Weitblick, Innovation Campus

Extending along the site boundaries, the building’s cubature conveys strength and solidity. At the same time, the powerful volume appears light and airy owing to the horizontal slats on the façade. Being visually detached from the ground, the building opens up its inner courtyard to the quarter, making it a local square, a place for collaboration, which interweaves the building with the urban fabric. Further openings allow people to pass through the complex and promote interaction with other institutions in the newly emerging quarter.

The building’s unique characteristic stems from its holistic approach to innovation. This approach achieves a synthesis of a vigorous form that conveys the user dynamics to the outside world, a high level of sustainability through a socio-cultural mix of uses and the building’s LEED Platinum certification along with a high feel-good factor of the working environments with varying characteristics, a tenant app providing access to all of the building’s smart features, and an air concept that has an invigorating effect thanks to subtle scenting, while at the same time filtering germs and viruses and therefore promoting the health of the employees.

Sustainable materials were used to minimise the CO₂ footprint and the embodied energy balance. The concept is rounded off by rainwater harvesting and the implementation of an innovative solar power storage concept using photovoltaics on the rooftop.

Building services are responsible for a large proportion of global greenhouse gas emissions, which is why the planned building is being designed as a nearly-zero carbon concept. LEED Platinum certification sets a high standard. The design follows the low-tech principle, according to which as few building services components as possible are installed.

The design as a reinforced concrete skeleton structure with a support grid and solid staircase and ancillary room cores as bracing is economical and allows for the greatest possible flexibility and long-term changeability regarding use. Interior walls were built in lightweight construction or installed by the tenants themselves. Surface materials were chosen so that they radiate value and create an appealing ambience, but are also durable and low-maintenance.

Work is versatile, requires variable framework conditions, does not only take place at a desk and may also be fun! A variety of uses come together in the building, forming a unit or rather a vibrant coexistence. Anything goes: units can be rented from the smallest of spaces, but can also be combined horizontally or vertically to create areas of up to 3,000 m². There is maximum flexibility within each unit: the space is free of load-bearing transverse walls, and ancillary rooms are positioned at the staircases. Possible layouts range from individual offices to combi-offices with a central zone, to open-plan offices or state-of-the-art office landscapes with very different working atmospheres. Additional communication zones at the staircases offer meeting areas for colleagues or a place of retreat for confidential conversations. Creativity needs exchange! All rental spaces in the overall ensemble are complemented by the rooftop conference area and, on the ground floor, by catering facilities, local suppliers and a day-care centre for children. The mix of uses creates a high added value for the users of the building and the surrounding neighbourhood.