Najjar & Najjar: Semperit F&E Zentrum - best architects 07

Najjar & Najjar

Semperit F&E Zentrum

best architects 07

commercial/industrial buildings

Photos

Manfred Seidl

Description

The internationally successful hightech company Semperit held a competition in 1999 for the design of a new research and development centre. Najjar & Najjar’s proposal for a metallic, shimmering building entiled “Tube” was chosen to represent the company’s innovative profile. The curved shape might be read as referring to the company’s speciality, the forming of plastic and rubber. The laboratories on the ground floor are entirely glazed, and a sky-lit tube sits on top of them. In the centre is a hall poviding access to all areas. A slanted cut-off end functions as a glazed opening towards the busy road. The refined aluminium surface of the technoid-dynamic volume adequately suggests high production standarts. In its perfectly slick appearance it seams to imitate the bodywork of a sports car. Owing to this immaculate facade, and the consequent high-quality realization from beginning to end, the project was awarded the Austrian Aluminium Award in 2002, and constitutes an interesting work for such a young team.