Profilierte weiße Aluminiumfassade des

The Iceberg

A new building for the Fraunhofer SIT

German Design Award 2022
AIT Office Application Award 2018

People from Darmstadt are calling the new building for the Fraunhofer SIT “Iceberg”. Do the citizens of this scholarly city see the unsinkable Titanic coming? Do they discern the underground levels? Does the façade remind them of calving glaciers?

We don’t know. But the goal of “accentuation instead of exchangeability” seems to have been reached if the building is already now anchored in the public’s perception. An accent is attained first and foremost through the form of the façade, which contains curtain-like elements in different depths. Ice-white, the relief-like building-shell wraps around the six floors. The projecting and recessed structure with its ensuing shadows form a three dimensional analog to the authentification codes, one of the many areas of operation of the Fraunhofer Institute for Safe Information Technology.

Hof zwischen Alt- und Neubau des Fraunhofer Institut für sichere Informationstechnologie SIT in Darmstadt.
Glasgang zwischen Alt- und Neubau des Fraunhofer Institut für sichere Informationstechnologie SIT in Darmstadt.

“accentuation instead of exchangeability”

Darmstadt’s SIT is based in Germany’s first large computer centre, a building from the early 1960s, and was in urgent need of an extension. Sehw Architektur planned a new building that extends the base of the existing building and thus merges the old and new buildings into a single unit. The single-storey base building acts as an entrance and shop window. Above the plinth rises an additional block, which with its striking white façade sets a strong accent that can be recognised from afar.

This is where the actual research work takes place, introverted in the office space, in well-distributed meeting facilities and informally in open communication zones, which also connect the departments across the floors. The computer labs and office working environments are located in the block, which appears to float thanks to a recessed storey, together with informal communication areas.

des Fraunhofer Institut für sichere Informationstechnologie SIT in Darmstadt.
Eingangsbereich mit Empfang des Fraunhofer Institut für sichere Informationstechnologie SIT in Darmstadt. offene Kommunikationszone im
Erdgeschossgrundriss des Fraunhofer Institut für sichere Informationstechnologie SIT in Darmstadt.
Lageplan des Fraunhofer Institut für sichere Informationstechnologie SIT in Darmstadt.
Obergeschossgrundriss des Fraunhofer Institut für sichere Informationstechnologie SIT in Darmstadt.

  • Project type

    New construction

  • Purpose

    Research

  • GFA

    8,100 m²

  • Project status

    Completed

  • Period

    2010 – 2014

  • Procurement

    Public tendering process

  • Awards

    Contract awarded
    German Design Award
    AIT OA Award 2018

  • Construction cost

    21,700,000 €

  • Service phases

    2 – 8 (HOAI)

  • Project team

    Hendrik Rieger
    Martin Krüger
    Kathi Weber
    Ismael Keita
    Meredith Atkinson
    Bettina Fauth
    Wolf Ludwig