Riehle+Assoziierte

Description

The new headquarters for AEB – a Stuttgart-based, global software company – is situated outside Stuttgart and accommodates 400 new workplaces that enjoy versatile and complementary indoor and outdoor facilities. Focusing on a single, clear volume within a highly heterogeneous urban context, the primary aim of the project was to create a solitary building with a distinctive identity on the converted site known as the Hansa-Areal.

The new AEB headquarters is conceived as a highly flexible composition of diverse working environments, with multifunctional open spaces and cellular retreat spaces grouped around a carefully proportioned central atrium that features shared open balconies to provide good daylight conditions on each floor. The language of the building is derived from the company’s philosophy and ethos of openness and transparency. On the outside, the façade is articulated by elegant stacked aluminium frames of full-height glass panes. On the inside, predominantly glazed, frameless partitions allow views through the entire building and therefore visually connect open areas, the central atrium and the outside environment. The materialisation of the spaces is based on the idea of architecture as backdrop, as a canvas for people and activities within the building. A reduced material palette for the building structure and the fit-out leaves flexibility for the specific occupation of the neutral office areas and supports their adaptability over time. The architecture itself appears timeless.