ERC Experimental Research Center Berlin-Buch
CLIENT
Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine Berlin
PROGRAM
Biomedical, and chemical laboratories, prep. for MR-PET, offices, comm. areas
COSTS 18,400,000 € gross
GFA 6,100 sqm
RESULTS
1st Prize architectural competition,
service phases 2-9 HOAI
with Rehwaldt Landscape Architects
SUSTAINABILITY
BNB Certificate BRONZE
2009-2012
With the construction of the Experimental Research Center (ERC), a second representative entrance is established in the northern campus area. The new square is geometrically aligned to the main axes of the Campus Berlin-Buch and the Helioskliniken. It creates a new location at the interface between research and healing as well as between the campus and public.
The ERC asserts itself confidently as an irregular polygonal structure on the triangular building site. At the same time it can be seen as a keystone that completes the campus area and mediates between the various urban directions. The entrance is emphasized by structural elevation and buckling of the volume. The generous opening of the entrance area continues as an atrium inside the building.
The white façades of the neighbouring MRT and Oskar-and-Cécilie-Vogt-house, which was built in 1929, initiated the choice of color of the façade of the ERC. It was covered with white glass panels, which imprint denotes the human genome. The panels are perceived in three shades of white from a certain distance. The curtain façade, which is typical for laboratory buildings, was irregular interrupted and goes around the entire building to emphasize its crystalline volume.
While organizing the space program the creation of differentiated communication areas was emphasized. These areas are designed for an interdisciplinary exchange of ideas and information as an addition to the concentrated laboratory areas. The volume is centered by the atrium that is as high as the buidling itself. All functional areas meet here. Generous perrons form the vertical main circulation inside the building. The laboratory areas of all the floors are directly accessible from the atrium. Coffee bars are located at the interfaces of the most frequented paths within the atrium to provide spaces for informal communication. The office spaces are arranged circumferentially around the atrium. The glazed meeting rooms are facing the street and are therefore slightly seperated from the inner movement flows. The atrium is also predestined for events due to the spatial staging.
The ERC offers new solutions for flexibility due to shorter technical innovation cycles and frequently changing research tasks. The vertical technical development is carried out through large main shafts with central reserve sections. The horizontal pipe routing is carried out as an exposed installation beneath the ceiling. Therfore it can easily be modified and reinstalled. At the interface between laboratories and offices the type of uses can be switched back and forth. An innovative furniture system espacially designed for laboratories is used here for the first time in Germany. A panelized system that is possible to adjust with minor effort had been developed especially for this building. Within the panalized system it is possible to easily install partition walls and office cubicals in the laboratories.
The ERC asserts itself confidently as an irregular polygonal structure on the triangular building site. At the same time it can be seen as a keystone that completes the campus area and mediates between the various urban directions. The entrance is emphasized by structural elevation and buckling of the volume. The generous opening of the entrance area continues as an atrium inside the building.
The white façades of the neighbouring MRT and Oskar-and-Cécilie-Vogt-house, which was built in 1929, initiated the choice of color of the façade of the ERC. It was covered with white glass panels, which imprint denotes the human genome. The panels are perceived in three shades of white from a certain distance. The curtain façade, which is typical for laboratory buildings, was irregular interrupted and goes around the entire building to emphasize its crystalline volume.
While organizing the space program the creation of differentiated communication areas was emphasized. These areas are designed for an interdisciplinary exchange of ideas and information as an addition to the concentrated laboratory areas. The volume is centered by the atrium that is as high as the buidling itself. All functional areas meet here. Generous perrons form the vertical main circulation inside the building. The laboratory areas of all the floors are directly accessible from the atrium. Coffee bars are located at the interfaces of the most frequented paths within the atrium to provide spaces for informal communication. The office spaces are arranged circumferentially around the atrium. The glazed meeting rooms are facing the street and are therefore slightly seperated from the inner movement flows. The atrium is also predestined for events due to the spatial staging.
The ERC offers new solutions for flexibility due to shorter technical innovation cycles and frequently changing research tasks. The vertical technical development is carried out through large main shafts with central reserve sections. The horizontal pipe routing is carried out as an exposed installation beneath the ceiling. Therfore it can easily be modified and reinstalled. At the interface between laboratories and offices the type of uses can be switched back and forth. An innovative furniture system espacially designed for laboratories is used here for the first time in Germany. A panelized system that is possible to adjust with minor effort had been developed especially for this building. Within the panalized system it is possible to easily install partition walls and office cubicals in the laboratories.
