AllesWirdGut

In the City, For the City

The design of the new Technical Administration Building of the municipality of Düsseldorf rests on the foundation of a permeable plinth and articulates the large built volume required in the competition brief as a slender tower of four interlocked tall blocks.

The green plinth is understood as a continuum of directional-space between Moskauer Strasse und IHZ Park whose open design establishes an intuitive connection between the two grade-line levels. A cleft in this building part—kept deliberately low in relation to the surrounding houses—marks the park-side main entrance. Intensive planting on the facades and the plinth-area rooftops invites passing through, and lingering in, the little urban oasis.

Situated above the plinth is a conference center, the technical departments, and a traffic-guidance and tunnel-control center (with separate access). Offering catering and recreational facilities, the floors above that—accommodating a cafeteria with a large terrace and a work-life balance level—connect the public zones with the office floors. These are each structured into two flexibly usable office units revolving around three-story winter gardens and meeting rooms.

The building’s climate and energy concept provides for utilizing local potentials from renewable sources through photovoltaic systems, rainwater harvesting, concrete-core activation, geothermal energy as well as supplementary local heating and cooling. Also in line with the desired positive eco-balance of the building is the timber-concrete composite construction of all floors of the tower. With a high degree of prefabrication and short transport routes, the hybrid construction of the ceilings also makes for a resource-efficient solution. The individually developed zigzagged facade with photovoltaic and decentralized ventilation elements combines passive shading in summer with solar energy-production in winter.

The greening concept for the Technical Administration Building provides for climate-resilient and wind-resistant tree species as intensely colorful grasses and densely growing climbing plants, interweaving the building with its surroundings, from the courtyard to the roof terrace. All through the ground-floor zone, open-air space unfolds from Moskauer Strasse to the park, opening into a generous public square with amenity areas, trick fountains, and loosely planted groups of trees.