100 people, which adjoins the entrance atrium, there is a reception area and coworking spaces. Across all levels in the heart of the building along the main spine, an extraordinary communication landscape with a high quality of coworking is created, which is suitable for multifunctional uses, encounters and networking. On the third floor an inviting café with a view on the light flooded main spine is ajoined by a green roof garden. Purposeful Innovation The design of the laboratory landscape was designed with maximum flexibility in order to adapt the available space to innovation cycles, dynamically developing research and organisational units. All installations for laboratories are provided with a media ceiling, enabling rapid adaptation of the laboratory. This goes so far that the laboratory furniture can also be freed of its fixation and flexibly rearranged in the laboratory at any time. Sustainability The building‘s energy concept aims to enable flexible and efficient building operations while at the same time minimizing the use of resources. This is attained by optimizing the overall system originating from the shape of the building and the selection of the material through the organization of the ground plan. A part of the passive sustainability measures are the natural ventilation system and the natural insolation in the laboratories and the work spaces: The façade of the laboratory area is characterized by vertical sun protection elements that give the building a technical and playful diverse aura. The facade of the office area is designed as a double façade consisting of an external steel façade with single glazing and rhythmically arranged ventilation openings. The high windows ensure maximum utilization of daylight.
Villa B
Villa B combines the robustness of the classical townhouse with the elegance and openness of the modernist bungalow. A house that defines the essential qualities of living by fully embracing the characteristics and the spirit of the site, the excitement for the architectural expression of space and the devotion to tactility and celebration of natural material. Entering from the street, the plan of the house is ‘Loosian’ and classic in its layout: a large central entrance with a monumental, refined stairway that connects all levels of the house. On either side, in symmetrical fashion, secondary functions. Behind the entrance, the reception rooms. Towards the garden, the house starts to unfold in a more ‘Miesian’ logic. The plan fully opens up into a series of glazed rooms that stretch out asymmetrically into the garden. The space flows freely from one room to the other, without visual interruptions. The living room, with its elegant fireplace, breaks the symmetry of the entire building by protruding into the garden. This introduces a diagonal play of views that breaks with the more classical composition present in rest of the house. On the first floor, a long corridor stretches out along the street facade, giving access to the bedrooms. Services are located in the mid section of the building, forming a clear strip of elegant enclosed spaces while maximizing the garden views from each bedroom. As on the lower floor, the logic of a coherent sequence from darker to lighter spaces is enhanced through a spatial sequence which ends in the large balconies with a river view. The second floor houses the pool and gym and boasts spectacular views over the river and the adjacent park. Water reflections blend the colors of the marble slabs and create an abstract and intangible space, while large glazed surfaces emphasize the continuity between interior and exterior. In the basement, the garage is designed as a large room with unconventional materials for its purpose: wooded walls and a natural stone floor. The curvilinear walls of the space form an ‘unicum’ compared to the orthogonal severe shapes of the villa: a dynamic and impressive entrance room or ‘rotunda’ for motorized access. Towards the street, the house presents itself as a symmetrical, imposing and monumental volume, structured in vertical slabs of ‘livre ouvert’ natural stone with fine brass lining. This facade is entirely closed, except for the solid patinated brass entrance doors and four marble panels on the first floor. These panels are motorized and can be opened, unveiling a singular large window that provides daylight to the corridor on the first floor. Towards the top of the house and towards the corners, the volume gradually steps back, creating a staggering volumetric corner detail which recalls a pre-modern syntax. The solid exterior of the house gradually opens up toward the garden, as the wall mass gets more and more interrupted by glazed openings. The garden facade expresses itself as fully horizontal, with transparent surfaces and opaque bands soaring into large overhangs overlooking the garden. The palette of materials for the exterior is limited to brass, glass and bronze Amani - a brown Spanish marble with white veins. The detailing of the facade is kept extremely clear in its lines and expressions, removing any element that suggests mechanical or technical movement, such as hinges and sliders. The natural stone continues onto the ceilings of the roof overhangs that face the garden, and extend into the villa to strengthen the seamless transition between interior and exterior. The clarity and monumentality of the facade facing the street mean that the house doesn’t require a wall and gate for privacy. The house stands free and fully visible on the street while at the same time offering full privacy on the interior. The garden is designed as a lush, natural string of trees and bushes that create an array of natural green spaces around the house. An old Japanese Acer tree stands majestically and asymmetrically in front of the imposing marble facade and creates a beautiful play of shadows on the sheets of natural stone. At the back of the house, the crowns of a casual group of Pinus Silvestris’ create natural answer to the stark horizontal lines of the balconies projecting into the garden.
Academy of Fine Arts, Munich
The Academy of Fine Arts, Munich (German: Akademie der Bildenden Künste München, also known as Munich Academy) is one of the oldest and most significant art academies in Germany. It is located in the Maxvorstadt district of Munich, in Bavaria, Germany. In the second half of the 19th century, the academy became one of the most important institutions in Europe for training artists and attracted students from across Europe and the United States.
