Burkard Meyer Architekten: Suurstoffi 22 office block - best architects 20

Burkard Meyer Architekten

Suurstoffi 22 office block

best architects 20

office/administrative buildings

Place

Risch-Rotkreuz, Switzerland

Photos

Roger Frei

Description

The wooden high-rise forms the eastern conclusion of the Suurstoffi site and there takes on a volumetric hinge function which is expressed by two building sections of different height. In its entire structural composition, the building is designed to afford great flexibility. The ground floor has an open structure, which potentially offers several addresses for different users, and a larger continuous area that lends itself to public use. The building is however largely defined by the structural and functional logic of the regular storeys above it that can also be divided in a flexible way. The zoning of the space can, on the one hand, be achieved via the inner courtyard and the centre of the development. On the other hand, parts of the storeys can be developed independently of each other through additional segmentation. The building execution of the structure was carried out in a hybrid construction. A wooden skeleton structure was attached to the two cast-in-place concrete cores. Wood-concrete hybrid ceilings separate the different storeys and incorporate the technical installations. The integrally conception of the structure, as well as the touch and feel of the materials are especially important for the quality of the space. In contrast to its interior, where the interplay of wood and concrete define the character of the rooms, the exterior of the building is determined by the tectonically joined matte Alucobond cladding and its repetitively positioned abstract window openings.