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Sto AG, Building K

Michael Wilford & Partners, Weizen, 1997

 

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Front facade 

Richard Bryant/Arcaid     Download Original

  • Front facade    
  • Building K is the public face of Sto     
  • The angle of the building’s plan means that it presents a different character to each direction    
  • From the approach to Building K, the three tiers of what the architect calls ‘the layered cake’ are most obvious    
  • This masterplan aims at promoting co-operation and a spirit of solidarity among all employees    
  • The plan offers opportunities to gradually extend the company premises while providing a functional integrity and a clear identity for each phase of development    
  • The ‘K’ Building is the first major step in implementing Sto’s general building plan    
  • Lift, within the uniquely designed interior    
  • Building K is as unconventional as it is practically orientated    
  • Internal common spaces are as unique as the external structure    
  • The staircases’ formal gymnastics imply a charged and suggestive dynamic between the building functions    
  • Contrasting materials and colours reinforce the expression of the different activities the buildings elements contain    
  • Creative colours are whimsical and inspiring for work    
  • Internal office view    
  • Yard level plan    
  • Office level plans    
  • Ground floor plan    
  • Garden plan    
  • Cut away axonometric    
  • Worms eye axonometric    
  • Cross section    
  • long section    
  • East elevation    
  • North elevation    

Block containing the training, exhibition and administrative facilities - the first component of the masterplan at Sto AG's Weizen plant

The building is composed of three main parts: training area, entrance/reception area and offices. The first and second floor host generous facilities for practical and theoretical training as well as seminars and meetings.

The third floor incorporates the oval entrance area. The office block, reinforced by posts, ‘floats’ above the entrance pavilion and the training centre, proving a view to the Wutach valley through the open space below the building.

A crucial literal and metaphorical axis comes from Building K's mid-radial garden. This leads from the new parking grove in the valley almost on the river’s edge, back across the new road and railway to the main entrance.

The masterplan integrates new and existing buildings and re-routes a busy road, which had subdivided the plant. This move has provided the opportunity to unify the separate areas, allowing larger and more efficient accommodation, and to project the presence and identity of the company to passing motorists through expressive new buildings.

Data

  • Completed: May 1997
  • Sectors: Industrial, Office
  • Tender date: 1993
  • Address: Ehrenbachstrasse 1, Weizen, 79780, Germany

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