Schüco One head office in Bielefeld
Bielefeld, Germany / 01.2019 - 08.2020
The company’s Gütersloh branch completed the structural work for a seven-storey, approx. 30m-high extension building with a gross floor area of 7,200m2 on the grounds of the Schüco head office in Bielefeld. The fully recyclable building is unique worldwide for its triple certification according to the standards of LEED, BREEAM and the German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB). This identifies the project as the most sustainable office building in Europe, and sets a new benchmark for the design of energy-efficient, communicative and conveniently laid out workspaces.
The new construction features space for 225 workstations in addition to numerous cooperative working areas and conference rooms. A five-storey glassed-in bridge connects the extension to the existing main building. Carefully coordinated building heights and alignments match the new building to the old, creating a harmonious head office complex: Schüco One.
Architecture for the new world of work
Schüco is a market leader in innovative façade systems, windows and doors. More than 50 of their product systems are Cradle to Cradle Certified® and exemplify the concept that environmentally compatible materials can be endlessly circulated through the technical cycle – from cradle to cradle. It’s no surprise, therefore, that the company made the C2C principle a priority in the design of their new innovation and development centre at the Schüco Campus. Copenhagen-based architecture studio 3XN designed a sustainable building
Facts & Figures
Company
PORR Hochbau West GmbH
Type
Office buildings
Runtime
01.2019 - 08.2020
Triple sustainability certification
that stands as a symbol of the process of transformation at Schüco. A central atrium connects all seven storeys, which are organically laid out on top of one another to create an impression of smoothly flowing movement. Switchable glass panels in the glass ceiling admit bright natural light and block glare. The design does away with traditional corridors, instead featuring flexible-use rooms suitable for conversation and discussion surrounding the atrium.
Structural exposed concrete underpins an organic design
Schüco façade elements were designed and manufactured especially for this project. These elements are shuttered on the south side and transparent on the north. This prevents the building from heating up, while simultaneously making optimum use of solar benefits and supplying the interior with ample natural light. Glass and exposed concrete are the central design elements of the building, with the latter featured in columns, walls and ceilings. The architect and the client established high aesthetic standards for a homogeneously textured concrete surface, which presented a particular challenge in terms of the structural work for the building. Oevermann building construction experts created precision-fit board structure cladding elements that enabled the load-bearing building core to be concreted in a single, seamless work process. The exposed concrete columns slope at an angle of 70 degrees, and the exposed concrete ceilings were manufactured precisely according to the formwork design specified by the architect.
What ultimately counts in the construction business is successfully completed projects. PORR has many of these.
