woernerundpartner

Project data
Client: Universitätsklinikum Leipzig AöR
Competition: 1st prize 2003
Services: Service rendering phase 1-9
Zentrum für Konservative Medizin
Gross construction cost: 100.4 m €
Completion: 2008
Usable Floor Area: 26,700 m²
GFA: 52,300 m²
GCV: 213,700 m³
Zentrum für Frauen- und Kindermedizin (ZFK)
Gross construction cost: 61.9 m €
Completion: 2007
Usable Floor Area: 15,300 m²
GFA: 31,500 m²
GCV: 130,700 m³


Urban development
The new clinical centres of the university clinic and the administrative centre are built close to the city centre of Leipzig. In the context of this constructional extension, the formerly plain Liebigstraße will become a new medical campus – the so-called „Healthcare boulevard“, with a cluster of four-  and five-storey clinical buildings, which are arranged like string of pearls. The historical building of the ‘Old Surgery’ was also integrated in the complex. The modern, clearly structured building parts form its frame and serve as the entrance of the Frauen- und Kinderzentrum.


Architectural concept
The new urban building arrangement is picked up in the inside; all functional areas of both new clinical centres can be accessed via two central halls. The basic structure is characterised by the vertical functional structuring: examination and treatment areas are located in the entrance level, the patient areas in the upper storeys.
A three-storey hall forms the core of the Zentrum für Frauen- und Kindermedizin – the area for reception, the day rooms and the access area with comfortable waiting areas and a café.
The Centre for Conservative Medicine shares the entrance with the already existing Operative Centre. Here, the patient admission and waiting areas as well as day rooms and a restaurant for patients and staff are stretched over several floors and can all be accessed via an elongated hall with access to the patient’s garden.
The budget, which was comparably small in contrast to other clinical buildings, did not allow the exclusive usage of top-quality materials for the interior architecture – which underlined the use of colour as a means of design. The units and nursing wards as well as the patient rooms are dominated by bright, intensive colours, indicating important orientation points.


Façade
The criteria for the construction of the present perforated façade were simple building structures, adequate window sizes and sufficient constructional measures for solar protection. The use of natural stone, as envisaged in the competition entry, was replaced later by a multilayer insulation system due to the extremely small budget.
Today, the bright, almost white plaster renderings provide the characteristic, horizontal structure of the buildings. Between these renderings, sand coloured rendered surfaces and vertical aluminium windows are intermittently positioned with anthracite-coloured soffits – just as the respective function of the rooms lying behind. The brick-red surface between the window elements of the nursing wards contrasts with the colours of the other functional areas.


Nursing bases
The present type of nursing station provides the possibility of adjusting the size of the station to the currently required occupancy rate at all times. Between the main stations, there are connection areas, in which, according to the requirements, the patient rooms may be assigned to different nursing bases. This principle enables the combination of up to four stations into so-called “overflow stations“. The central bases are located within the main stations and serve as reception, information and working place at the same time. The direct vicinity to the patient areas and the short distances to the patient rooms offer ideal working conditions for the staff.

Project data
Client: Klinikum Offenbach GmbH
Services: Service rendering phase 1-9
Gross construction cost: 142 m €
Completion: 2010
Usable Floor Area: 29,040 m²
GFA: 59,050 m²
GCV: 237,960 m³


Urban development
The new building of the Klinikum Offenbach, a hospital providing maximum medical care, is the city’s biggest financial investment since the end of World War II. The decision for this new construction does not only bring one the most modern clinics to Offenbach, but also brings a decisive benefit regarding urban development and a high level of potential development. After relocation to the new building, several buildings on the clinic premises will be deconstructed, among them the dominating 17-storey central building and an overground bunker, enabling the spacious campus to be used for the future construction of clinical-related buildings.

Architectural concept
The entire clinical centre will be housed in a six-storey comb-like building – the examination and treatment areas are located in the lower floors, the patient areas in the upper floors.

The unequivocal image of the clinical centre is particularly characterised by the significant concept of colour and façade. The skin of the façade with its shimmering shades of red and brown and provides a dynamic contrast to the generously designed glass façade of the entrance hall.
The entrance is not merely a reception, waiting and access area, but also a vivid public shop zone, which stretches over the entire longitudinal side of the new building. At the north side, it is structured by the Cafeteria built in front of the entrance, at the south side it is structured by the Tommyhall. The Tommyhall serves as a medical care station for the sick and additionally as a sports hall for the disabled and “event location“ for all kinds of activities.
The longitudinal side between the glass hall and the actual functional areas is the so-called “distribution strip“, which connects the different clinics. Lift cores marked in red, orange, yellow and green support the house’s own guidance system.

