GLOCKHAUS, DÜSSELDORF

A new administration building with underground parking

The 6-storey office building constructed in 2000 lies directly next to a busy dual-carriageway in the north-east of the county capital. With regard to town planning the street lines and the borders of the neighbouring buildings were used to insert the development. A glass sound insulation facade runs parallel to the dual-carriageway and serves as a connecting link between two parts of the building.

The building presents itself to the main access road as two wings of different length which, together with the high rise building opposite, form an urban space. The free site area is laid out as gardens.

The main access is from local residential roads with a generous entrance way. The parking spaces are accommodated in the underground car park under the building.

The facade design takes up architectural elements from the direct surroundings and translates these for the functional requirements of an office building. The ground floor is slightly set back and has a lightweight metal and glass facade which, together with the rectangular window openings of the upper floors and the set back top floor, gives the building a transparency and lightness. The sound insulation glass wall and the facades of the entrance hall have wide spanning steel frame tensioned planar glass facades.

The floor plan is designed for flexible subdivision and function. So that the building also does justice to future users. The central hall, flooded with light, has four panoramic glass elevators and connects the respective floors.

The reinforced concrete skeleton is aligned to the construction grid in multiples of 1.35 meters. The offices have cavity floors which make a flexible use possible. The rooms have opening windows and natural air circulation.