Modular Research Building=Flexibility

Henning Larsen Architects has won the competition for a new research building for the Center for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research in Stuttgart. The Center is one of Germany’s leading research institutions and conducts research on renewable energy.

The new research building in Stuttgart is designed as a grid of small units to meet the requirement for a highly flexible workplace that serves as a dynamic framework for the ongoing research and innovation activities of the center.

“The grid structure of the research center ensures a high degree of mobility and freedom to change and expand the building”, explains Design Director Louis Becker, Henning Larsen Architects. “The building has a rational design and is organized in modules. This creates visual contact across the atrium and green oasis, which the researchers can use for work or informal meetings.”

Carefully integrated into the surrounding context, the building features various heights that relate to the city and adjacent buildings. The building will create a new, distinctive entrance to Stuttgarter Engineering Park and provide an insight into the ongoing research.

”We look very much forward to the collaboration. The researchers of the center hold a world-leading position in their field, sustainable technology and energy forms. The research has been integrated into the facade design”, says Werner Frosch, General Manager of Henning Larsen Architects Munich.

In Munich, Henning Larsen Architects also works on the design of Siemens’ new global headquarters that has a central location in Munich. Both buildings are good examples of how architecture creates added value by providing the employees with a bright, flexible workplace. Another common feature of the two projects is their way of giving something back to the city and surrounding space.

The Center for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research covers 13,000 square meters and is expected to be completed in 2016.

Since opening an office in Munich in 2011, Henning Larsen Architects has gained a strong foothold in the German market. Today, the Munich office employs 25 people.

Source: Henning Larsen Architects

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