The new visitor center and administration building designed by the German full service architectural design laboratory is located beside an incineration plant in Stuttgart, Germany. The ZMS Schwandorf Administration Building forms part of a 450 meter landscaped noise barrier.
Archimedialab was shouldered with the responsibility to design a new administration building, reorganize the power station compound and create a new noise protection barrier. This criterion has been utilized by the architects to dissolve the dichotomy of landscape and building. This has resulted in the realization of deconstruction of these categories into a single, combined environment.
Constructed mainly of exposed concrete, laminated timber beams and aluminum cladding, the central part of a noise protection wall with a 45 degree incline simultaneously constitutes the administration building for over 140 meters. The building and earth wall have been superimposed to explore and experience the landscape of this entire assembly on various levels.
An auditorium with a visitor center is created which opens up toward the power station compound. It separates from the earth wall on the upper level, resting on two radial supporting walls and cantilevers up to 20 meters over the landscape. A long panoramic glass façade is created, bending toward the power station.
The administration building is located underneath and is sculpted into the earth wall. Meeting rooms and common areas infiltrate through the wall to establish a relationship with the bordering village of Dachlhofen. The power station workshop is topped with grass roofs.
The basic structure of exposed concrete is supplemented with built-in furniture elements in colored MDF, wooden oak floors and brightly painted magnesia-bonded panels. These factors are integrated for acoustic absorption on walls and door elements. Some portions of the exposed concrete are shaded in bright colors to set contrast to the archaic look of the untreated concrete.
Frameless glass walls are used to enclose all meeting and conference rooms. The light timber structure of the upper glue-lam shell is kept exposed. The diamond-shaped curvilinear spaces between the timber structures are filled with acoustic panels stained in a dark purple color.
Constructing a 13 meter high earth wall that is capable of supporting itself at a 45 degree slope and a building within it, posed structural challenges to the architects. The building has been covered in landscape and vegetation that appears to be continuous. The appearance does not offer suggestions regarding the shape of the building underneath.
The continuous form and structure of the building poses difficulty for the viewers to discern where the actual building begins and where the earth structure does not bear any construction. This visual uniqueness is thanks to the landscape features incorporated into the building.
Archimedialab is an expert in combining unconventional spatial explorations with ecological and innovative technologies, to create architectural solutions in all phases of the design and construction process.
