Professional Documents
Culture Documents
50
Projects
MAP Architects
Josep Lluís Mateo
Deutsche Bundesbank
new headquarters
text by Maura Percoco
Località Location Park for the Victims of Fascism, Chemnitz, Germany
52
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Projects Deutsche Budesbank new headquarters
1 According to Josep Lluís Mateo, there is some- lized is explained in how a fossil forms. This is
The opalescent main
façade of the new
thing magical about architectural creation: a fascinating process for someone like Mateo,
headquarters of Deutsche “The architect is the person capable of per- drawn by transforming organic and inorganic
Bundesbank in Chemnitz forming an alchemical operation: of transform- elements2. It is at the basis of his idea of using
2 ing gaseous matter into a solid element. The in- a material, for the entrance front, that was once
General floor plan
3.
teresting thing is that this process, this action, alive, simultaneously ancient and contempo-
Cross section of entrance produces a tension between idea and matter, rary: thin slabs of alabaster, which “lit” from
hall which mutually infect each other”1. behind, narrates the richness of its history on
4 In Chemnitz, a city in the federal state of Saxo- its very surface.
Partial view of Deutsche
Bundesbank from the
ny, in west-central Germany, the issue was the In a context that is so evocative and strongly
southwest need to take a contemporary eye to a request for defined, he inserts a “petrified tree”3, alive and
a solid, precise building. The new Bundesbank vital. Mateo set about to build a construction
headquarters needed to be set like a precious firmly anchored to the ground4, developed with
jewel in a natural context, defined by history, precise geometry in whose contour a shifting
the Park of the Victims of Fascism. This place image is framed, describing the variability of
is a woods more than a park, dark and eerie, natural light and weather conditions.
inhabited by ancient trees, knotted, contorted The building’s volume configuration upwards
trunks and branches so thick that they prevent presents the shape of an upside-down T block.
sunlight from getting through. A parallelepiped with an almost square plan
Not far from here, at the Civic Museum of Pale- (46x50m) extends ten meters high; above that,
ontology, the process by which life is crystal- in the central part, a 16m wide portion rises for
0 2 5m
Jan Bitter
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Projects Deutsche Budesbank new headquarters
0 2 5m
another 8.70m. The unified, compact, geomet- In the daytime, the stone wall spreads natural
ric solid form lies weightily on the ground, as light inside through the alabaster’s graceful
a bulwark protecting the treasure in the un- lines. At night, it is artificial light to make the
derground floors, the bank’s vault. Its creative material iridescent and the façade reverberate
tension is concentrated on the western façade. around it with a glimmer that highlights the
Just as a fossil stone contrasts an external, vitality of the interior space. Technique, arti-
opaque and touchable crust with an iridescent san skill and experimenting with the nature of
core, the icon/building of Deutsche Bundes- materials combine to creating his expressive
bank seeks to “reverse the problem of perma- intent. The alabaster façade is made by assem-
nence and solidity from the inside, inserting a bling 256 elements, tested in the laboratory
lightweight quality in the heaviness”5. and specifically patented for the Bundesbank6,
Walking along the edge of the park, taking the each 187x107x0.65cm, consisting of a layering
Zschopauerstrasse, attention is drawn by the of three plate glasses of different thicknesses,
building’s opalescent, iridescent main façade. between which an alabaster slab and an air
It is made of alabaster slabs from Saragozza, chamber are placed.
arranged in a highly precise order and framed The structure (designed by Leonardt, Andrä
Jan Bitter
by a bronze plate that traces the façade’s con- und Partner) extends on two enormous wall
tour. Light illuminates the translucent surface beams that coincide with the side façades of
of the fossil material, highlighting the veins of the upper floors. These beams rest on the ver-
6
its warm color variations. tical connection core structures and suspend
5
The cross section displays
the building’s structural
design: the floor of the first
floor is hung from the two
beam-walls coinciding with
the lateral façades of the
second and third levels
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Perspective view from the
north-east
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From the top to the bottom:
first underground floor,
ground floor plan, first floor
plan, second floor plan
5m
2
0
8
Jan Bitter
050-063 Mateo.indd 56
6-08-2007 17:25:41
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L’atrio d’ingresso illuminato
dalla parete di pietra
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Dettaglio della facciata
10 6
in alabastro. Prospetto e
sezione: 1. trave scatolare
650x650 mm; 2. molla
in acciaio, spessore
25cm; 3. intradosso della
struttura portante; 4. barra
precompressa in acciaio
verniciato 70/16 S355; 5.
fissaggio a ragno in acciaio
inossidabile; 6. pannello
sandwich composto da
lastra in alabastro e vetrate
di isolamento, spessore
65cm; 7. termo convettori
con griglia in alluminio; 8.
soletta in cemento armato;
9. Pannello sandwich 1
composto da (dall’esterno
verso l’interno): lamiera
bronzata trattata con liquido
caustico e brunita, isolante 2
termico (7mm), lamiera
in acciaio inossidabile,
spessore totale 74 mm; 10. 3
vetro opaco, smaltato
4
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The entrance foyer lit by
the stone wall
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Detail of the alabaster
façade, elevation and
section: 1. steel box profile
650x650mm; 2. steel spring,
25cm thick; 3. front side
building main structure; 4. 6
pre-compressed painted bar
70/16 S355; 5. spider with
stainless steel attachment
point; 6. sandwich panel
made of alabaster and
insulation glass, total
assembly 65 mm; 7. thermo-
convectors with aluminum
grid; 8. reinforced concrete;
9. sandwich panel made
of (from outside to inside):
burnished bronze sheet
metal treated with caustic
liquid, thermal insulation
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(about 7mm), stainless 7
steel sheet, total thickness:
74 mm; 10. opaque glass,
glazed
0 0,2 1m
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14
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10 Construction detail of
the spring system that
regulates the support
cables’ tension on the
translucent wall.
11 Section: 1. sheet;
2. steel corner;
3. insulation; 4. protection
strip; 5. insulation slab;
6. screws with A4 tin disk,
burnished; 7. WLG 035
insulation; 8. construction
structure of penthouse in
Projects Deutsche Budesbank new headquarters
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Detailed section of
the southern façade:
1. burnished bronze sheet
metal; 2. corten steel grate;
3. 180 steel beam; 4. grated
support pivot 100x150cm;
5. joint 3mm; 6. reinforced
cement; 7. mineral fiber
insulation; 8. insulation
sloping; 9. slab of gray-white-
yellow honed sandstone
from Elba, treated with
moisture-repellant siloxane
Projects Deutsche Budesbank new headquarters
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1m
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5
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Jan Bitter
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Informazioni
Information
ardesia e travertino
Interior stone elements
slate and travertine
Ascensori Schindler
Elevators