HENN

The central idea behind the design is an encircling, crossed over and apparently never-ending band. Cast in concrete, it picks out the tectonics of the buildings as a central theme. It is the constructed transformation of a matrix, the translation into concrete form of the idea to generate knowledge in rooms that are formed by overlays and intersections.

The structural and organisational heart of the MobileLifeCampus is at the centre. The campus has a glazed-over atrium that rises over four floors and to which all paths lead. Open staircases permit direct contact and communication with each other. Conscious linking of the pathways underscores the openness of the campus. The seminar rooms are freely grouped around the atrium and extend upwards, to varying heights, into the centre.

GFA 25.000 sqm
planning 2002 - 2004
construction period 2004 - 2006
www.mobile-life-campus.com
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With its Gläserne Manufaktur, Volkswagen became the first manufacturer to realise a production concept linking processes of classical industrial automobile production and fine craftsmanship: the result is the VW luxury class limo Phaeton manufactured in handwork. Gläserne Manufaktur is a place of transparency and dialogue and makes the experience of automotive production visible to the outside. In Gläserne Manufaktur, themes of and related to the automobile are presented – events range from art exhibitions and music concerts to television talk shows. The clearly delineated and comprehensible areas are defined with few materials, glass, aluminium, maple, bog oak, cherry tree, granite. The available space and the material composition of the building allow a new quality of customer service: spatial experience of the automobile and spatial experience of architecture flow naturally into each other.

GFA 81.800 sqm
Construction period 1999-2001
www.glaesernemanufaktur.de
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Germany’s Autostadt is today in constant flux. The characteristic closeness to customers of the location allows trends and developments to be recognised at an early stage. The Autostadt reacts to these trends and is adjusting its offer in all areas accordingly. Theatrical presentations are modified or developed further. Current trends in the fields of mobility, technology, ecology, sociology, education are taken up and incorporated in new concepts. The fluctuations that the automotive group has undergone are reflected in structural and presentation changes in the Konzernforum. New bio-labs and car-labs have been introduced. Catering throughout the plant has incorporated international culinary trends and presents these in quality products. Societal trends towards a knowledge-based society are acknowledged by such new elements as the mobility deck. The broad thematic fi eld of mobility is communicated in active workshops using the most sophisticated technical aids, especially aimed at schoolchildren in secondary school grades. The annual „moviementos“ ballet festival has attracted cultural attention to the Autostadt from way beyond the borders of the region. The buildings and garden complexes of the Autostadt absorb the effects of this permanent renewal process with their flexible structures and the quality of the materials used. Today, the total plant presents itself again as a homogenous sophisticated urban complex.

Area 22 ha
Construction period 1998 - 2000
www.autostadt.de
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The Project House in the Research and Innovation Centre of the BMW Group in Munich opens up a new way of cooperation in the product development process because of the special way its space has been organised. The studio workshop building stands in the central atrium of the 100 x 100 m larger building – as a building with a building. On the various levels occupied by the project, the different project stages are displayed using real models in a form of rapid prototyping. They can be seen directly from the neighbouring project areas. This gives rise to two new ways of communicating: every designer can switch between the virtual image on the virtual design screen and the real model. The spatial centring means that the right people can be brought together at the right time. The four project storeys of the new Project House each consist of four quadrants. In area they can provide between 70 and 120 individual work spaces. Pairs of levels are linked by a spiral staircase. This allows a whole project team to work within the same space continuum. The high, light, breathing spaces allow freedom of organisation of the work process. The loft-like character encourages each project group to fill its space as it wishes.

GFA 90.000 sqm
Construction period 2002 - 2004
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Molsheim is witnessing the renaissance of a legend; the past and the present merge into one - illustrating what Bugatti once was: the pinnacle of the art of automobile engineering.

The plant is located to the south of Molsheim in a landscape part with the Chateau St. Jean (1857) at its center. This consists of an oval studio building and three test modules. The building is positioned on a continuous base, which presents the building as if it were floating. This is where the final construction phase of the Bugatti vehicles takes place. The assembly places are located in the middle of the oval. The front ends are location for motor preassembly and personnel rooms in the ground floor and offices in the first floor. The test units are to be located across from the assembly places with direct vehicle access. Transparent connections between the modules provide views of the testing process.

GFA 3.570 sqm
Design Period 2002
Construction Period 2003 - 2004
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The automobile museum is the first completed building of the Beijing International Automotive Expo. The original plan of the project won in a competition in 2004 has since been revised. Optimized requirements with regard to the size, routing, staging and marketing potentials, were formulated and implemented in the design development.