SAP Garden
SAP Garden is a new sports arena to be built on the site of the former Olympic cycling track stadium in Munich Olympic Park owned by Red Bull Stadion München GmbH. The asymmetrical shape and height of the arena are informed by the site’s characteristics, demonstrating respect towards the original vision of an organic architectural landscape. With its green roof and oval structure, SAP Garden naturally and respectfully melts into the landscape and create an organic shape in the landscape rather than a building. The training areas are partially underground and modeled to form a green hill, picking up the topography and enabling a coherent continuation of the pathways and landscape design of the Olympic Park. To improve the local sports infrastructure for schools, amateur clubs and young talents, three additional canopied ice rinks will be built next to the sports arena as training facilities and for recreational use. With match seating of up to 11,500 spectators, SAP Garden will be the future home of German ice hockey champions Munich Red Bulls and German basketball champions FC Bayern Munich. To improve the local sports infrastructure for schools, amateur clubs and young talents, three additional canopied ice rinks will be built next to the sports arena as training facilities and for recreational use. Located in Munich’s Olympic Park, a significant historical setting for modern architecture, the design required an approach based on both humility and audacity. The design team focused on acquiring a deep understanding of the original design and the mind-set behind it. The guiding design principle focuses on sport in the landscape, echoing the motto of the 1972 Olympics, “Olympic Games in the green” and the sense of boldness and optimism reflected on the original vision of Günter Behnisch and Frei Otto. Extending the original purpose of the Olympic Park the project adds new contemporary indoor and outdoor sports facilities for the visitors of the park. With a simple expression and a strong identity, which gets fully integrated within the historical setting, the sports arena will become a distinctive new landmark in Olympic Park, capable of welcoming a wide range of events, embracing their own distinctive visual identities and spatial needs. The success of an arena lies in its capability to create a great atmosphere and a memorable experience for all audiences. SAP Garden is designed to provide the most intense visual experience for all spectators. Robust design solutions allow the venue to transform from an ice hockey rink to a basketball court. With a simple expression and a strong identity, which gets fully integrated within the historical setting, the sports arena will become a distinctive new landmark in Olympic Park, capable of welcoming a wide range of events, embracing their own distinctive visual identities and spatial needs.
Am Oberwiesenfeld, Munich
By 2027, a new city district for more than 1,000 residents will be built north of Olympic Park on a currently unused, former industrial site, previously occupied by Knorr-Bremse AG. Now, a lively mixture of apartments, shops, and restaurants, two day-care centres, a nursing home, as well as office space is to be arranged around a spacious communal garden. Munich’s population is increasing, but its growing needs must be met while while conserving natural resources. Our response as architects should be to develop sustainable concepts for these large, dense, liveable cities. We look forward to planning a vibrant quarter in Munich – a piece of the city for everyone, which meets the highest ecological standards and integrates various forms of greenery, from green roofs and terraces to a large community garden. The design sets “new standards in architectural and urban development”, according to Prof. Dr. Elisabeth Merk, Planning Commissioner of the City of Munich. The former industrial site, long closed, will now be opened up, and the urban space of the Olympic Park will be expanded to the north according to a new concept. The project upholds high sustainability standards, which reflect the goal of the City of Munich to be carbon neutral by 2030. The consumption of energy and natural resources will be considered over the buildings’ entire life cycle and minimized as far as possible. Already during the construction phase, the use of recycled concrete, among other things, will reduce carbon emissions by up to 25 percent. Photovoltaics installed on the roofs and parts of the facades, combined with smart use of district heating, will enable the creation of a climate-neutral, energy-efficient neighbourhood. Taking a cradle-to-cradle design approach will ensure that building materials will go on to have a second life. The sophisticated green concept includes green roofs, planted curved balconies, and a large communal garden accessible to all residents of the new quarter. Giving back as much green as possible to the city, which improves the urban microclimate and counteracts the urban heat island effect in city centres, is a key priority.
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Open in Atlas MapFrequently Asked Questions
How long does the Munich architecture walking tour take?+
The self-guided walking tour covers approximately 6.7 km with 5 stops. Allow approximately 3 hours including 20 minutes of viewing time per building.
Is the Munich architecture tour free?+
Yes, this is a completely free self-guided walking tour. You can view the route on the interactive map, export it to Google Maps for navigation, and explore at your own pace.
Do I need to book the Munich architecture tour in advance?+
No booking is required — this is a self-guided tour that you can start at any time. All buildings can be viewed from the outside. For guided tours with expert commentary, we recommend checking GetYourGuide for local architecture tours.
What is the best time to do the Munich architecture walking tour?+
Morning light (before 11am) is ideal for photography of building facades. Weekdays tend to be less crowded around commercial buildings. Allow a full morning or afternoon for the complete tour.