Information pavilion of the arts and sciences at the Technical University of Berlin
As part of a competition for the redevelopment of the community areas on the campus of the Technical University of Berlin, the establishment of a location was required where the TU Berlin is given the opportunity to present the goals and content of its work in public space. With the design of a multifunctional building envelope as a symbolic as well as technically accurate object at the same time, the chair for construction and design CODE at the TU Berlin held by Prof. Ralf Pasel accepted this task. The building on the campus axis strengthens the public appearance of the campus area. As a 'multiplayer' with its versatile use the new building serves the adjacent square as an event location. It represents the TU Berlin with its highly precise architecture as a future-oriented institution of technical accomplishments. For this purpose, department CODE at the Institute for Architecture together with students planned and implemented the representative building envelope for an existing cooling unit on the central university campus in Berlin-Charlottenburg.
To the credo students build their university a steel construction pavilion was created to manifests the beginning of the newly developed central campus axis on Hertzallee. As a landmark and as a billboard of the TU Berlin, the building envelope serves primarily representative purposes and protects the cooling unit against weather conditions and vandalism. The size of the pavilion corresponds to the housing area of the existing unit plus the required traffic areas for inspection. As a billboard the building refers to different activities at the TU Berlin. As a service building, the pavilion offers technical equipment for a wide range of activities such as concerts, lectures, open-air cinema and other. It offers space for a small temporary bar and storage space for catering.
The niches provided in the building envelope can be used as exhibition and information areas. The facade panels made of metallic, brushed and partially perforated surfaces reflect the surroundings, the buildings of the TU Berlin and the UdK but also nature, the clouds in the sky and the passers-by in a poetic and atmospheric manner.
Images and Plans
Technical Description
Department CODE operates in numerous projects with a close link between research, teaching and practice. Together with partners from the industry this project was carried out as a design-build project with students aiming to strengthen their understanding of conceptual ideas, construction methods but also collaborative processes in the exchange with specialists. The students actively participated in all project steps starting from the conception through the draft and the planning to the hands-on implementation of the building. In exchange with other departments and faculties, in particular the department for structural engineering, innovative building structures were developed. In their immediate way the structures could be implemented by the students themselves. The individual trades in the project were discussed and developed within workshops in cooperation with various craftsmen. In particular with this building envelope the focus was mainly on the metal construction and thus a very weather-resistant construction. The steel skeleton as a supporting structure was developed in close cooperation with the structural engineer taking into account design considerations but also structural constraints. The facade panels were designed from aluminum composite elements; here as well all details and mechanisms were developed in close cooperation and intensive exchange with industrial partners. In CODE's design-build projects teachers and students form a team and work together on the project on an equal footing. Participation in the project is not a goal, but a basic requirement.
Building envelope/ weather protection of an existing cooling unit at the Technical University of Berlin. The two-storey high building’s volume consists of a metal construction with façade components made of aluminum composite panels. The brushed, reflective aluminum panels are partially perforated to ensure ventilation for the unit.