LRO | Administrative building in Plochingen

Administrative building in Plochingen

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Administrative Building in Plochingen
https://www.archlro.de/de/projects/verwaltungsgebaeude-plochingen

In a public-private partnership (PPP), we designed a new building for the Esslingen district administration as an annex to a converted existing building from the 1970s. The two buildings on a hill above the town of Plochingen provide reserve space for various administrative units and attractive new office accommodations for the administrative district office.

Perimeter balconies made of precast concrete slabs articulate the elevations horizontally and give the five-storey structure a low-slung, light and transparent appearance. The projections of the balcony slabs serve both as shading and as an architectural means to protect the panelised façade, but they also accommodate automatically irrigated planters that can be read as an entirely new interpretation of façade greening. As many as 225 administrative employees look out into the landscape across rose bushes and grasses – even when the roller blinds are lowered to the midway point between floors, where they already produce their full effect.

Building configuration
The new building’s floor plan is based on a square configuration that affords views out from the administrative offices into the surrounding landscape in all directions. In conjunction with the inner courtyard carved out from the built form, the result is a very simple and pragmatic principle for the plan.
The ground-floor lobby has an information desk, the payment office and a spacious waiting area. Visitors pass the central reception point on their way to the counters of the foreigners’ authority.
The western part of the building primarily accommodates the semi-public and private spaces, whereas the public spaces are located in the eastern part. The floor plan layouts are repeated on the storeys above. Hence the western part can be used without any disturbance from public access.
The staircases give direct access to the different office clusters, with their mix of individual offices and open configurations, without having to cross other areas. This allows undisturbed work even in open areas.
However, the circulation paths on the upper floors also make it possible to complete the loop and access both staircases directly. Thus individual departments can change, grow or shrink at will due to the flexibility.
The clear structure with only a few suspended ceiling elements and glass partitions along the circulation spaces facilitates subdivision and also makes it easier to find one’s way around the building.

Optimization
The compact shape of the building reduces the ratio between enclosing surface and usable area, and thus also lowers energy losses in winter and solar heat gain in summer – ultimately reducing the overall ecological footprint. The wooden façade elements with triple insulating glazing are protected by deeply cantilevered balcony slabs. The textile sunshade roller blinds only need to be extended down to mid-height above the floor, which preserves an unobstructed view of the surroundings as well as the feeling of openness and the free circulation of air – important psychological factors that also include the possibility to open a window at any time and ventilate naturally.
By virtue of our good experiences to date with decentralised ventilation, the offices alongside the façades have been equipped with this technology. This system reduces the space required for centralised ventilation equipment rooms and ductwork, resulting in significant savings. The decentralised units in the spandrels are also used for night-time cooling and to meet peak thermal loads, as are ventilation units in the plant rooms, which provide ventilation for the interior corridor zones.
The base loads for heating and cooling are met by the thermally activated concrete slabs.
Ceiling rafts floating beneath ensure pleasant room acoustics.
The principle of adiabatic cooling (through water evaporation) is employed to cool the room air cost-effectively. This is complemented by heat exchangers, a high degree of daylight usage, highly efficient LED lighting and the operation of two air-to-water heat pumps. The roof areas are greened where possible and otherwise covered extensively with a photovoltaic system.

client:
Landratsamt Esslingen

architects:
LRO Lederer Ragnarsdóttir Oei, Stuttgart

collaborators LRO:
Sophie Röcker, Sandra Pirmann, Margherita Adamo

competition procedure:
Verhandlungsverfahren mit Teilnahmewettbewerb

project management:
PSB Wasner GmbH

total contractor:
Georg Reisch GmbH & Co. KG

architect performance phases 6-8:
Göppel Strittmatter Halling, Ludwigsburg

structural engineering:
Ingenieurbüro tragwerkeplus, Reutlingen

inspecting structural engineer:
Ingenieurbüro Sigler Schumer Spieth, Nürtingen

service engineering:
Ingenieurbüro Kaufer & Passer, Tuttlingen

lectrical engineering:
Ingenieurbüro Werner Schwarz, Ravensburg

building physics:
Herz & Lang GmbH, Weitnau