The Centre for Mental Health in Böblingen-Sindelfingen is designed as the prelude to a “green centre”. The guiding principle of the design is to create an ambience in close contact with nature that is conducive to the quality of stay and the recovery of patients. A light-flooded main corridor runs through the building, accompanied by two inner courtyards. Therapy gardens are arranged on all levels, which also serve as retreats. Two-storey therapy loggias create a natural transition zone to the surroundings. A barrier-free roof garden rounds off the concept of direct connection to nature. With its light-coloured clinker brick, the transparency of the floor-to-ceiling glazing and the light-coloured wooden elements, the façade has a natural and inviting effect.
“Architecture shapes the future” is the motto of the annual Day of Architecture, where site visits are once again possible this coming weekend.
Among the 117 projects submitted is the IA/IB building complex of the Ruhr University Bochum, which was built in the 1960s. Due to the pollution of the engineering buildings, IA/IB was deconstructed and reconstructed from 2014 onwards.
How do you combine redevelopment and monument protection? What opportunities are offered by the redevelopment? The RUB is a prime example of the German universities founded in the 1960s and 1970s, whose buildings are now aging and in need of renovation.
On Saturday, 26 June, there will be a two-hour guided tour of the IA/IB building complex at 10 a.m., during which two project managers from Gerber Architekten and a representative of BLB NRW will be on hand to answer questions.
Do you have any questions? Then please feel free to contact us by phone at +49 231 9065 175 or by e-mail at info@gerberarchitekten.de.
Further information on the Architecture Day is available here: https://www.aknw.de/baukultur/projekte/tag-der-architektur
The new technology quarter in Jinan consists of loosely arranged high-rise complexes that are staggered in height and create numerous references to the urban environment and the surrounding nature. Covering a total area of 130,000 square metres, the new technology quarter extends through the city, creating a variety of urban and landscape plaza situations. The two tallest buildings form a striking focal point as a gateway facing the city. The idea of working on the water and in the green shapes the concept of the high-rise buildings with green roof terraces, which combine along the Quanfu Canal to form an ultra-modern technology complex. The gross floor area is over 850,000 square metres.
In the competition for the new building of the German Cancer Research Centre, our design has received recognition. With its division into three clearly recognisable building complexes, the new building takes up the geometry of the Neuenheimer Feld campus and forms a striking prelude. A building-high “shop window” creates a visual connection to the old town and Heidelberg Castle. Like a spatial sculpture, the spiral staircase arranged in the access area behind it connects the different floors. The calm and evenly structured façade creates a contrasting combination with the transparency of the shop window, which reflects the public character of the German Cancer Research Center’s research.
The new headquarters of Materna Information & Communications SE is being built in the Phoenix-West industrial estate according to the design by Gerber Architekten. The approximately 1,800 workplaces will be brought together in one location at the new corporate headquarters. The corporate headquarters is planned like a metaphor of change on a former industrial site in the south of Dortmund. This reflects the self-image of the family-owned company, founded in Dortmund in 1980, as an innovation driver of successful structural change in North Rhine-Westphalia.
As a clear commitment to the Dortmund location, the dynamically pointed building is positioned on a plateau facing Dortmund city centre. The central design idea is to offer a system of open and social spatial structures for dynamic communication processes and innovative solutions. Elements such as the glass foyer with café bar, the canteen with indoor and outdoor areas, the terraced landscape staircase and the courtyard landscape that can be accessed as a “green centre” promote communication among employees and are intended to contribute to employees’ identification with their company. The opening to the landscape and the spatial interfaces are also of central importance in the architectural design. This creates a smooth transition between architecture and landscape as well as a transfer of information and knowledge within the company and into the open society.
The ground-breaking ceremony for the new Caledo building took place in compliance with special corona protection measures. The official construction phase was initiated in the presence of representatives of the user and builder sides as well as the Mayor of Dortmund, Thomas Westphal, and the Minister for Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, Isabel Pfeiffer-Poensgen. A new research building with around 4,000 square metres of floor space and 100 workplaces in state-of-the-art laboratories will now be built on the TU Dortmund campus by the beginning of 2025. In the future, liquid phases will be customised for environmentally friendly and innovative processes in chemistry and biotechnology or for pharmaceutical products in the “Center for Advanced Liquid-Phase Engineering Dortmund”, or CALEDO for short. “With CALEDO, an internationally visible research centre is being created that has a supra-regional significance for research in the field of bio- and chemical engineering,” says Minister Pfeiffer-Poensgen.
Since 1981 the pro Ruhrgebiet association has been honouring personalities who have rendered outstanding services to the Ruhr region. The basis for this decision is a public call for entries in which a visionary for sustainable and forward-looking building from and in the Metropole Ruhr is sought.
Due to the large number of “buildings as statements of regional identity and forward-looking architecture”, the jury chaired by Helmut an de Meulen has now awarded Eckhard Gerber the honorary title of “Citizen of the Ruhr Area”.
From the pro Ruhrgebiet jury report on the Dortmunder U – Centre for Art and Creativity, the basement tower block of the former Union Brewery converted on the occasion of the Capital of Culture Year 2010: “The Dortmunder U, a symbol of modern sustainable Ruhr architecture with worldwide appeal, bears Gerber’s clear design signature, which always focuses on openness and creates places where people like to go and spend time.”
Gerber Architects wishes you and your families much joy, prosperity, happiness, success and health for the “New Chinese Year of the Ox”. We thank you for the successful cooperation in the past year and look forward to the new joint projects in the coming year. May all your wishes come true!
Visualization: © Gerber Architekten