Oval Offices
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Jan Bitter (website) Download Original
Two colourful six-storey office blocks built around internal courtyards alongside the River Rhine
The geometry of the buildings is sympathetic to the sites soft landscape and helps them to relate to the surrounding buildings, including a 12-storey 1960s block.
The free-form contour of the building also allows for efficient plans. Each buildings has three cores around which the office areas are arranged. The varying plan depth allows for a great number of variations of fit out. Every floor can be subdivided into three separate units, each with its own elevator core and internal address.
Glazed facades and corridor walls allow natural light into the office space, and provide views out of the building towards the Rhine. The river is also used as an energy source to feed the buildings' heating and cooling systems.
Data
- Begun: Apr 2008
- Completed: Apr 2010
- Floor area: 43,000m2
- Sector: Office
- Total cost: £67M
- Procurement: Competition won in 1999
- Address: Gustav-Heinemann-Ufer 72-74, Cologne, 50968 , United Kingdom
Materials 
Professional Team
- Architect: Sauerbruch Hutton Architects
- Client: DKV German Health Insurance
- Structural engineer: Agne-Wahlen-Daubenbüchel
- Quantity surveyor: Drees & Sommer
- Energy Consultant: Transsolar Energietechnik
- Landscape architect: Weidinger Landschaftsarchitekten
- Acoustic consultant: Müller BBM
- CMD coordinator: Sauerbruch Hutton Architects
- Approved building inspector : Stadt Köln
