GSW Berlin

Location: Kochstrasse 22, Berlin Germany

Construction year: 1999
Architects: Sauerbruch Hutton
Typology: Office
Floors: 22
Floor Area: 50000 m2

Competition for
the extension of
existing building
floated among 6
architects in
Autumn 1990.
BRIEF:
Extension and renovation
of an existing 1961s
building.
19000 sqm of shops and
offices

CONSTRAINTS:
First skyscraper to be built
in Berlin after the fall of the
Berlin Wall.
Critical Reconstructionism
applicable in Berlin

WINNING CONCEPT
Sauerbruch Hutton won the competition in March 1991
Integrate existing office building into a series of 5 volumes:
The Baguette
The Baguettini
The Pillbox
The Existing Tower
The High Rise
Attempt to work with literal and cultural embodied energy of existing building
Low energy consumption, Occupant comfort

Historic development of Southern

Friedrichstadt

Retroactive Imaginations

City of Tolerance

Colonising the Landscape of ruins

Baroque Syncopations

Reversing the territories

The stony Berlin

Retrospective Urban Repair

Series of sketches showing the Designers

Concept
Source:
GSW Hauptverwaltung Berlin, Sauerbruch
Hutton Architekten / GSW Headquarters Berlin,
Sauerbruch Hutton Architects, 2000

The new design occupies the site

through five volumes:
The Baguette: a Low rise Retail
space with a Two Storey Atrium,
Occupying the North of the Site
The Baguettini
The Pillbox: A Cantilevered Block
Above the retail space Incorporating
the mechanical functions.
The Existing Tower: Extended
Vertically to 17 floors and linked to
the New High Rise tower with a
shared Service core.
The High Rise Tower: A 22 Storey,
Slender, Mass incorporating a 100%
expansion of floor space for the
existing building.
All the Volumes are linked by a
connected basement system.

HIGH RISE TOWER

The High Rise is a 22Floor high Office
space linked with the existing development
and expanding usable floor area by 100%.
The Existing buildings on site forced an
undesirable East-West orientation to the
building, thus necessitating a sophisticated
faade design
Features of the High Rise Block:
Tall and narrow body, curving
asymmetrically with a growing curl
towards the southern end.
Light Steel and glass construction on two
flat pedestals
Double skin West faade
Perforated East Faade
Flexible Floor space allowing for multiple
layout options
Sustainability Strategies:
Natural Ventilation through faade design
and Venturi element
Daylit Work spaces

GROUND FLOOR PLAN

FIRST FLOOR PLAN

TYPICAL FLOOR PLAN

SECTION THROUGH THE DEVELOPMENT

DAYLIGHTING STRATEGY
Due to the link with the existing building, the High rise is limited to a floor height of 3.25 m.
Maximum Floor Plate depth of 11m
Fully Glazed walls with low cills
Supplemented with energy efficient Artificial lighting monitored by automated systems
Solar control
On west face by vertically pivoting and sliding panels
On East Face, by integral Blinds

MAXIMISING NATURAL LIGHT

Narrow Floor Plate and Maximum Glazing lead to well lit interior conditions. The facade shading devices
also help cut glare.

CREATING THERMAL BUFFER ZONES

The building's east and west facades are double glass skins, which act as thermal buffer zones and which,
as a sound protection layer, keep the road noise out of the interior rooms.

EFFECTIVE SUN PROTECTION

The solar shading system and the solar flue were designed with the use of the computational fluid
dynamic (CFD) analyses which allowed for the room temperatures throughout the year to be observed.

FAADE DESIGN STRATEGY

East Faade
Double skin faade with integrated blinds in cavity
Provision of air inlets for ventilation via stack effect
All panels individually operable for user comfort and centrally managed for efficiency

FAADE DESIGN STRATEGY

West Faade
Three layer system creating a Solar Flue
Inner layer of this faade is made of aluminum double glazed curtain wall, which can be operated
manually or automatically.
Cantilever bracket with metal-mesh decking supports the outer single glazed faade, which is
made of laminated glass.
All panels individually operable for user comfort and centrally managed for efficiency

LOUVER DESIGN SYSTEM

Perforated Aluminum louvers are provided on west
facade, between inner pivoted double glazed
openable window and outer single glazed faade.
These louvers are intended as sun shades as well
as an identity for GSW.
The faade follow a natural colour scheme
common to many Sauerbruch Hutton projects. The
Red and Pink colours are highly recognizable in
the Berlin Skyline

'We like to use ecological aspects of

buildings as design generators. For
example, the west faade of GSW
Headquarters, being the most
obvious ecological building element,
is where we concentrated the colour.
Here the colour and depth of the
faade and the movement of the
shutters give the building legibility,
idiosyncrasy and a certain sensuality.
Sauerbruch Hutton

NATURAL VENTILATION
Natural ventilation strategy relies on cross
ventilation at each floor induced by stack
effect in the western buffer zone. This is
Enhanced by the Venturi Element on the roof

CROSSVENTILATION
Cross ventilation takes place due to stack
effect.
Provisons have been made to continue cross
ventilation even across partition walls by
providing large inlets spaces and perforated
screens along with doors.

VENTURI
ELEMENT
The Winged roof over the
Western Flue acts as a
Venturi element and
enhances air circulation
through Bernoulli's effect.
It also shields the Flue
from Rainwater

MECHANICAL VENTILATION SYSTEM

Incorporated for comfort during seasonal weather extremes
The system delivers air via the raised floor.
This like most other systems is operable by both the user and the Building Management System.
A heat recovery system is also in place to reduce heat losses during cold weather

Awards and
Nominations:
World Architecture
Award shortlist for
northern Europe 2001
Architekturpreis Beton,
Special Mention 2001
Deutscher
Architekturpreis, Special
Mention 2001
Mies van der Rohe
Award Finalist 2001
Deutscher Fassadenpreis
2001
Berlin Architectural
Award 2000
RIBA award for the GSW
Headquarters Building
2000
Stirling prize nomination
2000
ar+d Award, High
Commendation 2000

OTHER OFFICE BUILDINGS BUILT IN BERLIN DURING THE

SAME TIME

Atrium Tower, 1999

Bahn Tower, 1999

Kollhoff Tower, 1999

Piano-Hochhaus, 1999

OTHER OFFICE BUILDING BY SAUERBRUCH HUTTON IN

GERMANY
We see a clear preference for the use of curved faade with natural color Panels.
A prevalent typology is also the tall office block with a low rise retail space

Cologne Oval Offices,

Cologne

ADAC Headquarters,
Munich

Munich Re,
Munich

Municipal Savings
Bank, Oberhausen

KFW Westarkade,
Frankfurt

References
http://www.mech.hku.hk/sbe/case_study/case/ger/GSW_Berlin/GSW-energy.htm
Urban Strategies for Berlin, Matthias Sauerbruch and Louisa Hutton, Accessed at
http://www.rudi.net/books/11000
http://www.tensinet.com/database/viewProject/4268
http://www.architectureweek.com/2003/0813/environment_1-1.html
http://www.architravel.com/architravel/building/gsw-headquarters/
http://en.wikiarquitectura.com/index.php/GSW_Headquarters
Eco-Towers: Sustainable Cities in the Sky, K. Al-Kodmany, 2015
http://www.mech.hku.hk/sbe/case_study/case/ger/GSW_Berlin/GSW-Index.htm
GSW Hauptverwaltung Berlin, Sauerbruch Hutton Architekten / GSW Headquarters Berlin,
Sauerbruch Hutton Architects, 2000
http://www.ncscolour.co.uk/case_studies/architecture.html