Nursing bases
The structure of the building enables the creation of flexible station sizes and the consequent adaption to the respective patient volume. The rooms located in the connection areas between the central stations can be assigned to different nursing bases.
In order to create comfortable patient rooms with a hotel character, particular attention has been paid to a special lighting design and the use of colours and materials. Low parapets enable the lying patient to view the nature, the windowsills serve as seating places. Wall areas in contrasting colours, built-in-closets made from brightly coloured wood and occasional elements make the bed places to small, personal spheres.

Project data
Client: Fraunhofer Gesellschaft zur Förderung der angewandten Forschung e.V.
Competition: 1st place  Negotiated procedure 2007
Services: Service rendering phases 2-8
Gross construction cost: 5.95 m €
Completion: 2010
Usable Floor Area: 1,590 m²
GFA: 2,880 m²


Task
The Institute for Non-Destructive Testing is engaged in research and development covering the physical principles of non-destructive testing and material characterisation. The developed testing methods are applied in different industrial branches. The applications are increasingly used by clients from the automotive sector, and so the new exterior of the institute, adapted to the contents of research, is particularly aimed at this target group.

Architectural Concept
The image of the institute will be impressively changed by a new component ensemble. Apart from a big testing hall, three office storeys and a generously designed new entrance area will be constructed.
The testing hall, which partially comprises two storeys, houses the actual, practical functional areas for material testing – the technical centre and laboratory spaces for conducting specific testing tasks. Both hall levels can be accessed from the foyer. The main access to the testing hall is located at the back side, at the delivery yard, where the testing objects are brought in.
The office storeys with appr. 45 working places are used by the research staff. This area will also be given a distinctive form: Nex to the offices, which are located in triangular-shaped, rounded levels, there will be cylindrical room clusters with adjoining rooms and the central utility service shaft.
Visitors, employees and clients of the institute will be received in a new, image-building entrance area. Directly attached to the foyer is an egg-shaped conference room, which will be used for conferences and seminars. Because of its prominent location, it will boost the institute’s representation and transparency.
In a later construction stage, a new, distinctive access axis will be leading from the foyer to the individual, already existing functional section of the building. It is intended to visualize the principle of “non-destructive testing“, namely trans-illumination, in the main building by a special lighting concept.

Façade
The exterior of the new buildings is characterised by round shapes borrowed from the sector of mechanical engineering  – it closely resembles the pistons of a Wankel engine, reminds of gear wheels or belt drives.
The components for the skin of the building are borrowed from the automotive sector: Glass, high-gloss finished steel plates and plastics. So-called light construction elements, extremely light-weight plates made of polycarbonate, are used for the façade of the testing hall and for solar protection of the office storeys. Besides their low weight, they also provide a convenient heat transition coefficient and can be manufactured at different levels of light transmission from “crystalline” to “opaque”.
The horizontal joints, staggered to the background, provide a contrasting effect of the structures and underline the dynamic impression of the building.

Project data
Client: Stadt Offenburg
Competition: 1st place 1998
Services: Service rendering phases 1-9
Gross construction cost: 5.3 m €
Completion: 2002
Usable Floor Area: 1,825 m²
GFA: 2,850 m²


Task
From the “cradle of democracy“, the “place of revolution” up to the “Holocaust stage”. A living building document of the changeful German history will be converted to a cultural centre – to a living space, a place of coexistence between remembrance, conservation and today’s life.


Architectural concept
Today, the developed cultural centre is divided into four sections. Likewise, the historical residential building with its narrow side facing the street has been converted into a bistro. Vis-à-vis this residential building, a ramp structure made of glass provides access to the historical Salmensaal. The actual, historical relevant core building is located in the centre of the ensemble; it is complemented by a modern stage area.

Modern contents - theatre plays, concerts and conferences – cover a broad range of time, from the past to nowadays. The modern architectural language gives new context to the historical buildings and supports further existence with new functions.
In this way, the new glass foyer contrasts with the massive historical hall building. However, its position within the ensemble remains undisputed and dominant.
It was possible to preserve the spatial and atmospheric impression of the historical building and its materiality while carefully refurbishing its substance. Necessary modifications are clearly recognizable as modern interventions.
All new buildings are built below the eaves’ level of the historical building parts. Just as the new stage building, which was required for the new usage, their presentation is discreet, the architectural language adapted to their respective functions.
Accessing the historical hall is a suspenseful experience. While the visitor is walking on a long ramp, he is taken, slowly and step by step, on a path of looking back, of remembrance, but also of expectation. For that reason, the historical staircase, which the Jewish Community had to buy from the town of Offenburg at that time, may be losing its actual function – but remains preserved as a gesture.