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Federal Environmental Agency

Dessau, Germany
Sauerbruch Hutton

Sauerbruch Hutton Architects brings pizzazz to sustainability in the federal Environmental Agency


Photo © Annette Kisling
   

By Suzanne Stephens

One of the most “iconic” buildings erected in Europe in the past few years does not arrest your attention as a monumental architectural and engineering extravaganza. While its sinuous, polychromatic features unfold intriguingly before you, its entire gestalt can be taken in only by viewing it from the air. The symbolic impact of the Federal Environmental Agency (Umweltbundesamt/UBA) building, in Dessau, Germany, owes more to its achievement in energy-conscious measures than as a quickly grasped image. Designed by the Berlin-based Sauerbruch Hutton Architects, a firm known for its sustainable buildings rendered with unusual verve, such as the GSW Headquarters in Berlin [record, June, 2000, page 156], the amoeboid concrete structure, clad in colored glass panels and wood, represents an imaginative combination of energy-saving design and technology.

Ironically, the Federal Environmental Agency decided to build its new home in Dessau, where Walter Gropius designed the legendary Bauhaus in 1925–26, after he had moved the school from its original home in Weimar. Although the Bauhaus served excellently as an International Style icon of functional design and technology in its day, it was hardly energy-conscious: All you had to do was look at its prominent glass facade facing west to get the picture. But that was then. In planning the new 400,000 square-foot headquarters for 800 employees, the agency decided this would not only be a demonstration project for energy-conscious practices, but also a learning center. Hence, it includes a library––the largest public one in Europe devoted to energy-conscious topics––plus an auditorium, exhibition area, information center, and café. The agency called for 20 percent of the energy to come from renewable sources, and required that heating consumption be 40 percent less than Germany’s energy standards currently in effect.

Although the agency had been based in Berlin, the government wanted to help revitalize Dessau, a former industrial center.

Traces of the industrial past remain: A former factory building (Building 109) and the mansard-roofed old Wörlitzer Bahnhof, once a station for a rail line, as well as unused tracks along the west, give the 7-acre site a picturesquely gritty aspect. However, to the north lies green open space now connected to a linear park within the complex where the tracks are being landscaped. To the east stretches a tidy cluster of 19th-century houses, and to the south, a mix of 20th-century apartment blocks and commercial buildings.

In keeping with the program, the architects are recycling the Wörlitzer station for an information center, while the old factory building, notable for its Belgian bond-brick walls, has already been renovated and expanded for the library. To link the old building to the complex, the architects created an extension with an ascending giraffe-neck form that allows natural ventilation to flow into the library.

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the People

Owner
The Federal Republic of Germany
represented by: The Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Housing
represented by: LBB Saxony-Anhalt head office, Magdeburg
finally represented by: Landesbetrieb Bau Niederlassung Ost, Dessau

Architect
Sauerbruch Hutton, Berlin
www.sauerbruchhutton.de

Matthias Sauerbruch, Louisa Hutton, Juan Lucas Young, Jens Ludloff

Project Team:
Andrew Kiel (project architect), Nicole Berganski, Denise Dih, Andrea Frensch, Matthias Fuchs, Frauke Gerstenberg, Andreas Herschel, Rasmus Joergensen, Agnieszka Kociemska, Mareike Lamm, Jan Laeufer, Jan Liesegang, René Lotz, Ian McMillan, Julia Neubauer, Konrad Opitz, Olaf Pfeifer, Jakob Schemel, David Wegener, Nicole Winge

Engineer(s)
Energy concept and environmetnal:
Zibell Willner & Partner, Cologne/Berlin
www.zwp.de

Structural engineering:
Krebs & Kiefer, Berlin www.kuk.de

Consultant(s)
Landscape:
ST raum a, Berlin www.strauma.de

General contractor
Harms & Partner, Hannover www.harms-partner.de

Photographer(s)
Annette Kisling; Paul Raftery/View; Bitter Bredt

the Products

Structural system
HochTief Construction AG, Leipzig
Diezmannstraße 12
D-04207 Leipzig
tel: +49(0)341 / 41 41 600
fax: +49(0)341 / 41 41 802
www.hochtief.de

Exterior cladding
Masonry:
Peschek GmbH, Thurland
Lindenstr. 6
06779 Thurland
tel: +49(0)34906 / 21 62 0
fax: +49(0)34906 / 21 04 4

Metal/glass curtainwall:
Brakel-Aero GmbH, Voerde
Alte Hünxer Str. 179
46562 Voerde
tel: +49(0)281 / 40 40
fax: +49(0)281 / 40 499
info@brakel-aero.de

Façade library and cafeteria:
ER+TE Stahl- und Metallbau GmbH, Zerbst
Kirschallee 3
39261 Zerbst
tel: +49(0)3923 / 62 451
fax: +49(0)3923 / 62 454
info@er-te-zerbst.de

Concrete:
HochTief Construction AG, Leipzig

Wood:
Schindler GmbH & Co KG., Roding
Mauthstraße 15
93426 Roding
tel: +49(0)9461 / 40 90
fax: +49(0)9461 / 40 91 00
www.schindler-roding.de

Roofing
Built-up roofing:
Sinhor Dach GmbH, Calbe
Schloßstr. 24 b
39240 Calbe
tel: +49(0)39291 / 2329
sinhor-dach@t-online.de

Elastomeric:
Sinhor Dach GmbH, Calbe

Windows
Wood:
Schindler GmbH & Co KG., Roding

Steel:
ER+TE Stahl- und Metallbau GmbH, Zerbst

Glazing
Colored glass:
BGT-Glastechnik, Bretten
Alexanderstraße 2
75015 Bretten
tel: +49(0)7252 / 50 30
fax: +49(0)7252 / 50 32 83
www.bgt-bretten.de

Glass roof:
Brakel-Aero GmbH, Voerde

Doors
Entrances:
Brakel-Aero GmbH, Voer

Metal doors:
Förster Metallbau GmbH, Wittenberg
Dessauer Straße 46 a
06886 Lutherstadt-Wittenberg, Sachsen-Anhalt
tel: +49(0)3491 / 66 65 66
fax: +49(0)3491 / 61 29 27

Wood doors:
Lichte Systemwand GmbH
Postfach 1661
59246 Beckum
tel: +49(0)2521 / 84 50
fax: +49(0)2521 / 84 520
post@lichte-systemwand.de

Sliding doors:
Schindler GmbH & Co KG., Roding

Fire-control doors, security grilles:
Förster Metallbau GmbH, Wittenberg

Interior finishes
Acoustical ceilings:
P und C Ausbau GmbH, Staßfurt
Bernburger Str. 10 d
39418 Staßfurt
tel: +49(0)3925 303913
fax: +49(0)3925 303902

Paints and stains:
Malereifachbetrieb Rümmler
Am Spielraum 12
06116 Halle (Saale)
tel: +49(0) 345 560 27 92
fax: +49(0) 345 560 09 81

Paneling:
Lindner AG, Arnstorf
Bahnhofstraße 29
94424 Arnstorf
tel: +49(0)8723 / 20 20
fax: +49(0)8723 / 20 21 47
www.lindner-holding.de

Floor and wall tile:
Fliemona Bau GmbH
Feldstraße 4a
06667 Weißenfels
tel: +49(0)3443 / 23 30 70
fax: +49(0)3443 / 23 30 65

Raised flooring:
Lindner AG, Arnstorf www.lindner-holding.de

Furnishings
Fixed seating:
Lindner AG, Arnstorf www.lindner-holding.de
 
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