Federal Environmental Agency (Dessau, Germany) : Raking view of west façade, looking north, showing park-like setting, open to the public; bike racks to the right

Creator:

Sauerbruch Hutton Architects, founded 1989

Published/Created:

Dessau, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany
Wörlitzer Platz 1
1998-2002

Physical Description:

41,000 m2 (area)

Date Depicted:

4/15/2009

Materials:

steel; glass; larch wood

Notes:

The Umweltbundesamt (UBA) is the German equivalent of the EPA in the US; it monitors environmental concerns. The building in Dessau contains the main offices (800 workers in 10 departments) and is a very large complex which has integrated two older buildings into it; the Wörlitzer Bahnhof (a listed building and former train station) and an adjacent factory building (which manufactured gas appliances). The new construction is a four-storey curved building of about 460m length, with the offices placed either side of a central corridor, and a tree-like circulation route. A key purpose is to break down the potentially monolithic nature of the facade, while providing a color code for seven different areas of the building. The facade, which is 35 per cent glass, has eight alternating horizontal bands of timber and glass. Spandrels are clad in larch slats, which will weather to silver-gray. Clear glazed windows are set back 30 cm from the timber; in between a series of glass 'blocks' of varying widths are inserted, with screen-print color enamelled onto the back surface. It has the German equivalent of a Gold LEED certification.

Variant Titles:

Umweltbundesamt (UBA), Dessau

Topics:

Architecture -- Germany -- 20th century -- (YVRC)
Architecture -- Germany -- 21st century -- (YVRC)

Period/Style:

Contemporary
Twenty-first century

Culture:

German

Accession Number:

1A2-G-D-A2

Coordinates:

+51.842151+12.239203

Genre:

architecture (AAT)
office buildings (AAT)
public buildings: government office buildings (AAT)

Format:

Image

Content Type:

Sculptures, Models, & Architecture

Rights:

Copyright Scott Gilchrist, Archivision, Inc
The use of this image may be subject to the copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) or to site license or other rights management terms and conditions. The person using the image is liable for any infringement.

Access Restrictions:

Yale Community Only

Digital:

buildings; public buildings; government office buildings architecture; contemporary (1960 to present); Sustainable buildings

Source Creator:

Gilchrist, Scott

Source Title:

Archivision Addition Module Seven

Source Created:

2878 Chamonix, Montreal QC
Archivision, Inc.
4/15/2009

Source Note:

Purchase, Visual Resources Collection, May, 2011; photographer Scott Gilchrist

Yale Collection:

Visual Resources Collection

Digital Collection:

Visual Resources Collection

Local Record Number:

4349

OID:

10472038

PID:

digcoll:1840131