The ground floor is divided into two buildings that are linked by means of an open passage. The southern and larger section is dominated by a generous entrance hall that is joined to the exhibition spaces above by means of an elliptical void that widens as it rises upwards. The conference centre that directly adjoins it offers space for about 650 participants in rooms of various sizes.

A 4-D cinema is being planned for the northern section. The first floor is openly accessible and houses ticketing and sales areas and a restaurant that can be run in two different price categories. The museum administration with about 120 staff was integrated into the museum building over two floors and has direct contact to the exhibition spaces. The theme oriented exhibition spaces start on the second floor and flows on the fourth floor into a cambered and freely spanned space.

GFA 500.000 sqm
Design Period 2004 - 2006
Construction Period 2006 - 2009
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In Cooperation with CCDI Beijing
The proposal for the China Life Insurance Research & Development Centre on the rural outskirts of Beijing takes up the parameters of Chinese traditional buildings and translates them into highly technologically developed, forward-looking design.

The complex for China’s biggest insurance company consists of a main building, a research and laboratory building and a training centre with a connected boarding house. Similar in shape to a Chinese character, the main building is laid out on a square plan arrangement and symbolizes the strength of China Life Insurance. A peaceful garden opens up at its centre, which, as the core of the whole ensemble, serves as a place of communication and contemplation. Delicately detailed interior courtyards adopt the tradition of classical Chinese residential construction and open up the main building on all floors in the corner zones.

GFA 404.500 sqm
Design Period 2008 - 2009
Construction Period 2009 - 2012
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Suzhou has set itself the target of closing the gap on the world’s leaders as a research and development location. Alongside the Biobay biotechnology park in the west of the city, Nanotech City marks another key element in that strategy. The design proposal combines elements of traditional Chinese urban architecture with the expansion programme for the northeast of the city: nano and polis. The creative leitmotif of the design is the relationship of scale between the molecular world, man and urban space. All elements of urban, architectural and landscape design range in density, size and height from the very large to the very small. The programme encompasses research and development facilities, conference and exhibition rooms, residential space, recreational facilities and commercial space.

One of the key elements of the design is its clearly defined zones: with large building complexes and block structures forming a distinct boundary towards the outside, the site is differentiated towards its center by individual buildings which are embedded in parklands interspersed with expanses of water. This landscape forms a green belt around the center of the site, from the heart of which a tower complex rises.

The fractal logic of the division into units of diminishing size continues from the urban scale down to the facades, where elements of local architecture are reflected in aspects such as color and structure. In its synthesis of traditional urban planning and the demands of modern research, NanoPolis achieves a balance between the experience of urban space and a carefully crafted landscape.

GFA 345.000 sqm
Design Period 2010 - 2011
Construction Period 2011 - 2015
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Weimar’s current research institutions and the Materials Research and Testing Laboratory of the Bauhaus University are brought together under one roof in the Centre for Intelligent Building in Weimar (CIB). The purpose of the new building, which was partially financed by the Foundation for Technology, Innovation and Research in Thüringen, is the advancement of materials, methods, products and processes in construction.

The five-storey block adopts the scale of its immediate neighbors and fits in with the surrounding developments; the reinforced concrete design with glazed main facade is characterized by a clear structure and reduced number of different materials used. The building provides 1200 m² of floor area for testing facilities, 850 m² for laboratories and 1500 m² for office space, as well as communication areas and storage rooms. On the ground floor, a two-storey column-free hall extends over the whole building length and opens up an 87 meter long testing hall for multiple users. The three upper storeys have four cubic office and laboratory modules that span over the testing hall and, as with all the functional units, are connected to one another by a glazed stairwell.

GFA 6.530 sqm
Design Period 2006 - 2007
Construction Period 2006 - 2008
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As the requirements for the proposed development of the Inselspital site – 600,000 sqm of floor space by 2060 – can only be defined loosely at this stage, flexible and open arrangements are paramount in terms of urban design and the scale of the buildings themselves.

The masterplan represents an agreed means of strategic spatial control that will guide all the construction projects on the site. The urban design commences with the existing surrounding development structure and increases the density of the development towards the center of the site, where the building volumes accentuate the present topography. At the macro-level, the masterplan creates a clearly structured and well laid out urban design principles which avoid predefining site usage at the micro-level and hence leave all options open for future requirements.

GFA 600.000 sqm
Masterplan 2010 - 2060
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